Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

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A member of the Al-Nusra Front sits in tank decorated with the Al-Nusra flag near Al-Zahra village, north of Aleppo city, November 25, 2014.
(REUTERS/Hosam Katan)

Jihadists capture army base in northwestern Syria

by Asharq Al-Awsat | Dec 15, 2014 | Middle East

Beirut, AP—Jihadist fighters captured a Syrian army base Monday in the northwestern province of Idlib after two days of intense fighting that killed dozens of gunmen, activists said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and an Idlib-based activist who...

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Saudi ministers attend ceremony as new ministers take oath of office in Riyadh on Sunday, December 14, 2014. (Saudi Press Agency)

New Saudi ministers take oath of office

by Asharq Al-Awsat | Dec 15, 2014 | Middle East

Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz called on new ministers to take up their ministerial duties “with honesty,” after Saudi Arabia’s new cabinet took its oath of office before the monarch in Riyadh on Sunday. “Start...

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Police stand near the Lindt cafe, where hostages are being held, at Martin Place in central Sydney December 15, 2014. (REUTERS/David Gray)

Hostage taking in Sydney cafe sparks fears of Islamist-linked attack

by Asharq Al-Awsat | Dec 15, 2014 | World

Sydney, Reuters—Australian police locked down the center of the country’s biggest city on Monday after an armed man walked into a downtown Sydney cafe, took hostages and forced them to display an Islamic flag, igniting fears of a jihadist attack. Police said...

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OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri waits for the start of a meeting of OPEC oil ministers at OPEC’s headquarters in Vienna November 27, 2014. (Reuters/Heinz-Peter Bader)

Opinion: The Perennial Story of Gulf Oil

by Salman Al-dossary | Dec 15, 2014 | Opinion

By the time this article goes to press, oil prices will have suffered huge losses, approaching fifty per cent of their value of just five months ago. The decline in the price of a vital commodity on which some state budgets depend almost completely doubtless brings...

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Opinion: Syria’s Crisis and the Absence of Leadership

by Tariq Alhomayed | Dec 15, 2014 | Opinion

At the same time that the US government is saying that training the moderate Syrian opposition will be a long-term process, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has announced the end of lessons in the schools of Manbij—a Syrian town in Aleppo governorate—until...