Egypt closed the Rafiah crossing with Gaza on Saturday, citing "security concerns" following a crackdown on Sinai terrorists, reports the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency. The Palestinian Authority’s crossings director, Maher Abu Sabha, told Ma'an that the crossing would be closed indefinitely following unrest in the Sinai peninsula. Around 50 travelers managed to
The Egyptian military is mounting what is reportedly its largest operation in the Sinai Peninsula since the 1973 Yom Kippur War – as part of a struggle against islamist terrorists. At least 30 people are said to have been killed in the operation, which began Saturday morning. According to the Bethlehem-based Maan news agency,
Pope Francis urged the Group of 20 leaders on Thursday to abandon the “futile pursuit” of a military solution in Syria as the Vatican laid out its case for a negotiated settlement that guarantees rights for all Syrians, including minority Christians. In a letter to the G-20 host, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Francis
The United States declared on Thursday that Russia is holding the U.N. Security Council on Syria hostage. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, lashed out at Russia, and left little doubt that Washington would not seek U.N. approval in response to the August 21 chemical weapons attack near Syria’s capital Damascus.
Syrian anti-regime activists say government troops and al-Qaida-linked rebels are fighting over a regime-held Christian village for a second day. The director of the Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, says the fighters of al-Qaida affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra group entered the Christian village of Maaloula overnight. Despite heavy army presence in
An Egyptian policeman was shot dead and another wounded on Wednesday at a checkpoint in the southern town of Aswan, the Interior Ministry said, in what appeared to be a revenge killing. The attack was carried out by relatives of a man killed earlier in an exchange of fire with police at the checkpoint.
Al-Qaeda’s leaders have been bolstering their anti-drone efforts, setting up cells of engineers to shoot down, disable or hijack U.S. drones, the Washington Post reported late Tuesday classified documents. The militant leadership is “hoping to exploit the technological vulnerabilities of a weapons system that has inflicted huge losses against the terrorist network,” the Post
Amid speculation that Russia may hike military assistance to Syria should the Unites States strike, Russian leader Vladimir Putin warned the West against taking action, in comments published on Wednesday. In an interview with The Associated Press and Russia’s state Channel 1 television, Putin said that Moscow has provided some components of the
Egypt’s interim leader Adly Mansour said on Tuesday that his country is conducting a strategic review of its foreign relations after failing to win European and American support for the military-backed overthrow of Islamist President Mohammad Mursi. In his first television interview since he was appointed by General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as interim president
A video posted on YouTube and circulated on Thursday shows two men firing rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) at a container ship that was attacked on Saturday in the Suez Canal. Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the video and there were no claims of responsibility for the attack on Islamist websites. The
