RIYADH – Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has denounced Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the “new Hitler of the Middle East”, as tensions simmer between the regional rivals.
Any new war in the Middle East “will lead to the eradication of the Zionist regime,” the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared on Thursday, according to the semi-official state news agency Fars.
US Vice President Mike Pence will speak before the Knesset when he visits Israel in mid-December, Channel 10 news reported Wednesday. Top Israeli officials told the TV station that Pence had been the one to suggest an address to the Israeli parliament, an offer that was immediately accepted.
TEL AVIV — An alleged decision by the Palestinian Authority to freeze PLO meetings with the American administration drew responses from other PLO members, including some groups who accused the PA of using the alleged decision in their internal disputes.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone Tuesday for half an hour. The Prime Minister’s Office said that the phone conversation dealt with Syria and Iran’s attempts to establish itself in Syrian territory, with the PMO stating that “Prime Minister Netanyahu insisted on Israel’s security principles.”
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Tuesday rebuffed the Palestinian Authority’s claim that it has frozen communications with the United States over Washington’s recent threat to shutter the Palestine Liberation Office’s DC office.
TEL AVIV — The foreign ministers of Arab countries officially labeled the Iran-backed murderous group Hezbollah as a terrorist organization at a meeting in Cairo on Sunday.
The Palestinians have frozen all meetings with the United States after it decided to close their representative office in Washington, officials said on Tuesday.
TEL AVIV — The Saudi news website Elaph published an interview with Israeli Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot in which he laid out the security challenges in the region and stressed that there is full agreement between the Israeli mindset and that of Saudi Arabia regarding the threat from Iran.
Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz will retire next week and announce his son, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman, as his successor, the British Daily Mail reported Thursday, quoting a source close to the Saudi royal family who spoke exclusively with the paper.
Egypt faces high expectations from Saudi Arabia and its other Gulf Arab benefactors that it will have their back as tensions rise with their rival Iran, including throwing the weight of its military — the largest standing Arab army — into the crisis if needed.
RIYADH – Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has accepted an invitation to travel to Paris after Beirut accused Riyadh of detaining him following his shock resignation, the French foreign minister said Thursday.
In an unprecedented move, Israel on Tuesday co-sponsored a draft resolution against Syria that was submitted by Saudi Arabia at the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Palestinian leaders hoped a recently signed reconciliation agreement would lead to Egypt reopening its border with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, but those hopes seem to have been dashed.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has denied reports that PA President Mahmoud Abbas was presented with an ultimatum by Saudi Arabia to accept a peace deal outlined by the Trump administration or to resign from his position.
Jason Greenblatt, US President Donald Trump’s Special Representative for International Negotiations, said Monday that despite spending “a lot of time listening to and engaging with the Israelis, Palestinians and key regional leaders over the past few months,” the administration is not yet prepared to table a new proposal to jump-start the Israel-Palestinian peace process, or even to bring Israel-Palestinian leaders together.
CAIRO — Saudi Arabia said Monday that the Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen will begin reopening airports and seaports in the Arab world’s poorest country, days after closing them over a rebel ballistic missile attack on Riyadh.
WASHINGTON — The United States and Russia are nearing an a agreement on Syria for how they hope to resolve the Arab country’s civil war once the Islamic State group is defeated, officials said.
TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani warned Saudi Arabia on Wednesday that it will achieve nothing by threatening the might of Iran, as a war of words between the regional heavyweights intensifies.
CAIRO – Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ruled out a constitutional amendment to extend his term, saying an election would be held next year and he will not run again in 2022, in an interview with CNBC Monday.
Saudi Arabia and Iran traded fierce accusations over Yemen on Monday, with Riyadh saying a rebel missile attack “may amount to an act of war” and Tehran accusing its rival of war crimes.
MOUNT HERMON – The wounded Syrians, carried on donkeys through the pitch-black night, could be seen in the beam of a searchlight held by their unlikely saviours — Israeli soldiers.
RAFAH – Hamas handed over control of the Gaza Strip’s borders with Egypt and Israel to the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday in the first key test of a landmark Palestinian reconciliation accord agreed last month.
WASHINGTON — The United Nations is hoping to designate roughly $18 million in the coming years toward aiding Palestinian efforts to put more pressure on Israel via international legal action.
Britain is proud of its role a century ago in paving the way for the creation of Israel, with the key signing of the Balfour Declaration a matter of singular honour, according to UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
TEHRAN – Iran’s president on Sunday said his country would continue building weapons including developing missiles as the United States prepares new sanctions over its ballistic missile programme.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted a meeting in Jerusalem on Thursday with visiting US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
TEL AVIV — Hamas is treating the issue of reconciliation with the Fatah movement and the Palestinian Authority as a strategic one, according to the organization’s Gaza chief, Yahya Sinwar, who added during a meeting with unions in Gaza that divisions will not be allowed to continue.
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s judiciary said a court sentenced an alleged agent for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency to death.
Riyadh – Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday vowed to restore “moderate, open” Islam in a kingdom known for its ultra-conservative rule.
Hezbollah’s executive council deputy head Sheikh Nabil Qaouk has called the routing of Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Kirkuk by Iranian-backed Iraqi troops a victory by the resistance over the United States and Israel.
A delegation of senior Hamas officials arrived in Iran Friday on a mission to improve ties between the Palestinian terror group and the Islamic Republic.
AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan’s king has endorsed a fledgling Palestinian reconciliation agreement that is meant to end a decade-old political and ideological split between rivals Hamas and Fatah.
Sergei Shoigu will land in Israel on Monday for meetings with Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his first visit to the Jewish state since becoming Russia’s defense minister in 2012.
Saudi Arabia’s king praised US President Donald Trump for his “visionary” new strategy vis-a-vis Iran during a phone call between the two leaders on Saturday, the White House said Sunday.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said on Sunday that the US would “stay” in the Iranian nuclear agreement negotiated between the world powers, including the US, and Iran, but “aim to make it better.”
TEL AVIV — Media outlets in Saudi Arabia on Saturday praised U.S. President Donald Trump’s policy speech on Friday about the nuclear deal with Iran.
Hamas and Fatah declared December 1 as the deadline for the Palestinian Authority to take over the Gaza Strip on Thursday.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A top Emirati security official has said the only way for “Qatar’s crisis” to end is if Doha gave up hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup, his comments coming amid the ongoing diplomatic dispute between the energy-rich nation and four Arab countries.
TEL AVIV – Israeli lawmakers on Sunday decried President Donald Trump’s declaration that he wouldn’t “even think about” moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem until a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians is “given a shot.”
