Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Media ID: 55341025
Caption:

A handout picture released by the Middle East News Agency (MENA) shows Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi (C), surrounded by top military generals, as he addresses journalists following an emergency meeting of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) in Cairo on January 31, 2015. (AFP Photo/MENA/HO)

Egypt creates new military command to combat Sinai militants

by Sawsan Abu-Husain | Feb 1, 2015 | Middle East

Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has ordered the creation of a unified military command to fight militant groups in the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, just days after a deadly attack in the region killed dozens of security personnel. In...

Media ID: 55341020
Caption:

Members of the Shi’ite Houthi militia, wearing police uniforms, stand guard outside a hall where the movement is set to hold a tribal gathering in Sana’a, Yemen, on February 1, 2015. (EPA/STR)

Houthis attempting to control Yemen’s Bab El-Mandeb strait: source

by Arafat Madabish | Feb 1, 2015 | Middle East

Sana’a, Asharq Al-Awsat—Recent advances by Yemen’s Houthi movement are part of an attempt to take control of the strategic Bab El-Mandeb strait off the Yemeni coast, military sources in the country said on Saturday. This comes as three members of the group and three...

Media ID: 55341017
Caption:

An armoured vehicle used by Boko Haram militants captured by the Nigerian military in Maiduguri, Borno State, North East Nigeria, on January 27, 2015. (EPA/STR)

Extremists attack biggest city in northeast Nigeria

by Asharq Al-Awsat | Feb 1, 2015 | World

Maiduguri, Nigeria, AP—Islamic extremists attacked Maiduguri, the biggest city in northeast Nigeria from four fronts overnight with the crescendo of warfare—booming cannon and whooshing rockets—continuing Sunday, witnesses said. The third attack in a week on Maiduguri...

Media ID: 55341014
Caption:

People walk past a big screen reporting that a Japanese hostage was killed by the ISIS, in Tokyo, Japan, on February 1, 2015. (AFP PHOTO / Toru YAMANAKA)

ISIS says it has beheaded second Japanese hostage Goto

by Asharq Al-Awsat | Feb 1, 2015 | Middle East

Tokyo, Reuters—Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants said they had beheaded a second Japanese hostage, journalist Kenji Goto, prompting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to vow to step up humanitarian aid to the group’s opponents in the Middle East and help...

Media ID: 55335409
Caption:

In this July 15, 2014 file photo, Haider Al-Abadi speaks to the media after an Iraqi parliament session in Baghdad. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iraq PM promises National Guard within six months

by Hamza Mustafa | Feb 1, 2015 | Middle East

Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—Iraqi National Guard units will be formed within six months, Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi pledged on Saturday at an interfaith dialogue conference in Baghdad. “The government is committed to forming a National Guard force within 6 months,”...