Egypt’s top Muslim cleric on Saturday called for an international ban on all forms of attacks against Islam, after a provocative film sparked violent protests in the Middle East and North Africa. Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb, grand imam of Cairo’s Al-Azhar, the highest seat of Sunni Muslim learning, underlined “the need for an international resolution
Representatives of rival Muslim streams showed viewers of Egypt's Al-Shabab TV just how disunited the Muslim world in a program streamed via internet on Sunday, September 9. Sunni activist Walid Ismail attacked Shi'ite activist Mahmoud Ahmad Mahmoud, after the latter made less-than-complementary claims regarding his wife's morals. This followed a claim by Ismail that
The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Sunday warned of retaliation against the Gulf's strategic Strait of Hormuz, U.S. bases in the Middle East and Israel if his country was to be attacked. According to a report by AFP, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, speaking in a very rare news conference in Tehran, also said
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu insisted once again on Sunday there must be "red lines" on halting Iran's nuclear ambitions, a stance the United States has rejected, AFP reported. “They're moving very rapidly to completing the enrichment of the uranium that they need to produce a nuclear bomb. In six months or so they'll be
Amid all the cacophony of protest and violence across portions of the Middle East and North Africa, there has been little serious effort to look for deeper meanings or explanations. To be sure, the contemptible attacks on American diplomatic persons and premises were animated by the usual array of Islamist fears and Jihadist goals.
Three Arab youths were caught Saturday night desecrating Jewish holy books at a sacred Jewish cemetery in Jerusalem. The vandals were in the process of trying to burn several Tehillim – volumes of the Book of Psalms authored by the Biblical King David – at the ancient Mount of Olives Cemetery. The three perpetrators,
Three Egyptian security officers were wounded Sunday morning in a surprise attack by jihadists on Egyptian government headquarters in northern Sinai. The terrorists shelled the security base with a barrage of heavy artillery, firing mortar shells, rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. The attack apparently came in response to an assault in the wee hours
One of the American diplomats who was killed Tuesday at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, said in an online gaming forum hours prior to the brutal assault that he had seen suspicious people taking pictures outside his compound and wondered if he and his team might "die tonight." Sean Smith, a foreign service
An attack in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province on Saturday, claimed by the Afghan Taliban, was an act of revenge for a film that insults Islam and the Prophet Mohammed. At least two U.S. Marines died when militants attacked the perimeter of the Camp Bastion in Helmand province with mortar, rocket-propelled grenade and small fire
Al-Qaeda said the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya was in revenge for the killing of the network’s number two Sheikh Abu Yahya al-Libi, SITE Intelligence Group reported Saturday, as Libyan authorities have identified 50 people who were involved in the attack. “The killing of Sheikh Abu Yahya only increased the
