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Pakistan's parliament resumed debate on Tuesday on whether the country should get involved in a Saudi-led campaign in Yemen, a day after the defence minister revealed Saudi wanted Pakistani warplanes, warships and soldiers. Saudi Arabia, the Gulf's main Sunni Muslim power, has asked Sunni-majority Pakistan to join a Saudi-led military coalition that began conducting air strikes last month against largely Shi'ite Houthi forces in Yemen. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has hedged his bets. He has repeatedly said he will defend any threat to Saudi Arabia's "territorial integrity" without defining what threat that could be, or what action he would take....

The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced Monday that it has approved sale of AH-1Z Viper Attack Helicopters and AGM-114R Hellfire II Missiles to Pakistan for an estimated cost of $952 million. Pakistan has requested 15 AH-1Z Viper Attack Helicopters, 32 T-700 GE 401C Engines (30 installed and 2 spares), 1000 AGM-114 R Hellfire II Missiles in containers, 36 H-1 Technical Refresh Mission computers, 17 AN/AAQ-30 Target Sight Systems, 30 629F-23 Ultra High Frequency/Very High Frequency Communication Systems, 19 H-764 Embedded Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation Systems, 32 Helmet Mounted Display/Optimized Top Owl, 17 APX-117A Identification Friend or Foe, 17...

Ayyan Ali, a top supermodel in Pakistan, has been charged with money laundering after she was caught with more than half a million dollars in her possession at Islamabad airport. On March 14, the 21-year-old model was charged with intent to illegally transport more than the legal $10,000 cash limit out of the country. She was caught in the VIP departure lounge of Benazir Bhutto International Airport with approximately $500,000 in her carry on bag. She has been housed in Adiala prison ever since. According to The Daily Mail, a customs official became suspicious after the model said she was...

Pakistan's Z-10s www.top81.cn Pakistan recently took delivery of three Z-10 attack helicopters, stored at this hangar in the Qasim Army base near Rawalphindi. The helicopters' state of disassembly suggests that Pakistani technicians are working to quickly familarize themselves with these new helicopters by installing rotor blades and other parts for flight, and then combat. Since a January 2015 agreement, China has transferred three Z-10 "Thunderbolt" attack helicopters to Pakistan, which has become China's staunchest ally and largest weapons buyer. These three Z-10 helicopters are currently at a Pakistani Army base in Qasim/Dhamial, undergoing testing, maintenance training and modifications for operating...

While the world focuses on the dangers that a nuclear-armed Iran could present in the Middle East, a potentially more dangerous and unstable nuclear proliferation is occurring in the Indian Ocean. In the coming years India, Pakistan, and perhaps China will likely deploy a significant number of nuclear weapons at sea in the Indian Ocean. This could further destabilise already unstable nuclear relationships, creating a real risk of a sea-based exchange of nuclear weapons. Observers have long seen India-Pakistan nuclear rivalry as the most unstable in the world, and South Asia as the most likely location of nuclear conflict. This...

When a county worker knocked on Abraham Joshua's front door Tuesday morning, he only expected notice that maintenance on a clogged culvert was complete. So, the 70-year-old Grand Rapids resident shuffled over, still dressed in pajamas. "It was still early," Joshua laughed. The news - that a crew from the Kent County Road Commission had found a cherished ring missing for about 20 years - was an awakening. "The man goes, 'Does this belong to you?'" Joshua said. The ring, even after a couple decades buried in dirt, still shined and a cut out of a cross was still visible....

Pakistan government has approved the purchase of eight submarines from China, as per an “in principle” decision conveyed during a hearing of the Pakistan National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Defence. Pakistan has been negotiating the purchase of six submarines – now increased to eight — from China since 2011. Pakistan Navy currently operates five French submarines: three Agosta 90B submarines purchased in the 1990s and two Agosta 70 submarines of late 1970s vintage. It also has three MG110 miniature submarines. After the recent accidents, the number of active duty submarines in Indian Navy is now down to 13 diesel-electric submarines...

A pan-Arab military coalition has begun waging war in Yemen, ostensibly on behalf of deposed Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Is this Arab League-approved "joint army" a credible combat force? That depends on who emerges as the joint army's central actor and commander. So far, Saudi Arabia has served as the coalition's most prominent public advocate and actor. The Saudis contend Iran backs the Houthi insurgents who overthrew Hadi. Strong evidence supports their contention. Yemen's war involves sectarian sympathies. Ayatollah-led Iran, the world's great Shia Muslim power, supports the Shia Houthi movement. Saudi Arabia's Wahabi-sect leaders have concluded that...

The US-led world powers and Iran Monday, March 30, entered the last tense hours for a nuclear deal as though Lausanne was on a different planet from the Middle East, where the Yemen war, in which Iran is deeply involved, abruptly scooped up a power outside the region, Pakistan. A high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad on Monday reaffirmed Pakistan’s “firm commitment to supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Saudi Arabia.” Among those attending were Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif, Advisor on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Defense Minister...

CAIRO — The Arab states said on Sunday that they had agreed to form a combined military force to counter both Iranian influence and Islamist extremism, a gesture many analysts attributed in large part to their drive for more independence from Washington. The agreement came as American and other Western diplomats in Lausanne, Switzerland, were racing to beat a self-imposed deadline of Tuesday to reach a deal with Iran that would restrict its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of economic sanctions. In response, Saudi Arabia and other American allies in the region have made clear that they are...

Foreign ministers from 22 Arab countries agreed to form a unified military force on Thursday, approving a draft resolution designed to counter growing security threats in the region. "The Arab ... ministers agreed on adopting an important principle, which is forming the unified Arab military force. The task of the force will be rapid military intervention to deal with security threats to Arab nations," Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby told reporters after the meeting, Reuters reported. The agreement, which Elaraby described as “historic,” came shortly after airstrikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia and its Arab...

Turkish troops in Kabul to serve Pak interestsBy Nusrat JaveedISLAMABAD: Reliable sources from amongst the Islamabad-based diplomats, revealed to The News Saturday that the Turkish president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, is coming to Pakistan next week; "primarily, to convince General Pervez Musharraf that Turkey's willingness to provide troops for the protection of Kabul, once Mulla Omar and his hawkish Taliban are no more, will also serve the long term economic and strategic interests of Islamabad."The mainstream Turkish press has already been told, officially, that during his Pakistan-visit, President Sezer "will reassure General Musharraf that despite the lack of consensus between the ...

The former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency on Sunday described President Obama's Middle East policy as one of "willful ignorance," saying the administration needs a clearer strategy for dealing with conflicts emerging across the region. Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn said during an interview on "Fox News Sunday" that recent developments in the Middle East are moving in a bad direction for the United States, with Iran "clearly on the march" to influence events in a "regional sectarian war." “At the end of the day, we have just this incredible policy confusion — never mind what our strategy is to...

Honestly, I think it is now only conjecture to say that World War III is not underway.  Just as the world didn't recognize the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand as the beginning of World War I, so the world didn't immediately recognize the invasions of Austria and Poland as the beginnings of World War II. The tumultuous uprisings in the Arab world that began in 2010 have only grown more tumultuous until now.  I believe the massive Arab coalition invasion of Yemen may later be seen as the beginning of World War III.  The wars and rumors of wars all across...

In a breakthrough, the CID today arrested two persons, both Bangladeshi Muslim nationals, one from West Bengal and the other from Mumbai, in connection with the gangrape of a 71-year-old nun at a convent school in Nadia district that caused a nation-wide outrage. ... The nun of Jesus and Mary Convent School was gangraped at Gangnapur in Nadia district of West Bengal in the early hours of March 14 which caused an outrage in the country and abroad

Yemen's beleaguered government said Saudi-led airstrikes against its Houthi militia opponents would not last long on the second day of a Gulf Arab-led campaign against the Iranian-allied militia that could escalate a proxy conflict spreading through the region. Warplanes targeted Houthi forces controlling Yemen's capital and their northern heartland on Friday and, in a boost for Riyadh, fellow monarchy Morocco said it would join the rapidly-assembled Sunni Muslim coalition against the Shi'ite Muslim group. Tribes in Yemen's oil producing Marib region said they supported the air campaign, but Houthi forces advanced south despite the airstrikes and Pakistan, named by Saudi...

Saudi deploys 100 fighter jets, 150,000 soldiers for anti-Houthi campaign. Also from Al Arabiya: UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan Deploy Warplanes Against HouthisThe UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan have deployed fighter jets to join the Saudi air force in the ongoing air campaign against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Al Arabiya News Chanel reported. The UAE has deployed 30 fighter jets, Bahrain 15, Kuwait 15, Qatar 10 and Jordan 6 warplanes, according to the news channel. Pakistan and Egypt are also taking part in the military campaign, contribution with air and naval forces. Al Arabiya said Egypt, Pakistan and Sudan have...

As reported first thing today, while the initial phase of the military campaign against Yemen has been taking place for the past 18 hours and been exclusively one of airborne assaults by forces of the "Decisive Storm" coalition, Saudi hinted at what is coming next following reports that it had built up a massive 150,000 troop deployment on the border with Yemen. And as expected, moments ago AP reported that Egyptian military and security officials told The Associated Press that the military intervention will go further, with a ground assault into Yemen by Egyptian, Saudi and other forces, planned once...

This is big news. Saudi Arabia and a Sunni coalition (UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait) has now begun bombing Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen: AL ARABIYA – Warplanes of the Royal Saudi Air Force bombed the positions of Yemen’s Houthi militia and destroyed most of their air defenses, Al Arabiya News Channel reported early on Thursday. Arab Gulf states had announced that they have decided to “repel Houthi aggression” in neighboring Yemen, following a request from the country’s President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. In their joint statement Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait said they “decided to repel Houthi militias, al-Qaeda...

Pakistan examining Saudi request to join operation in Yemen: FO Dawn Report | Mateen Haider — Updated Mar 26, 2015 02:02pm ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Thursday it was examining Saudi Arabia's request to join the Gulf-led operation against Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen. Adviser to Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz confirmed that top Saudi officials had contacted the Pakistani leadership requesting it to join the Yemen operation. A decision has not yet been taken, Aziz said. He further said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has summoned a high-level meeting this evening to consult his close...