Author: Al Fanhur

Oil prices gained on Friday, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to visit the Middle East to try and prevent the Israel-Gaza conflict from widening. Brent crude futures were up $1.42, or 1.83%, to $79.01 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose $1.78, or 2.47%%, to $73.97. Both benchmarks are on track to end the first week of the year higher, having almost recouped their losses from Thursday after hefty U.S. gasoline and distillate stock builds. The price rebound serves as “a reminder of the risk that is rooted in ever-growing tension in the Middle East,” PVM analyst…

The 2024 National Defense Authorization Act passed by Congress notably includes a provision for equipping Iraqi Kurdistan’s Peshmerga forces with air defenses. Such a move would likely be welcomed in the autonomous region since it has come under repeated missile and drone attacks from neighboring Iran and Iran-backed militias in recent years, attacks against which it has had no defense. The provision in the bill, passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate Dec. 14 and expected to be signed by President Biden, obligates the secretaries of defense and state to “develop a plan of action to equip and train Iraqi…

The court issued its sentence due to Raghad Hussein’s involvement in spreading the ideas and opinions of the banned Ba’ath Party via her appearance in the media and on television in 2021. A Baghdad court on Sunday, 22 October, sentenced in absentia Raghad, the eldest daughter of Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein, to seven years in prison for “promoting” her father’s outlawed Baath party. The Iraqi Baath party ruled the country from 1968 until it was dissolved and outlawed after Hussein’s regime was toppled by an illegal US-led invasion in 2003. Baghdad’s Criminal Court of Al-Karkh issued the sentence, and local Iraqi media and…

Mayan Khairy Saeed Beg, who is known as “Khatoon,” or princess, of the Yezidis, told Kurdistan 24 that Yezidis will not return to Shingal (Sinjar) if security and economic conditions do not improve. Mayan Khairy Saeed Beg, is the wife of Mir Hazim Tahsin Beg, the prince and spiritual leader of the Yezidi community in Iraq and the world. “A lot of people have university degrees but they are not employed. Our people must be able to defend themselves. If they [the authorities] improve the living conditions in Shingal, then yes, we would leave the camps – but that’s not…

Iraqi sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Saturday that US forces cut “information exchange channels” with Iraqi army leaders at the Ain al-Assad base in western Iraq, in light of recent armed attacks. The sources explained that the US move came after a limited number of faction attacks reached precise targets inside the base, adding that the US decision was a “precautionary measure” in anticipation of more strikes, as the Americans believe that their coordinates inside the base were being leaked by insiders to “the party carrying out the attacks.” Commenting on this information, a senior Iraqi officer denied that the…

WASHINGTON — International rights activists tell VOA that their counterparts in Iran are preparing to mark Saturday’s first anniversary of the death in police custody of women’s rights icon Mahsa Amini with new protests in defiance of Tehran’s preemptive crackdown on peaceful dissent. Amini was a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who was arrested by the Islamist nation’s morality police in Tehran last September for allegedly not wearing her hijab in accordance with Islamist rules. She died in custody three days later. Her death, following what witnesses said was a physical assault perpetrated by authorities, triggered months of mostly peaceful nationwide protests…

Thousands of people in Muslim countries and beyond held demonstrations Friday in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. They called for an end to Israel’s blockade and airstrikes following a brutal incursion into southern Israel by fighters from the Hamas militant group that rules Gaza. Demonstrators headed to Israeli military checkpoints after Friday prayers in the West Bank and gathered in Iraq at the country’s border crossing with Jordan; in Jordan itself; in locations across Egypt; in Turkey’s capital Ankara and its most populous city of Istanbul; and in Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco and South Africa. A Tuesday night explosion…

Officials in the Iraqi government denied reports that the upcoming visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had been canceled, confirming that its date has not yet been determined. Informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the visit has become unlikely because the two parties have disagreed on resolving disputes over oil exports, water, and security. Last month, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held discussions in Baghdad, aiming to pave the way for Erdogan’s visit. However, the sources said the talks were unencouraging for a visit, explaining that perhaps Turkish officials felt the visit needed more suitable conditions to ensure its…

Iraqis in Baghdad are baking in brutal heat as a scorching heatwave regularly pushes the temperature above 50 degrees Celsius during the day. Baghdad resident Mohammed Saddam said he was struggling to cope with the hot weather while out shopping, speaking as he wiped the sweat off his face. “Every single hour, I have to drink water. Every hour. I even didn’t finish shopping and I am going back home now,” he said. Those who have no option but to go to the street for shopping or working, are trying to drink a lot of water and juice to help…

Foreign undergraduate students at the University of Missouri hail from Afghanistan, India and South Korea. This year, some have been accepted into study abroad programs in Iraq and internships with local crisis shelters. But student visa rules forbid first-year students from working off-campus. And even when they are eligible, the permit process is complex and takes months. Adeleine Halsey of the Columbia Missourian profiles undergraduates who are running into these restrictions. (July 2023) Source : VOA News