TEL AVIV – Saudi Arabia is considering purchasing Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system in an effort to counter the threat from Iran, prominent Swiss paper Basler Zeitung reported this week.
Although 2018 is only days old, an event which not only has potential to be the story of the year but also set a new directional compass for Middle East stability is reportedly losing momentum.
Contents: Iranian advisors are ‘on the ground’ with Houthis in Yemen, supplying weapons and intelligence; Forces realign in the Yemen war following the death of Ali Abdullah Saleh
The U.S. Department of State officially designated three jihadists linked to al-Qaeda as global terrorists, a move intended to isolate the organization and bar the militants from using America’s financial system.
The Islamic State’s (ISIS/ISIL) “repressive ideology” and the Yemen-based al-Qaeda wing continue to pose a significant threat to the United States despite the territory they have lost to the American military and its allies, according to the U.S. military.
The Islamic State affiliate Boko Haram used at least 135 children to conduct suicide bombings in West Africa in 2017, according to statistics revealed by UNICEF this week.
Contents: Anti-government, anti-war and economic protests spread across Iran; Iran’s regime begins responding to the protests
Countries with appalling human rights records relished their moments in the spotlight Thursday, lambasting the U.S. for daring to move its Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The U.S. military has “conducted multiple ground operations and more than 120 strikes in 2017” to cripple the abilities and operations of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in Yemen, including jihadi recruiting, training, and using ungoverned spaces to export terrorism across the world, the American military reveals.
Contents: General Assembly Jerusalem vote: Low ‘yes’ count humiliates Palestinians; Palestinians in Jerusalem fail to get excited by UN vote
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, noted this week that there is mounting evidence showing that Iran is indeed arming Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen in violation of the U.N. resolution that codifies the nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic and world powers into international law.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have engaged in discussions with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB)-affiliated Islah party in Yemen as part of its efforts against Iranian-backed Shiite rebels in the war-ravaged country.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked the capital of Saudi Arabia, with a ballistic missile on Tuesday, specifically targeting the Saudi royal palace. Saudi media reports that air defenses were able to intercept the missile. Reporters in Riyadh heard an explosion and saw a “plume of smoke” in the sky above the city.
A report in Saudi outlet Al Arabiya on Monday cites local sources in Yemen as claiming that internal strife among the nation’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels has claimed the lives of more than 30 fighters who attempted to desert the movement.
The United States on Thursday displayed incontrovertible proof Iran has violated multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions against weapons proliferation in the form of missiles and explosives recovered from Middle Eastern battlefields by America’s allies.
TEL AVIV — Social media in the Arab world has been raging over the killing of former president of Yemen Abdullah Salah, who was deposed by his allies, the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Media aligned with the Houthi insurgents in Yemen reported on Wednesday that the Saudi-led coalition intervening in Yemen’s civil war intensified its airstrikes against positions occupied by rebels. Among those positions were the residence of Yemen’s ex-president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was gunned down by his erstwhile Houthi allies this week. The U.N. reported at least 25 airstrikes in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa over the past 24 hours.
ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT – Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said it is too early to tell what effect the killing of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh will have in Yemen, where there is a civil war raging between Iran-supported Houthi insurgents and the U.S.- and Saudi-backed government.
The son of ex-Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh has called for retaliation against the Iran-linked Houthi rebels who killed the former leader, accusing him of “treachery” for offering to “turn a new page” with the Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting the Shiite insurgents in Yemen.
Contents: Yemen’s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh killed in Houthi ambush; US officials plan for military strike on North Korea and war; Brexit negotiations collapse over Ireland border issue
Ali Abdullah Saleh, the former president of Yemen who became an ally of the Houthi insurgency, has been killed in an attack near the capital city of Sanaa.
Earlier today, Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, made a rare public appearance to discuss his efforts to secure an Israeli-Palestinian deal and forge a wider Middle East peace.
Contents: Yemen war changes direction with collapse of Iran-backed Houthi coalition; The Houthi-Saleh ‘alliance of convenience’ crumbles into violence
TEHRAN – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday that Middle Eastern countries should solve their problems together without relying on external powers.
UNITED NATIONS — UN experts who traveled to Saudi Arabia to inspect fragments of a missile fired from Yemen last month have found a possible link to an Iranian manufacturer, according to a confidential document seen by AFP on Friday.
Violent clashes between rival factions in Yemen’s rebel-held capital continued Saturday for the fourth straight day as forces loyal to a former president and Iran-backed Shiite rebels known as Houthis faced off in the streets of Sana’a, signaling disintegration in the rebel alliance at war with a Saudi-led coalition for nearly three years.
The ballistic missiles that Yemen’s Houthi Shi’ite rebels fired at Saudi Arabia were designed and built in Iran, according to a United Nations (U.N.) report.
Contents: UN asks for 2018 increase in humanitarian aid despite compassion fatigue; Humanitarian crises continue to grow year after year
Saudi Arabia’s apparent resolve to release up to 13 Yemenis once detained in the American military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba has reportedly concerned President Donald Trump’s National Security Council (NSC).
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia promised on Sunday that the military coalition headed by his country will renew its efforts to “pursue terrorism until it is eradicated completely” following Friday’s monstrous attack on a Sufi mosque in Egypt.
Contents: Syrian regime and Russia launch brutal attack on rebel-held areas in East Ghouta; Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin hug and declare the end of war in Syria
RIYADH – Saudi Arabia gathered officials from 40 Muslim countries on Sunday in the first meeting of an Islamic counter-terrorism alliance, a move Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman declared a “clear signal” to extremism.
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.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are ready to help rebuild Syria and bring about a lasting “ceasefire” there, chief commander Mohammad Ali Jafari said, adding that disarming Lebanon’s Hezbollah is out of the question, state TV reported on Thursday.
WASHINGTON, DC – Former Sen. Joseph Lieberman and retired General Charles Wall laid out their visions for the “the way forward” regarding the United States’ policy on Iran during a panel discussion at the National Press Club on Tuesday.
Saudi state news agency SPA reported that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke on the phone Monday with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the leader behind Saudi Arabia’s wide-reaching and controversial corruption crackdown.
Lt. General Gadi Eisenkot, Chief of the General Staff for the Israeli Defense Force, granted a landmark interview to London-based Saudi Arabian online newspaper Elaph in which he discussed Israel and the Saudis cooperating against the “real and largest threat to the region,” namely Iran.
The Islamic State group affiliate in Yemen claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing early Tuesday that targeted security forces in the southern port city of Aden, killing at least six people and injuring scores.
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.
The Saudi-led coalition carried out two air strikes on the defense ministry in Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sana’a late Friday, witnesses and rebel media said, without reporting casualties.
