Middle East Experience

Turkey has asked Egyptian media based in its country to 'tone down' criticism of Sisi as Ankara tries to mend ties with Egypt..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: In Turkey, Egyptian media told to 'tone down' Sisi attacks

Iran will soon “cold test” its redesigned Arak nuclear reactor before its full commissioning later this year, a spokesperson for the country’s nuclear agency said.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Iran says it will 'cold test' modified Arak nuclear reactor

The United Nations recently said there are more COVID-19 cases in Syria than the government has reported.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Damascus hospitals' intensive care units full with coronavirus patients

Three Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) officials were detained in Turkey on Friday, local media reported, days after the government moved to dissolve the opposition party.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Turkey arrests HDP officials in party crackdown

The United States Friday condemned the latest Houthi attack, which targeted an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh and caused a fire.The Iran-backed Houthis have escalated their attacks on Saudi Arabia since US President Joe Biden took office and revoked the terror designation against the Yemeni group. Biden also removed three senior Houthi officials from the Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) list.For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“We have seen that the Houthis claimed responsibility for these attacks and condemn the Houthis’ attempts to disrupt global energy supplies by targeting Saudi infrastructure,” a State Department official told reporters during a phone briefing.Such attacks demonstrate a an utter lack of concern for safety of the civilians that work and live near the oil refineries, Deputy Spokesperson Jalina Porter said.“We remain deeply concerned by the frequency of attacks on Saudi Arabia,” Porter added.The Houthis have escalated their attacks on Saudi Arabia since US President Joe Biden took office and revoked the terror designation against the Yemeni group. Biden also removed three senior Houthi officials from the Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) list.Read more: US ‘alarmed’ by escalating attacks against Saudi Arabia by Yemen’s Houthis
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: US State Department blasts Houthis for attack on Saudi oil refinery in Riyadh

Ankara desperately needs options to get out of the Syria quagmire, but the Turkish president's offer is likely to fall flat with the Biden administration.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Erdogan makes urgent appeal to West on grim 10-year mark of Syria’s war

Attacks on Saudi Arabia in recent weeks had links to Iran as they were carried out using Iranian-made or Iranian-supplied weapons, a senior Saudi official said Friday.“All of the missiles and drones that came into Saudi are Iranian manufactured or Iranian supplied,” Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir said in an interview.For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“Several of them, as we’ve said, came from the north; several came from the sea,” he told Arab News, referring to the attacks on Saudi Aramco facilities.The Iran-backed Houthis continue to launch bomb-laden drones and ballistic missiles at Saudi Arabia on an almost daily basis.And despite US condemnations of the attacks, the Biden administration pushed ahead with revoking the terrorist designation of the Yemeni group days after President Joe Biden took office.Washington and other aid groups claimed that the designation would make it difficult for humanitarian aid to flow through the country. According to US and UN officials, Yemen is home to one of the largest humanitarian catastrophes in the world.Biden also lifted the Specially Designated Globally Terrorist (SDGT) listing of Yemen’s leader and two other senior officials.But Al-Jubeir said the terrorist designation did not and would not have stopped aid to the country.He said Saudi Arabia made this “very clear” to European and American allies, as well as the United Nations.The Saudi official went on to provide examples of countries that are home to terrorist organizations, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Afghanistan’s Taliban, ISIS in Syria and Al-Shabab in Somalia. This doesn’t stop aid from getting to the countries, he said.The Houthis are the problem, Al-Jubeir insisted, saying they steal foreign aid and sell it to “finance their war machine.”Al-Jubeir added: “They induct young boys — 9, 10, 11 years of age — and put them on the battlefield, which is against international law and a severe violation of human rights.”Read more: US State Department blasts Houthis for attack on Saudi oil refinery in Riyadh
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Missiles, drones targeting Saudi Arabia were all Iranian made or supplied: Al-Jubeir

More than 35 US senators Friday called on President Joe Biden to become the first American president to recognize the Armenian Genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire.“Administrations of both parties have been silent on the truth of the Armenian Genocide. We urge you to break this pattern of complicity by officially recognizing that the Armenian Genocide was a genocide,” a group of Republican and Democratic senators said in a letter addressed to Biden.For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Between 1915 and 1923, Turkish authorities murdered 1.5 million Armenians and forced hundreds of thousands more to flee.The Ottoman Empire at the time carried out ethnic cleansing. Turkey claims that those killed were far less than the number Armenia has given, and they continue to deny that there was a systemic effort to exterminate the Armenian population.In 2019, the Senate passed a resolution by Senator Bob Menendez after Congress did the same to recognize the Genocide.But former President Donald Trump, like his predecessors, refused to sign and recognize the Armenian Genocide.Former US presidents have argued behind closed doors that recognizing the Armenian Genocide would significantly damage relations with its NATO ally, Turkey.But Biden claimed just last year that he would support a bill to recognize the Genocide.“In the past you have recognized the Armenian Genocide as genocide, including in your Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day statement during the 2020 campaign. We call on you to do so again as President to make clear that the US government recognizes this terrible truth,” the letter to Biden read.US Ambassador to Turkey Henry Morgenthau stepped down from his post in 1916 because of the Genocide. He later said his failure to stop the destruction of the Armenians made “Turkey for me a place of horror.”Read more: Turkey summons US ambassador over Armenian ‘genocide’ resolution
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Senators call on Biden to become first US president to recognize Armenian Genocide

The accident which killed a young Israeli in Georgia occurred Friday at the Gudauri Ski Resort, where avalanches are common.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Young Israeli killed in ski accident in Georgia

For years, Turkey would say one thing to Moscow and Tehran while telling Washington’s Iran hawks that Turkey was “against Russia and Iran.”
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Iran, Russia and Turkey signal growing alliance