Greater Middle East
Saudi Court upholds lashing for blogger
A Saudi court upheld the sentence of 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for pro-secular blogger Raif Badawi for "insulting Islam through electronic channels."
Tag: Greater Middle East
Greater Middle East
Gains for Kurds, Armenians in Turkish elections
The pro-Kurdish opposition enters parliament for the first time in an upset for Turkey's ruling AK Party—despite a wave of terror attacks on Kurdish party rallies and offices.
Greater Middle East
Egypt: court orders Mubarak retrial in 2011 killings
An Egyptian court ordered a retrial for former president Hosni Mubarak, who was acquitted in the killings of hundreds of protestors during the 2011 uprising that ousted his regime.
Greater Middle East
Turkey: mine disaster survivors face prison
Nine Turkish miners demanding justice in last year's Soma mining disaster that killed over 300 face six years in prison for violating the law restricting demonstrations.
Greater Middle East
ISIS insurgency escalates in Sinai Peninsula
Several were killed and a mosque reportedly destroyed as Egyptian security forces battled militants of the ISIS-aligned Ansar Bait al-Maqdis in the Sinai Peninsula.
Greater Middle East
US tilt to Assad undermining drive against ISIS
Syrian rebels are turning down Washington's offer of training to fight ISIS, because the State Department is imposing the stipulation that it not be used to fight Assad.
Greater Middle East
Nuclear strike in Yemen? No, but the truth is bad
Conspiranoid websites air disturbing footage of a huge mushroom cloud exploding near Yemen's capital—apparently an under-reported air-strike on a weapons depot.
Greater Middle East
ISIS blows up Syrian prison at Palmyra
ISIS militants blew up the Tadmur prison complex at Palmyra—a move protested by Syria's civil resistance as destroying evidence of the Assad regime's crimes there.
Greater Middle East
Egypt: court acquits officer in torture death
An Egyptian court acquitted a police officer accused of torturing to death an Islamist militant arrested over a deadly church bombing in the prelude to Mubarak's ouster.
Greater Middle East
Syria: Nusra Front announces drive on Damascus
Islamist rebels led by al-Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front have seized new territory in northwestern Syria, and issued a pledge to take Damascus and topple the regime.
Greater Middle East
US scuttles Mideast nuclear-free zone —for Israel
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation talks concluded at the UN without approving a final document—due to US blocking of a provision on creating a Middle East nuclear-free zone.
Greater Middle East
Syria: Kurdish-Assyrian alliance against ISIS
Kurdish forces of the People's Protection Units (YPG) have formed an alliance with the Assyrian Military Council to fight ISIS for control of northeast Syria's Hassakeh governorate.