Middle East
Sunday, 09 June 2013 16:46
27
ARBIL: Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki visited the Kurdistan region on Sunday for the first time in more than two years, in an attempt to resolve a long-running dispute over oil and land that has strained Iraq's unity to the limit.With the country's Shi'ite leadership facing fallout from the Syrian conflict, which has invigorated Sunni insurgents in Iraq and prompted warnings of civil war, better relations with the Kurds could ease some pressure on Maliki.The Shi'ite premier was met on the Arbil airport tarmac by Kurdistan Regional Government President Masoud Barzani and a delegation of high-ranking Kurdish officials, but little concrete progress was expected immediately.Maliki's last official trip to Kurdistan was in 2010, when the "Arbil Agreement" was struck, allowing him to form a power-sharing government among majority Shi'ite Muslims, Sunnis and ethnic Kurds after months of wrangling.That deal, like others after, was never fully implemented, and Baghdad's central government ...
SANAA: Yemen began the second round of its national dialogue in Sanaa on Saturday, as President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi hailed progress made during talks in March. The UN-backed dialogue aims to draft a new constitution and prepare for elections in 2014, after a two-year transition led by Hadi.Saturday's dialogue was part of a UN-brokered deal that eased former strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh from power after an 11-month uprising against his 33-year rule."We are holding our ...
JERUSALEM: After new clashes between Syrian troops and rebels in the Golan, and Austria's announced withdrawal from a UN monitoring force, Israel is concerned about security along its ceasefire line with Syria. The army remained on high alert in the region on Friday, bringing up reinforcements of tanks and troops, and readying an anti-tank missile unit, media said.That came after Austria said it would withdraw peacekeepers from the UN force, citing deteriorating security, and the ...
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin proposed on Friday that Russian peacekeepers replace departing Austrian troops monitoring the Israeli-Syrian ceasefire line in the Golan Heights that has been the scene of an upsurge in fighting in recent days."Considering the difficult situation that is developing today in the Golan Heights, we could replace the departing Austrian contingent in this region separating Israeli forces from the Syrian army," Russian news agencies quoted Putin as saying.The Kremlin chief stressed that ...
BEIRUT: Syria's rebels conceded on Tuesday they had lost the battle for the strategic town of Qusayr, after the army claimed it had seized total control of it and the surrounding region.At the same time, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fighters from the Hezbollah, who had spearheaded the regime's assault, were in control of the town.Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2013 ...
PARIS: A Saudi prince spent 15 million euros ($19.5 million) for three days of fun at Disneyland near Paris to celebrate his degree, sources familiar with the affair told AFP.Prince Fahd al-Saud booked entire areas of the park over May 22 to 24 for his 60-odd guests. The festivities included tailor-made events involving "rare Disney characters," the sources said.Special security was put in place for the prince, one of the park's top customers.The theme park ...
BEIRUT: A missile hit a village near Syria's second city of Aleppo overnight, killing 26 people including six women and eight children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday."At midnight on Sunday, 26 people were killed, including six women and eight children, when what appears to have been a surface-to-surface missile struck the village of Kfar Hamra," said the Observatory."Regime forces have taken surrounding orchards and are trying to take the village, and ...
More Articles...
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
