• Rulers of Muslims convene Arab and OIC Summits to Bury the Issue of Gaza • Malaysian Judicial System Forgives Anwar Ibrahim and turns against ex-PM Najib • Germany Vents Anger against America through European Council President
On Monday, the Jewish entity faced the “March of Return” in Gaza on the 70th anniversary of the Nakba with a massacre, in which dozens were martyred and thousands were wounded. At least 59 people, including seven children, were killed and more than 2,700 were injured, including 100 seriously wounded. This massacre comes amidst the […]
Turkish President Erdogan visited London this week to gather support for his re-election campaign. As expected he put on a great show of his Islamic credentials, which amounted to no more than secular and individualistic platitudes. He then attempted to appear as a great statesman commenting on how the Muslims suffer from imperial greed, and […]
* Trump to meet UAE, Saudi leaders to Resolve Qatar Crisis * Why is Turkey Objecting to Natural Gas Drillings by Egypt and Cyprus in the Mediterranean? * Pakistan Launches Naval Exercise as it aims to Counter India, Protect Economy
A trend that is currently gaining traction in Palestine with ferocity not limited to the following Palestinian Ministry of Education extracurricular activities with the youth: Mixed debate competitions in various municipalities for high schools (targeting smaller villages) Thousands of students participate in Marathons in protest of the Balfour Agreement Mixed dabka dances held at Arab […]
* Announces $64 Billion Investment in Entertainment Sector * The Slaughter of Ghouta * Pakistan Send Troops to Defend Saudi Monarchy * Turkey Needs (Israel), says Erdogan
Asharq Al-Awsat: “We are going through the worst days of our lives in Ghouta” is the description in short given by the director of the hospital in eastern Ghouta Amanab Balur located east of the capital Damascus, of what the area is going through of intensive bombardment these past days which led to the killing […]
The disturbing images of woman and children lying on the floor in body bags and shrouds, the videos messages of trapped mothers telling the world that we have failed them and that they only rely on Allah (swt) reminded me of the courage that the hairdresser of Pharaoh’s daughter showed when faced with the worst […]
Official media and social media sites reported the horrific images of the shelling, burning and annihilation of more than 400,000 Muslims in Eastern Ghouta. Hadi al-Abdullah, a Syrian activist, said on his Facebook account: “They are unable to count the martyrs. In two days more than 200 martyrs fell”.
* UN Security Council Delays Vote on Syria Ceasefire * Despite Negotiations Breakthrough America continues to Build Pressure on North Korea * Western Countries Powerless to Prevent Islam’s Advance
• ‘Europe is Being Overrun’: Hungarian leader Viktor Orban • Saudi Arabia, China, Turkey Blocked US Move Against Pakistan on Terror Financing: Report • In Long-Secular Turkey, Sharia is Gradually Taking Over
Yes, Al-Masjid An-Nabawi and the Ka’aba Have Right on Our Blood, but What of Masjid Al-Aqsa and the Cries of the Oppressed? A widespread discussion has been sparked after Pakistan’s Defence Minister, Khurram Dastagir, confirmed on 19 February 2018 that a further 1,000 troops are to be sent to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in […]
By Arij Limam
Jordan has closed its border with Syria after rebels fighting Bashar Al Assad seized control of crossing between the two countries.
It was not clear which rebel group had taken the Nasib border post from Assad’s forces, with various reports claiming that Free Syrian Army (FSA), the Al Qaeda-linked Jabat Al Nusra and another rebel faction, the Southern Front, was in control.
Other sources said that a coalition of groups calling itself the Islamic Front had captured the crossing, a major gateway for the Syrian government.
By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV
Ever since the Arab Spring began four years ago, Saudi Arabia waged a two-front campaign against its Shiite nemesis Iran, and against the Sunni Islamists—led by the Muslim Brotherhood—whose rise across the region had challenged the kingdom’s legitimacy.
The unexpectedly broad Sunni coalition that Saudi Arabia’s new King Salman managed to assemble last week against pro-Iranian Houthi forces in Yemen heralds the end of this balancing act.
وَلَا تَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ ۖ إِنَّ اللَّهَ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ
“Do not help each other to wrongdoing and enmity. Have taqwa of Allah. Allah is severe in retribution.”
(Al-Maida, 5:2)
AFP, United Nations
Gulf countries are locked in tough negotiations with Russia on a U.N. draft resolution to impose an arms embargo and sanctions on Yemen, diplomats said Wednesday.
The resolution would seek to re-launch a political dialogue that broke down after Yemen’s Shiite Houthi rebels pressed ahead with an offensive, forcing President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi to flee to Saudi Arabia.
The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
مَنْ سَكَنَ الْبَادِيَةَ جَفَا وَمَنِ اتَّبَعَ الصَّيْدَ غَفَلَ وَمَنْ أَتَى أَبْوَابَ السَّلاَطِينِ افْتُتِنَ
“Whoever resides in the deserts he becomes ignorant, whoever follows game he becomes heedless, and whoever comes to the door of the ruler he will suffer a fitnah.”
By Staff writer | Al Arabiya News
The head of Egypt’s al-Azhar, one of the most prestigious centers of Sunni Islam learning, on Wednesday accused Yemen’s Houthi rebels of tampering with the country’s security and obstructing political solutions to the crisis.
By Staff writer | Al Arabiya News
Arab plans to create a unified military force to counter growing security threats in the Middle East are being supported by the United States, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Monday.
Carter said the Pentagon would cooperate with the force where U.S. and Arab interests coincide.
Carter told reporters during a visit to Fort Drum in New York that U.S. military leaders who met with him in Kuwait several weeks ago thought that regional members of the coalition fighting ISIS militants should be encouraged to do more if they were able.
إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ فَأَصْلِحُوا بَيْنَ أَخَوَيْكُمْ ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ
“The believers are brothers, so make peace between your brothers and have taqwa of Allah so that hopefully you will gain mercy.”
(Al-Hujjurat, 10)
By Reuters
Pakistan will send troops to Saudi Arabia to join the coalition fighting Yemeni Houthi rebels, a senior government official said on Monday, joining several Gulf states, Sudan, Egypt and Morocco.
By Ali al-Mujahed and Hugh Naylor
SANAA, Yemen — An apparent airstrike killed scores of people at a United Nations refugee camp in northern Yemen on Monday amid escalating air raids by a Saudi Arabia-led coalition that are targeting Shiite insurgents across the war-ravaged country.
أَفَأَمِنَ الَّذِينَ مَكَرُوا السَّيِّئَاتِ أَنْ يَخْسِفَ اللَّهُ بِهِمُ الْأَرْضَ أَوْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ الْعَذَابُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ
“Do those who plot evil actions feel secure that Allah will not cause the earth to swallow them up or that a punishment will not come upon them from where they least expect?”
(An-Nahl, 45)
With large influxes of cash and military training, the US military often ‘super-empowered’ the wrong people in Iraq and Afghanistan. It faces the same tough issues in Syria.
By Anna Mulrine, Staff writer
WASHINGTON — As the US grapples with whether it should pursue a larger role in the Syrian War – and just how much military aid to give Iraqi troops battling the Islamic State – it is also trying to figure out how to avoid one of the most basic and nettlesome blunders of all: inadvertently creating a Frankenstein’s monster in the form of corrupt local power brokers.
وَيَوْمَئِذٍ يَفْرَحُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ
بِنَصْرِ اللَّهِ ۚ يَنْصُرُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ ۖ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيمُ
“On that day, the believers will rejoice in Allah’s help. He grants victory to whoever He wills. He is the Almighty, the Most Merciful.”
(Ar-Rum, 30:4-5)
Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate and its allies seized on Saturday the city of Idlib, the second provincial capital lost by the government, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“After five days of fighting, “Al-Nusra Front and its allies have captured all of Idlib,” the Britain-based Observatory said.
Al-Nusra Front, the official Syrian affiliate of Al-Qaeda, announced the capture of the northwestern city on its Twitter accounts.
وَتَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْبِرِّ وَالتَّقْوَىٰ ۖ وَلَا تَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ ۖ إِنَّ اللَّهَ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ
“Help each other to goodness and taqwa. Do not help each other to wrongdoing and enmity. Have taqwa of Allah. Allah is severe in retribution.”
(Al-Maida, 5:2)
Abdel Fatah al-Sisi says Arab world faces ‘unprecedented’ threats – and describes Shia rebels in Yemen ‘stooges of Iran’
Abdel Fatah al-Sisi receives Saudi King Salman upon his arrival ahead of the Arab Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh.
Martin Williams and agencies
Egypt’s president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, has backed calls to create a unified Arab force to confront regional security threats, and said intervention in Yemen was the “inevitable” result of meddling by a foreign power.
Speaking at an Arab League summit, he said that the military campaign against Shia Houthi militias in Yemen, which has been led by Saudi Arabia, aimed to “preserve Yemen’s unity and the peace of its territories”.
Independent As a Saudi-led coalition wades into the fight for Yemen – currently under siege from Houthi rebels who are backed by Iran – Robert Fisk examines the much wider-reaching repercussions of this escalating conflict ROBERT FISK Its air attacks on Yemen are a historic and potentially fatal blow to the Kingdom and to the […]
وَلَا يَحْسَبَنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَنَّمَا نُمْلِي لَهُمْ خَيْرٌ لِأَنْفُسِهِمْ ۚ إِنَّمَا نُمْلِي لَهُمْ لِيَزْدَادُوا إِثْمًا ۚ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ مُهِينٌ
“Those who are kafir should not imagine that the extra time We grant to them is good for them. We only allow them more time so they will increase in evildoing. They will have a humiliating punishment.”
(Al-Imran, 3:178)
The IDF demanded entry to homes in Hebron without explanation
LIZZIE DEARDEN
Footage showing terrified Palestinian children being woken up by armed Israeli soldiers for questioning in the dead of the night has emerged.
Boys as young as nine are shown being questioned about stone throwing and photographed by soldiers who dismiss their parents’ protests.
A partially sighted teenage boy was among those interrogated on 23 February, according to a human rights group.
وَقَضَيْنَا إِلَىٰ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ فِي الْكِتَابِ لَتُفْسِدُنَّ فِي الْأَرْضِ مَرَّتَيْنِ وَلَتَعْلُنَّ عُلُوًّا كَبِيرًا
فَإِذَا جَاءَ وَعْدُ أُولَاهُمَا بَعَثْنَا عَلَيْكُمْ عِبَادًا لَنَا أُولِي بَأْسٍ شَدِيدٍ فَجَاسُوا خِلَالَ الدِّيَارِ ۚ وَكَانَ وَعْدًا مَفْعُولًا
ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَا لَكُمُ الْكَرَّةَ عَلَيْهِمْ وَأَمْدَدْنَاكُمْ بِأَمْوَالٍ وَبَنِينَ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ أَكْثَرَ نَفِيرًا
إِنْ أَحْسَنْتُمْ أَحْسَنْتُمْ لِأَنْفُسِكُمْ ۖ وَإِنْ أَسَأْتُمْ فَلَهَا ۚ فَإِذَا جَاءَ وَعْدُ الْآخِرَةِ لِيَسُوءُوا وُجُوهَكُمْ وَلِيَدْخُلُوا الْمَسْجِدَ كَمَا دَخَلُوهُ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ وَلِيُتَبِّرُوا مَا عَلَوْا تَتْبِيرًا
عَسَىٰ رَبُّكُمْ أَنْ يَرْحَمَكُمْ ۚ وَإِنْ عُدْتُمْ عُدْنَا ۘ وَجَعَلْنَا جَهَنَّمَ لِلْكَافِرِينَ حَصِيرًا
We decreed in the Book for the tribe of Israel: ‘You will twice cause corruption on the earth and you will rise to a great height. When the promised first time came, We sent against you slaves of Ours possessing great force, and they ransacked your houses, rampaging right through them. It was a promise which was fulfilled. Then once again We gave you the upper hand over them and supplied you with more wealth and children and made you the most numerous group. If you do good, you do it to yourselves. If you do evil, you do it to your detriment. When the next promised time arrived, it was so that they could injure you and enter the Temple as they had entered it the first time, and in order to completely destroy what they had conquered. It may well be that your Lord will have mercy on you. But if you revert to what you did, We also will revert. We have made Hell a prison for the kafirun.’
(Al-Israa, 4-8)
More than 2,300 Palestinians killed and more than 17,000 injured, according to annual report by UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
The conflict in Gaza in July and August was largely responsible for the dramatic increase in fatalities, claiming the lives of 2,220 Gazans
Mairav Zonszein in Tel Aviv
Israel killed more Palestinian civilians in 2014 than any in other year since the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip began in 1967, a UN report has said.
Israel’s activities in the occupied territories resulted in the deaths of 2,314 Palestinians and 17,125 injuries last year, compared with 39 deaths and 3,964 injuries in 2013, according to the annual report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
(Reuters) – Britain will send around 75 military personnel to join a U.S.-led programme to train Syrian opposition forces to fight the hardline Islamic State group, Defence Minister Michael Fallon said on Thursday.
The programme will train and equip thousands of screened members of the opposition over the next three years to help them defend Syrian communities against Islamic State before eventually leading offensives, the statement said.
Many see it the violence in Yemen as a proxy war between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran. That’s true to an extent, but risks oversimplification.
By Dan Murphy, Staff writer
That Yemen is in the midst of a civil war is now clear, contrary to the opinion of UN envoy Jamal Benomar. Last week witnessed bloody fighting around the airport in the capital, proclamations and threats from deposed President Abdu Mansur Hadi, and the horrific suicide bombing by Sunni jihadis of two Shiite mosques that claimed more than 140 lives.
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ فَتَنُوا الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَتُوبُوا فَلَهُمْ عَذَابُ جَهَنَّمَ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابُ الْحَرِيقِ
“Those who persecute men and women of the believers, and then do not make tawba, will have the punishment of Hell, will have the punishment of the Burning.”
(Al-Burooj, 10)
Human Rights watch claims Iraqi forces and Shia militias destroyed two entire villages
HEATHER SAUL
Iraq’s security forces destroyed entire villages and displaced thousands of Sunni residents after pushing back Isis’s advance in the besieged town of Amerli, a human rights group has claimed.
Militias, volunteer fighters, and Iraqi security forces forced Isis militants to retreat from Amerli, in northern Iraq, in September, where at least 12,000 people had been trapped for almost three months.
وَمَنْ يَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِنًا مُتَعَمِّدًا فَجَزَاؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ خَالِدًا فِيهَا وَغَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَلَعَنَهُ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُ عَذَابًا عَظِيمًا
“As for anyone who kills a believer deliberately, his repayment is Hell, remaining in it for ever. Allah is angry with him and has cursed him, and has prepared for him a terrible punishment.”
(An-Nisaa, 4:93)
By Staff writer | Al Arabiya News
Houthi rebels opened fire on Tuesday at demonstrators in the Yemeni city of Taez, killing eight protesters and wounding 120 others, Al Arabiya News Channel reported.
The rebels attacked the demonstrators as they gathered for the third consecutive day to protest the militia’s arrival in Taez, after the Houthis sent thousands of troops south from the capital Sanaa, which they control.
BEIRUT, March 24 (Reuters) – An alliance of Syrian Islamist rebels including al Qaeda’s official wing said they had launched an offensive on Tuesday to take the northwestern city of Idlib, which is close to the main strategic highway linking Damascus to Aleppo.
Districts of Idlib city, where more than 100,000 people live, have been controlled by both the army and insurgents since the crisis started four years ago. The army now controls urban areas and rebels are stationed outside the city.
