Greater Middle East

Bahrain court convicts 11 of attack on police

A Bahraini court found 11 Shi'ities guilty  of a attack carried out last year and sentenced three to death. The others received life in prison and will be stripped of their citizenship.

Greater Middle East

UN rights experts urge Oman to release activist

Rights activist Said Ali Said Jadad was arrested with no warrant by Omani authorities, charged with undermining the prestige of the state and inciting demonstrations.

Planet Watch

Behind oil slump: shale boom or geopolitics?

Experts tell us the North American shale oil boom is responsible for low prices despite Middle East unrest. But the price slump serves Western aims of weakening Russia and Iran.

Greater Middle East

Bahrain: protests against British base deal

Protests were held in the Bahraini island city of Sitra against an agreement signed between the kingdom and Great Britain to establish a new military base in the Persian Gulf state.

Greater Middle East

Bahrain court suspends main opposition group

A Bahrain court, actining in a suit brought by the Ministry of Justice, ordered the country's main Shi'ite opposition group al-Wefaq to suspend all activities.

Greater Middle East

Saudi Arabia sentences Shi’ite cleric to death

Sh'iite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was convicted of sedition and other charges in Saudi Arabia and sentenced to death—posing greater sectarian tensions in the Gulf states.

Greater Middle East

Bahrain activist charged over insulting tweets

Rights activist Nabeel Rajab faces criminal charges over his tweets that claimed Bahrain's security institutions were the first incubators for extremist ideology.

Iraq

First US air-strikes on ISIS targets in Syria

Warplanes flying from the USS George HW Bush carried out the first US air-strikes against ISIS targets in Syria, with planes from five Arab countries also participating in the raids.

Iraq

Arab intervention force against ISIS?

Egypt called for an "Arab Alliance" to halt an ISIS advance on the Gulf States, as US air-strikes hit ISIS positions near Sinjar. Obama said there is no "timetable" for the strikes  to end.