It's called Heaven Square, but after the Islamic State (ISIS) group started using the roundabout in Raqqa for gruesome public executions it earned a new name: Hell Square. In the year since the jihadist group announced its "caliphate" last June, its de facto Syrian capital of Raqqa has been transformed into a macabre metropolis.
Lawyers for Egypt's deposed Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, on Thursday appealed his sentencing to 20 years in prison for the arrest and torture of protesters during his mandate, AFP reported. Morsi, who was ousted by then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in July 2013, was convicted in April over the protest
Amid speculation by experts that a nuclear deal with Shi'ite Iran might force its Sunni rival Saudi Arabia to buy a nuclear weapon, likely from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia on Thursday signed a nuclear agreement with Russia. Al Arabiya reported that six agreements were signed Thursday between the Saudis and the Russians, including one on
The Palestinian Authority (PA) will next week submit their first "war crimes" file to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in their legal offensive against Israel, an official said on Thursday. The move is part of an increased focus on diplomatic maneuvering and appeals to international bodies by the PA, in unilateral moves to join
Jordan is gearing up for a possible invasion by Islamic terror groups, local media reported Thursday. According to reports, King Abdullah II, on a tour this week of border areas near Iraq and Syria, offered to arm Bedouin tribes living in those areas - on both sides of the border - to fight against
Israel, Egypt and the United States are seeking to replace Mahmoud Abbas as chairman of the Palestinian Authority (PA), the Quds Press news agency reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed “senior Palestinian officials”. According to the report, a meeting was held in Cairo two weeks ago with representatives from the Israeli Mossad, Egyptian intelligence officers
The suspected mastermind of an attack on a Paris Jewish restaurant in 1982 that left six people dead and 22 injured has been arrested in Jordan, a source close to the case said Wednesday. Zuhair Mohamad Hassan Khalid al-Abassi, alias "Amjad Atta", was one of three men for whom France issued an international arrest
Despite historic Israeli “gestures” designed to make travel to the Temple Mount much easier for Arabs from Judea and Samaria during Ramadan, top officials in the Palestinian Authority have been calling for PA Arabs to boycott the Al-Aqsa (Dome of the Rock) Mosque – for fear that Arabs will spend money while they are there,
The Palestinian Authority (PA) unity government of Hamas and Fatah was said to be on the brink of resigning Wednesday in a deepening rift with Gaza as its de facto rulers Hamas hold separate, indirect talks with Israel. A Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official said the government of technocrats formed last year to replace
Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas led a meeting of the Revolutionary Council of his Fatah faction on Tuesday, in which he laid out his foreign policy on key issues. Abbas revealed that there are no contacts with Israel as part of "peace talks" at the current juncture in time, and warned of the
