Iran is to reportedly send 4,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guards to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad in the fight against opposition forces, according to the The Independent on Sunday. In what was described as an Iranian “military decision,” the British newspaper said Iran was now “fully committed to preserving Assad’s regime,” citing unnamed pro-Iranian
Riot police on Saturday used tear gas to clear a central Istanbul square and park that had formed the heart of a broad challenge to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Washington Post reported. Within an hour of a warning from Erdogan that central Istanbul would be cleared by Sunday whether or not protesters
The election of a moderate Iranian president could help rein in hostility between Tehran and its Arab neighbors, but many Arabs doubt he can end a sectarian confrontation that has been inflamed by war in Syria. Hassan Rowhani, a Shiite cleric known for a conciliatory approach and backed by reformists, will have only limited
Israel issued an unusually blunt reaction to the election of Iran's new president on Saturday by saying it was supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who decides on nuclear policy, not the president. "Iran's nuclear program has so far been determined by Khamenei, and not by Iran's president," the foreign ministry said, after Hassan Rouhani
Al-Qaeda’s leader in Iraq has defied orders from the group’s global chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri, to break up his claimed union with a jihadist group in Syria, according to an audio message released Saturday. The purported remarks by Islamic State of Iraq head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the message posted on jihadist forums indicate tensions between ISI
British fighter aircraft escorted a plane from Cairo bound for New York to an emergency landing in the U.K. after a passenger discovered a letter onboard threatening to blow up the aircraft, officials said Saturday. Flight 985 to John F. Kennedy Airport had around 300 passengers onboard when it was diverted to Glasgow’s Prestwick
Egypt has cut diplomatic ties with Damascus and has ordered the Syria's embassy in Cairo to be closed, the Egyptian president says. President Mohammed Morsi also urged world powers to enforce a no-fly zone over Syria. He also called on Lebanon's Hizbullah to leave Syria, where the Iranian proxy militia has been fighting
Moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani won Iran's presidential elections, scoring a landslide victory over his conservative rivals without the need of a second round run-off, Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said on state television on Saturday. Najjar said 72 percent of the 50 million eligible voters had turned out to vote, and that
Israeli and U.S. military officials are coordinating how to target and destroy Syrian president Bashar Assad’s arsenal of unconventional weapons under assorted scenarios, Israeli military and intelligence officials told TIME Magazine. One scenario would be the sudden removal of Assad from the scene, the magazine said. “That would prompt the allies to launch operations
Hardline Lebanese Sunni Muslim cleric Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir warned on Friday that “a war is coming to Lebanon” as Syrian rebels and their Lebanese supporters prepare to launch attacks against Hezbollah “everywhere.” Sheikh Assir said in a Friday sermon that a response to Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria could happen in a “few days” and
