Section: Middle East Monitor (Kuwait)
Russia accused of giving cluster bombs to Syrian regime
A Geneva-based nongovernmental body has urged Russia to stop providing Syrian A Geneva-based nongovernmental organization has accused Russia of providing the Syrian regime with new types of cluster bombs that end up killing large numbers of civilians. “As of yet it is impossible to determine conclusively whether the new type of cluster...
Religious dimension to Russian intervention in Syria ‘could open the gates of hell’
Tunisia’s former Ambassador to Syria has warned that if Russia is seeking to reinforce a religious dimension to its current military intervention in Syria, it could provoke the Muslim world, expand the conflict and “open the gates of hell” across the region. “The Russian Orthodox Church blessed the intervention, saying...
Moscow denies joining Assad’s fight against Daesh
Russia yesterday denied Israeli news reports that it is ready to participate in the operations against Daesh in Syria, Almesryoon.com reported. “One should not believe these reports,” Russia Today reported Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. It said that the Israeli website Ynet reported that a Russian “expeditionary...
Sweden warns travellers against use of Iraqi Airways
The Swedish Transport Authority warned travellers not to use the Iraqi Airways after suspending its license to enter its airports for “not meeting safety demands,” Alkhaleejonline.net reported on Friday. Director of the Swedish Transport Authority Simon Boslok said in a statement: “The Iraqi Airways has not been meeting the...
Turkey: Police detain 23 ‘Syria-bound’ foreigners
Police detained 23 foreign nationals on Tuesday for allegedly trying to cross into Syria illegally to join Daesh militant group, police sources said. The foreigners include Indonesian, Russian, Chinese, Ukrainian and Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China nationals. Women and children were also among the detainees, who were held during multiple...
200 Jewish immigrants arrived in Israel from France
More than 200 French Jewish immigrants arrived in Israel yesterday aboard a special flight arranged by the Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption, according to the Jewish Agency for Israel. In a press statement obtained by the Anadolu Agency, the agency, which encourages Jews to immigrate to Israel, noted that half of the migrants were...
Turkey and Russia postpone gas pipeline talks
Talks between Turkish and Russian officials about a proposed underwater gas pipeline have been postponed until next week. The proposed meeting in St Petersburg between the head of Russia’s Gazprom company and Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz is being rescheduled while both sides work to finalise the terms of the agreement, a senior...
EU re-imposes sanctions on Iran
The European Union yesterday re-imposed sanctions on an Iranian bank and 32 Iranian shipping companies using new legal justifications after a European court overturned the sanctions. The decision comes days after Iran and six world powers reached a framework agreement to end a dispute over Iran’s nuclear activities, which caused the...
The UK Foreign Office is flying blind
You might, very reasonably, expect the UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) to speak the language of the countries their policy affects. Or that when they brief politicians on crucial issues, that they have “immersed” themselves deep within foreign populations to understand fully the impact any new measures might have....
Turkey: No need for us to impose sanctions on Moscow
There is no need for Turkey to participate in imposing sanctions on Moscow, the country’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said yesterday. In an exclusive statement to the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit, Cavusoglu pointed out that his country had declared from the beginning that it would not participate in imposing sanctions on Russia,...
