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Attacks Hit Multiple Ships in Red Sea Corridor
Categories: Iraq
EU Launches Mission to Protect Maritime Traffic in Red Sea
brussels — The European Union on Monday officially launched its mission to protect maritime traffic in the Red Sea, which has been disrupted by Houthi rebel attacks, the European Commission president said.
Several countries have expressed their intention to participate in this mission, called Aspides (“shield” in ancient Greek), including Belgium, Italy, Germany and France. Spain has indicated that it will not participate.
“Europe will ensure freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, in...
Categories: Iraq
Norway to Transfer Tax Funds to Palestinian Authority
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Norway says it will transfer tax funds to the Palestinian Authority that have been frozen for months because of a dispute with Israel.
Under interim peace agreements dating back to the early 1990s, Israel collects taxes and customs on behalf of the PA, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank and also helps pay for public services in Gaza.
After Hamas' October 7 attack triggered the war in Gaza, Israel reduced the transfers by the amount that is spent...
Categories: Iraq
Probe of Alleged Israeli Abuses of Palestinian Women, Girls Urged
geneva — U.N. rights experts called for an independent probe Monday into alleged Israeli abuses against Palestinian women and girls, including killings, rapes and sexual assault.
The statement by the seven independent U.N. experts prompted an angry reaction from Israel, which rejected the "despicable and unfounded claims."
The experts voiced alarm at "credible allegations of egregious human rights violations" targeting women and girls in the Gaza Strip and the West...
Categories: Iraq
Iran Unveils Air Defense Systems as Middle East Tensions Soar
Tehran, Iran — Iran unveiled two new air defense systems on Saturday, state media reported, with tensions high in the Middle East amid the war in Gaza.
"The Arman anti-ballistic missile system and the Azarakhsh low-altitude air defense system, built by the ministry of defense, were unveiled this morning," the official IRNA news agency said.
The unveiling of the new weapons comes at a time of heightened regional tensions with the war between Israel and Tehran-backed Hamas raging...
Categories: Iraq
IAEA Chief Says Iran's Nuclear Enrichment Activity Remains High
BRUSSELS — Iran continues to enrich uranium well beyond the needs for commercial nuclear use despite U.N. pressure to stop it, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday, adding he wanted to visit Tehran next month for the first time in a year to end the "drifting apart."
Speaking to Reuters after he briefed EU foreign ministers on the subject, the head of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog said that while the pace of uranium enrichment had slowed slightly since the end of last year,...
Categories: Iraq
U.S. Strike Killed Afghans Recruited to Fight for Iran
Refugees who joined the largely overlooked Fatemiyoun Brigade to battle for Shiite Islam and escape crushing poverty had become a force in Tehran’s proxy wars.
Categories: Iraq
Top UN Court Opens Hearings Into Israel’s Occupation of Lands
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The Palestinian foreign minister on Monday accused Israel of apartheid as he urged the United Nation’s top court to declare that Israel’s occupation of lands sought for a Palestinian state is illegal and must end immediately and unconditionally.
The allegation came at the start of historic hearings into the legality of Israel’s 57-year occupation of lands sought for a Palestinian state. The case stands against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war, which immediately...
Categories: Iraq
Dubai International Airport had 86.9 Million Passengers Last Year
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The number of passengers flying through Dubai International Airport, the world's busiest for international travel, surged last year beyond its total for 2019 — just before the coronavirus pandemic grounded global aviation.
While still shy of its all-time high in 2018, the figures for 2023 showed just how far the airport, known as DXB, has bounced back from the pandemic. The number of passengers passing through its cavernous, air-conditioned terminals that...
Categories: Iraq
Iraqi Armed Groups Dial Down US Attacks on Request of Iran Commander
Baghdad, Iraq — A visit by the commander of Iran's elite Quds Force to Baghdad has led to a pause in attacks on U.S. troops by Iran-aligned groups in Iraq, multiple Iranian and Iraqi sources told Reuters, saying it was a sign Tehran wants to prevent a broader conflict.
Esmail Qaani met representatives of several of the armed groups in Baghdad airport on Jan. 29, less than 48 hours after Washington blamed the groups for the killing of three U.S. soldiers at the Tower 22 outpost in...
Categories: Iraq
A Look at Iraq's Competing Shiite Armed Factions and Parties, Many Iran-Aligned
Baghdad, Iraq — A visit by the commander of Iran's elite Quds Force to Baghdad has led to a pause in attacks on U.S. troops by Iran-aligned groups in Iraq, multiple Iranian and Iraqi sources told Reuters.
Here's a look at Iraq's most influential Shiite parties and armed groups, who remain divided over how to address the presence of U.S. forces in the country:
The coordination framework
The ruling Shiite coalition of Iraqi parties and armed groups and main backer of Iraqi...
Categories: Iraq
UN Conference on Afghanistan Begins Without Taliban
Doha, Qatar — A two-day United Nations-led conference on the way forward in Afghanistan started in Qatar’s capital Doha, Sunday, without the Taliban, the de facto rulers, in attendance.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres convened the meeting of special envoys for Afghanistan from 25 countries as well as Afghan civil society members, including women, and representatives of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the European Union, and the Shanghai Cooperation...
Categories: Iraq
Israel’s Cabinet Rejects Unilateral Recognition of Palestinian State
Israel’s Cabinet said Sunday that it rejects the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. The news came amidst growing calls by the United States and other countries for a two-state solution, as the Middle East conflict worsens. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has the details.
Categories: Iraq
Pentagon: US Launches Five New Strikes on Houthi Weapons Systems
Washington — U.S. forces in the Red Sea have "successfully conducted five self-defense strikes" to foil attacks by land and sea from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, the Pentagon said Sunday.
The strikes occurred on 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Sanaa time (1200 and 1700 GMT), the U.S. military said, and are part of a series of actions taken by the United States and its allies against the Houthis, aimed at halting the Iran-backed rebels' repeated attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes.
The...
Categories: Iraq
UN Court to Weigh Consequences of Israel Occupation
The Hague, Netherlands — The U.N.'s top court will from Monday hold hearings on the legal consequences of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories since 1967, with an unprecedented 52 countries expected to give evidence.
Nations including the United States, Russia, and China will address judges in a weeklong session at the Peace Palace in The Hague, seat of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
In December 2022, the U.N. General Assembly asked the ICJ for a nonbinding...
Categories: Iraq
As Thousands Protest in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu Dismisses Calls for Early Elections
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday dismissed the idea of holding early elections, while thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv for an anti-government protest.
Netanyahu has seen his popularity plummet in opinion polls since Hamas' October 7 terror attack that sparked the devastating Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Anti-government protests that shook the country for much of 2023 have largely subsided during the war. Still, demonstrators again took to the...
Categories: Iraq
Iran: Anti-Veil Activist Must Serve Long Prison Sentence
Tehran, Iran — Iranian justice summoned an activist against the compulsory wearing of the Muslim veil to serve a sentence of almost 4 years in prison, before suspending the execution of the verdict until March 10, local media reported Saturday.
Sepideh Rashno, 29, was detained for more than a month in July 2022 after being involved in an argument with another woman who accused her of removing her veil on a bus.
Judicial authorities announced to Sepideh Rashno that she would have to...
Categories: Iraq
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