Category: 2. Middle East

Kenya said yesterday it supports Morocco’s plan to give the disputed region of Western Sahara autonomy under the North African kingdom’s sovereignty, joining a growing number of African, Arab and Western countries that have tilted towards backing Rabat in the five-decade conflict, Reuters reports.

The long-frozen conflict, dating back to 1975, pits Morocco, which considers the territory as its own, against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which seeks an…

Extremist Jewish settlers established new illegal outposts and set fire to swaths of agricultural land in different Palestinian areas of the occupied West Bank today, the Palestinian Information Centre reported.

According to local sources, a settler established a grazing outpost near the archaeological site in the Wadi Ayoun Al-Haramiya area, north Ramallah.

The sources explained that an armed settler seized an olive grove belonging to a Palestinian citizen in…

The 97th Conference of Liaison Officers of the Regional Offices for the Arab Boycott of Israel announced a ban on 20 companies for breaching the rules and provisions of the Arab boycott. The violations were related to investments in illegal settlements and support for the Israeli economy and military.

Held at the headquarters of the League of Arab States in Cairo, the two-day conference also recommended issuing notifications to other companies suspected of…

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan have reportedly committed gross violations against civilians in their recent attack on the Dar Al-Reeh area, including the village of Dar Kabir, south of the city of Jabrat Al-Sheikh in North Kordofan State.

Local sources said RSF forces killed brothers Mohammed and Saad Ali Saeed, forcibly displaced local residents and looted homes and shops.

The region is experiencing chaos and unrest amid a severe shortage of drinking…

Questions swirled over Cristiano Ronaldo’s future in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, hours after the superstar indicated he might be leaving Al Nassr in a social media post, just hours following the end of the Saudi Pro League season.

The 40-year-old Portuguese forward joined Al Nassr in 2022 from Manchester United and his contract with the Saudi club ends this summer.

A special transfer window runs from June 1-10 to allow the 32 clubs involved in the Club World Cup to sign players.

Al-Nassr are not…

The Sudanese government has dismissed recent US accusations that it used chemical weapons, calling them a distraction from American arms found in the hands of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Government spokesperson Khalid Al-Aiser said in a Facebook post that Washington was quick to make allegations after the Sudanese army seized American-made ammunition from RSF fighters.

He described the accusations as “a deliberate attempt to distract and divert attention…

A group of right-wing Israelis yesterday stormed the headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in occupied East Jerusalem, Anadolu reported.

“Today I am proud to liberate the former UNRWA headquarters in central Jerusalem,” Yulia Malinovsky of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel is Our Home) Party said in a video shared on her account on X from inside the complex.

Malinovsky, a Knesset member, linked the raid to the anniversary of…

Iran yesterday ruled out suspending uranium enrichment as part of negotiations aimed at reaching a nuclear agreement with the United States.

Western countries, led by the United States and Israel, suspect that Tehran is seeking to acquire a nuclear weapon, despite its repeated denials.

US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who has been leading the American negotiating team since 12 April, said the US “cannot allow Iran even 1 per cent of its enrichment…

Sweden’s Foreign Ministry has summoned Israel’s ambassador to Stockholm in protest against the lack of humanitarian aid being allowed into Gaza, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said yesterday according to Reuters.

Last week, under growing international pressure, Israeli occupation authorities allowed a trickle of aid into the Palestinian enclave. However, the few hundred trucks carried only a tiny fraction of the food needed by a population of 2.3 million at…

Less than five per cent of Gaza’s agricultural land can be cultivated due to damage and access restrictions “exacerbating the risk of famine in the area”, according to a UN assessment published yesterday, Reuters reported.

“This level of destruction is not just a loss of infrastructure – it is a collapse of Gaza’s agrifood system and of lifelines,” said Beth Bechdol, deputy director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) which…