True champions of humanity in Türkiye and Syria: We thank you
February 22nd, 20230 On February 7, a funeral was held in the northern Syrian town of Jinderis. It was one of numerous such funerals to be held on that day across Syria and Türkiye, following a devastating earthquake that killed and injured thousands. Each one of these funerals represented two seemingly opposite notions: Collective grief and collective...
U.N. Security Council denounces Israel in statement to avoid U.S. veto on resolution
February 22nd, 20230 UNITED NATIONS – On Monday, the U.N. Security Council issued a formal statement denouncing Israel's plan to expand settlements on occupied Palestinian territory, the first action the United States has allowed the body to take against its ally Israel in six years. Washington's support for the presidential statement — action the...
Lebanon’s central bank chief says he will not renew his term
February 21st, 20230 Lebanon's embattled central bank chief Riad Salameh said on Sunday he would leave his post once his latest term ends in July even if he is asked to stay longer. "No one has asked me to continue , but even if they do, I think this is enough," he said in a televised interview with Egypt's AlQahera News on Sunday. Salameh, who became the...
Opinion: Syria held hostage by the U.S. and its allies
February 17th, 20230 By Nimri Aziz Perhaps the most agonizing experience for a family, for any bystander, even for humanitarian professionals, is a double tragedy —a death or calamity where they are refused access, where they are forced to helplessly witness suffering, unable to offer succor. This is surely what faces millions of able-bodied Syrians...
Biden withdraws candidate’s nomination to human rights post for criticizing Israel
February 17th, 20230 The Biden administration has withdrawn the nomination of a leading law professor to an international human rights post, for describing Israel as an “apartheid state” and accusing the top Democrat in Congress of being “bought” by pro-Israel groups. James Cavallaro, of Wesleyan and Yale universities, said he was told by the...
Nasrallah warns U.S.: If you push Lebanon into chaos, we will retaliate against your “protégé” Israel
February 17th, 20231 BEIRUT – Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is threatening the Israeli Karish gas field with warnings that if there is “procrastination” with gas extraction from Lebanese waters for Lebanon, operations will be stopped at the Israeli Karish field. “If there is an intentional procrastination regarding the issue...
Two cheers for Matt Gaetz’s Ukraine war resolution
February 16th, 20230 By Thomas L. Knapp On February 9, U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and 10 Republican co-sponsors introduced a resolution "expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States must end its military and financial aid to Ukraine, and urges all combatants to reach a peace agreement." When Matt Gaetz is...
In Syria a child is saved, but loses his family
February 11th, 20231 Rescuers working by torchlight pulled 3-year-old Tariq Haidar from the rubble some 42 hours after a devastating earthquake destroyed his family home in the Syrian town of Jandaris. His family couldn't be saved. Orphaned by the earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey in the dead of night on Monday, Haidar was brought to a hospital where...
A picture and its story: The man who survived the Turkey earthquake, and his family who didn’t
February 10th, 20230 Peering out from under a large slab of concrete and brick, Abdulalim Muaini gestures weakly at his rescuers. It has been more than two days since a massive earthquake brought his home in Hatay, Turkey, tumbling down upon him. Close beside him lies his wife, Esra. The rescue has come too late for her. Reuters photographer Umit Bektas...
Hope fades for survivors as Turkey-Syria earthquake toll passes 20,000
February 10th, 20230 Cold, hunger and despair gripped hundreds of thousands of people left homeless after the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria three days ago as the death toll passed 20,000 on Thursday. The rescue of a 2-year-old boy after 79 hours trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building in Hatay, Turkey, and several other people raised...
Syria stands alone in healing its wounds from devastating earthquake
February 10th, 20230 The dawn of February 6, 2023 will be recorded as a typical tragedy that befell the peoples of the eastern Mediterranean, or to be precise, part of their peoples. The fear and panic, despite their magnitude, can’t be compared to the horror and devastation of being buried under the rubble of destroyed homes and buildings. It is an...
In Syria’s quake-hit Aleppo, survivors try to reach the missing
February 10th, 20230 ALEPPO, Syria – After Monday's earthquake brought down his family's building in Syria's battle-scarred second city of Aleppo, Youssef managed to reach one of his trapped relatives by phone, hearing voices despite a bad line. Since then the 25-year-old has been standing in near-freezing weather by the rubble, unable to get through...
China offers emergency aid of $4.4 mln to earthquake-hit Syria
February 8th, 20230 BEIJING - China will offer emergency humanitarian aid of 30 million yuan ($4.4 million) to earthquake-hit Syria, its foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, told a regular news briefing on Wednesday. The death toll of the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria has jumped to more than 8,700. read more Mao said $2 million of the...
Israel, Sudan announce deal to normalize relations
February 6th, 20231 KHARTOUM – Israel and Sudan have finalized a deal to normalize relations, with a signing ceremony expected following a transfer of power from the military to a civilian government in Khartoum, the Israeli foreign ministry said on Thursday. Sudan's foreign ministry earlier said the deal was agreed during a visit by Israeli Foreign...
Israeli occupation forces invaded refugee camp, killed five Palestinians and held their bodies
February 6th, 20230 Israeli occupation forces invaded the Aqbat Jabr refugee camp near the West Bank city of Jericho early Monday morning, killing at least five Palestinians during the invasion. The bodies of the victims are being withheld by occupation forces. Malik Awni Lafi, 22, Thaer Owidat, 28, Rafaat Wael Owidat, 21, Adham Majdi Owidat, 22, and......
Analysis: Israel and Palestinians risk deeper conflict in a distracted world
February 4th, 20230 After bloodshed in Jerusalem and the West Bank and a month since Israel's most right-wing government took office, Israel and the Palestinians risk sliding into a cycle of wider confrontation with pressure on both sides for retaliation, analysts say. A Palestinian gunman shot dead seven people near a synagogue in Jerusalem's outskirts on...
New York woman charged with financing terrorist groups in Syria through cryptocurrency
February 4th, 20230 A New York City woman has been charged with using cryptocurrency to provide financial support to terrorist groups in Syria, a rare prosecution involving virtual currency to fund terrorism. The 11-count indictment charged Victoria Jacobs, 43, who was known as Bakhrom Talipov, with providing support for an act of terrorism, money...
Lebanese central bank devalues official exchange rate: 15,000 liras for one dollar
February 4th, 20230 BEIRUT – Lebanon devalued its official exchange rate for the first time in 25 years on Wednesday, weakening it by 90 percent, but still leaving the local currency well below its market value. The lira has crashed since a financial meltdown in 2019 after decades of corruption, profligate spending and mismanagement by the ruling elite...
leaked British documents reveal former President George W. Bush ordered the CIA to find a replacement for Arafat
February 3rd, 20230 The BBC is reporting that British documents have been leaked confirming former U.S. President George W Bush ordered the CIA to find a replacement for former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Bush’s order followed the escalation of the Second Intifada in 2001. The CIA effort came after negotiations failed between then-Israeli Prime......
Iran blames Israel for Isfahan drone attack, vows revenge
February 3rd, 20230 Iran blamed Israel for a drone attack on a military factory near the central city of Isfahan, the semi-official ISNA news agency said on Thursday, vowing revenge for what appeared to be the latest episode in a long-running covert war. The attack came amid tension between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear activity and its supply of...
Lebanese protest record low value of local currency
January 29th, 20230 BEIRUT – Lebanese protesters burned tires and held up handfuls of local currency bills on Wednesday at the entrance of the Lebanese central bank in Beirut, furious over the spiraling devaluation of the lira. Lebanon's economic meltdown, which began in 2019, has cost the lira around 97 percent of its value. The decline has been......
Lebanese protest as fate of port explosion probe hangs in balance
January 29th, 20230 BEIRUT – More than 200 people protested outside Lebanon's justice palace on Thursday over efforts to derail an investigation into the deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion, as top judges cancelled a meeting to discuss the fate of the inquiry. Judge Tarek Bitar announced on Monday he was resuming his investigation into the blast that...
U.S. concerned over Israeli raid against Palestinian camp ahead of Blinken visit
January 27th, 20230 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Washington is concerned the security situation between the Israelis and Palestinians could worsen ahead of a visit to the Middle East by Secretary of State Antony Blinken starting on Sunday, a U.S. official said, after a deadly raid by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Thursday. The top U.S. diplomat......
