Free Republic

One of the most influential Arab journalists in the world, Jamal Khashoggi, went missing after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last week. Turkish authorities have blamed the Saudis, but Riyadh has denied harming the veteran reporter.Jamal Khashoggi, 59, was born in Medina, Saudi Arabia, one of the holiest cities in Islam. Like many Saudis at the time, Khashoggi left to study abroad. He earned a business administration degree in 1983 at Indiana State University in the United States.Career in journalismKhashoggi began his career as a reporter for the English language newspaper Saudi Gazette. He went on to work for...

In an interview with Syrian newspaper Al Watan this morning, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stressed that “Israel alone” is Syria’s enemy. “He who conquers our land is an enemy country, not [merely] a country whose leaders employ hostile policies. Israel alone remains our enemy country.” “Our land” is apparently a reference to the Land of Israel itself, and not Syria, which Arab news outlets reported yesterday the Israeli Air Force had bombed. …

Fatwas, the legal opinions proclaimed by Islamic scholars, have proliferated in the Muslim world since the 1980's, driven by rising literacy rates and the Internet. The growth in fatwas - some of them contradictory - has led to a debate over who can legitimately issue them and has alarmed governments in the Middle East, since the decrees sometimes challenge state-sanctioned interpretations of Islam. Yet criticizing fatwas about divisive issues like the propriety of killing civilians and Shiites can be dangerous for officials. So the Saudi government is trying a different tactic, zeroing in on what it considers frivolous fatwas in...

Citing only alleged European "secret reports," an article in a Saudi government daily accused the U.S. Army of harvesting the organs of Iraqis and selling them. The story in Al-Watan also was published in the Iranian daily Jomhouri-ye Islami and the Syrian daily Teshreen, reports the Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI.

Dec. 13, 2004 12:12 | Updated Dec. 13, 2004 12:27 Report: Iran trying to increase influence in PA By JPOST.COM STAFFIran is attempting to increase its influence in the Palestinian Authority following the death of Yasser Arafat, the Kuwait-based Al-Watan newspaper reported Monday. Quoting PA officials, Al-Watan reported that Iran had recently transferred US $22 million to the Hizbullah so that the Lebanese Shi'ite group can finance terror activities in the Palestinian territories. The paper also reported that Iran had offered to pay US $5 million to Fatah head Farouk Khadoumi if he traveled to Tehran or Damascus for discussions...

Al-Zarqawi planning major attack in Europe or US (Al-Watan) The BBC Worldwide Monitoring reports that an Arabic website, www.al-watan.com, contained a report on September 22 from Paris by Abd-al-Karim Abu-al-Nasr stating that “Al-Zarqawi striving to compete with Bin-Ladin, planning big attack along the lines of 11 September.” Reportedly, the Iraqi intelligence agencies have prepared a report on Abu-Mus’ab al-Zarqawi, the commander of the Tawhid wa Jihad group. The European sources disclosed that the security and intelligence services in a number of European countries have information that Al-Zarqawi is ‘determined’ to carry out an operation similar to that of 11 September...

Riyadh, 29 January: US civil administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer has survived an assassination attempt in Baghdad following his return from Washington late last week, Saudi newspaper Al-Watan reported on Thursday [29 January]. The attempt on Bremer's life is the second since he was appointed as the US overseer in war-torn Iraq. Iraqi sources close to the coalition authorities told the paper that an explosive device went off while Bremer's motorcade was passing on the Al-Matar street in western Baghdad. The first attempt on Bremer's life took place in December when US mass media then said he survived unscathed after...

Oct. 13, 2003 Report: US seeking Arafat ouster with 'ill health' as reason By JPOST.COM STAFF The US is hoping for removal of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat by a "non-violent" coup presaged by a report suggesting Arafat is so ill he cannot carry out his duties, according to a report in the Saudi newspaper Al Watan. US officials are already trying to organize a joint Palestinian leadership that would rule until elections are held in the Palestinian Authority, the Saudi paper reported Monday. A translation of the report appeared on the Jordanian website albawaba.com The Saudi daily said recent reports...

Immediate military action should be launched against Baghdad to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime as a means to “liberate” the Iraqi people, a Kuwaiti newspaper said on Monday. "We don't only support a strike on the Iraqi regime but we also call for immediate military action to topple the regime," Al-Watan said in a front-page editorial. "The liberation of the Iraqi people should be the title of the coming phase," which can only be achieved through toppling the (Iraqi) regime, "as soon as possible." Saddam Hussein poses much less of a direct threat to the United States, Israel and the Gulf...

RIYADH --A Saudi newspaper Monday lashed out at Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani, calling him a "dwarf" and accusing him of openly dealing with Israel. "Hamad bin Jassem has chosen the (wrong) door to history, the one shunned by honest people dedicated to their (Arab) nation," ***Al-Watan*** daily said in a hard-hitting editorial. "The damage and abuses of the man have reached an unacceptable level ... We felt it was our duty to address him so he may understand ... We hope he does," the daily said. The criticism comes one day after Sheikh Hamad...