Category: 2. Middle East

The overwhelming majority of ultra-Orthodox Jews (Haredi) in Israel still refuse to serve in the occupation army, the Knesset has revealed, according to Anadolu.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Knesset said: “Out of 18,915 Haredi men issued conscription orders during the current enlistment cycle, only 232 have joined the army, 57 of them in combat roles.”

“We set ourselves a target of 4,800 and we will not reach that. There is an upward trend here,…

Hamas and the Palestinian Resistance Alliance have condemned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for using a derogatory phrase to describe the movement.

“In a meeting usurping the legitimacy of the leadership of the Palestinian people, Abbas described a significant and integral part of his own people using derogatory language,” said senior Hamas official Bassem Naim. “Abbas repeatedly and suspiciously lays the blame on our people for the crimes of the…

Turkiye is in talks to boost exploration for oil and gas in Bulgaria, as well as a number of countries throughout its surrounding region including Iraq, Libya, Turkmenistan and Somalia.

According to Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar, who spoke to Bloomberg, the state-owned energy company Turkiye Petrolleri AO (TPAO) is set to sign an agreement with an unnamed foreign partner within the next month in order to conduct exploration missions in Bulgaria’s…

The Palestinian Authority’s Commission of Detainees and Ex-detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Club yesterday revealed harrowing testimonies from detainees held in Israel’s Negev and Ofer prisons.

In a joint statement, the two organisations said: “Rape and sexual assaults against Gaza detainees are ongoing.”

“In Ofer camp, guards intentionally restrain detainees and repeatedly insert a stick into the detainee’s anus until he feels he is…

Israeli settlers attacked and burned Palestinian-owned property in the town of Sinjil in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, Anadolu has reported. Eyewitnesses said that a group of settlers also assaulted Palestinian residents.

The witnesses added that fighting erupted between Palestinians and settlers who were protected by Israeli soldiers, who did not prevent them from attacking property.

On Monday, a Palestinian died of suffocation following an attack by…

As America’s escalated bombing campaign and economic sanctions hit Yemen hard, the Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Washington’s crosshairs are trying to mine the situation for propaganda and recruitment, analysts said.

On Monday, four days after 80 people were killed in US strikes on a fuel port, the Huthis released a slick promotional video showing special forces marching over the Israeli flag and somersaulting through flaming hoops.

Against a soundtrack of dramatic music, the masked soldiers…

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency called Wednesday on Iran to explain tunnels built around a nuclear site but voiced optimism that US-Iran talks would land a deal.

The Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington think tank, released satellite imagery on Wednesday that it said showed a new, deeply buried tunnel alongside an older one around the Natanz site, as well as a new security perimeter.

“I’ve been raising this issue repeatedly, and I will continue to do so,”…

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking Wednesday at an annual Holocaust commemoration, said Iran was an existential threat and warned that “the fate of all humanity” was at stake if it acquires nuclear arms.

Netanyahu was speaking at the start of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, which commemorates the murder of six million Jews by the Nazis during World War II, and is observed every year in April or May according to the Jewish calendar. The International Holocaust Remembrance…