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The Biden administration is set to make public a report that blames Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman for the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The Washington Post journalist was a fierce critic of the kingdom and killed at the Saudi consulate in Turkey. CBS News senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang joins CBSN to discuss the report and how it could affect the U.S. relationship with the kingdom.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, criticized the Biden administration for the way it notified Congressional leaders about the U.S.’s military strike targeting Iran-backed military groups in eastern Syria on Thursday evening. Schiff, who is a member of the Gang of Eight which receives briefings on classified intelligence matters by the executive branch, told CNN reporter Manu Raju that Biden’s “means of notification” if the strike was “inadequate.”

The U.S. military carried out an airstrike against an Iranian-backed militia stronghold in Syria Thursday, a senior U.S. official told Fox News. Multiple facilities were struck in the air attack, which was sanctioned by President Biden. The senior official said the strike was a defensive strategy, intended to halt and deter future rocket attacks by the militia group that recently hit Baghdad and Erbil.

Iranian Chief Justice Ebrahim Raeisi on Wednesday accused the U.S. government of helping the Islamic State recover its strength in Syria and spread its operatives into countries such as Iran that oppose U.S. hegemony. According to Raeisi, only Iran and the Shiite-dominated government of Iraq truly stand against ISIS. “The U.S. claimed that it seeks to fight Daesh [ISIS] and formed a coalition for this, but we have witnessed the strengthening of Daesh in terms of weapons, logistics, intelligence, and other aspects,” Raeisi said during a meeting with Iraqi President Barhan Salih in Baghdad. “While Iraq, Syria, Iran and regional...

How holding Palestinian elections threatens to expose Fatah. The Palestinian attempt to appease the Biden administration by holding Palestinian elections threatens to reveal the flabbiness and collapse of Fatah, which lies at the heart of the Palestinian Authority. Recently, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas threatened Fatah members who opted to run outside the Fatah list with death. This apparently occurred last week during a Fatah Revolutionary Council meeting in Ramallah. Abbas had barred members of the Fatah Central Committee, Revolutionary Council, and Consultative Council from running in the upcoming legislative elections. This ban also included current ministers, ambassadors, governors, security officials,...

United Nations experts are warning of a "growing body of evidence" that Iran is sending weapons to Houthi rebels in war-torn Yemen, in a report that warns of a deteriorating situation in the country with "devastating consequence" for the civilian population. (excerpt) The evidence includes anti-tank guided missiles, sniper rifles and RPB launchers all with markings consistent with those made in Iran. The Trump administration had warned of moves by Iran to destabilize the Middle East by arms sales, and attempted to reimpose a broader arms embargo, as well as other sanctions that were expiring as part of the 2015...

Egypt's Minister of Religious Endowments Mohamed Gomaa ordered the closure of a Cairo mosque for two weeks for violating precautionary measures put in place to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the press service of the ministry reported on Tuesday. "Minister Mohamed Gomaa, after praying at the Al-Nour mosque in the Abbassia district, decided to close it for two weeks from Tuesday due to the fact that worshipers in the mosque did not comply with the requirements of the ministry on the mandatory wearing of masks and availability of a personal prayer mat," the ministry said. The ministry added that any mosque...

And Egypt’s authorities conclude it was a “generic” crime that has nothing to do with religious hate. Two Muslim brothers recently went on a stabbing spree targeting Egypt’s indigenous Christian minority, the Copts, in Alexandria, Egypt; one man was killed and two others were severely injured and hospitalized during the rampage. Last reported on Dec. 13, the brothers had been arrested and were to be detained for four days, pending an investigation. According to authorities, they went on their murderous stabbing spree because they were “upset” that their mother had died earlier that day, on Dec. 10. Even the state...

The Greeks who represent the last vestiges of Christian Byzantium and the Roman Empire are heading towards their final extinction in Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey, with their numbers dwindling to a mere handful under his Islamist government. What is now Turkey only began to be colonised in by the Turkic peoples in earnest from around 1071, after their Seljuk ancestors had arrived from Central Asia and vanquished the Greek-speaking Christian ruler Romanos IV Diogenes’s forces at the Battle of Manzikert. The last vestiges of the Byzantine state where finally snuffed out with the brutal conquest of Constantinople, widely regarded as...

President-elect Joe Biden has made clear in his staffing plans and public remarks that he intends to return America to many of the foreign policy positions championed by his former boss, President Barack Obama. While American mainstream media has largely cheered this – and glowered at President Donald Trump for defending his achievements by making regression more difficult under Biden – many of America’s allies, and some of its foes, around the world are making moves suggesting they expect a full return to the state of global affairs in 2016. The Obama administration’s foreign policy was defined by the tension...

The decision by three Arab states to make peace with Israel can be credited both to efforts by the Trump administration and the recognition by these Sunni states that their security would improve against the ongoing threats they face from Turkey and Iran. Iran and its proxies interfere with Arab states while promoting their Shi’ite revolutionary ideology; likewise, Turkey pushes its Sunni revolutionary ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood throughout the region. Turkey and Iran look to overthrow the Sunni Arab states that do not align with them, such as Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. The normalization deals between the...

The message was clearly aimed at Gulf states and others that are partnered with the US. Iran has sought to reach out to its Arab neighbors, with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif warning them that US President Donald Trump will be leaving in 70 days, but Iran’s regime will remain “forever.” He urged them to realize that “betting on outsiders to provide security is never a good gamble.” In Arabic and English, he called for dialogue and to work together. The message was clearly aimed at Gulf states and others that are partnered with the US. Iran was offering them...

Israeli Settlements Minister Tzachi Hanegbi warns that a Biden presidency could ignite war in the Middle East, while Egypt fears Biden would aid the resurgence of Islamists in the region. Hanegbi pointed out that Biden has indicated he will resurrect America’s nuclear agreement with Iran which was cancelled by the Trump administration. For Israel, this would represent an existential threat to national security and drastically increase the chances of war with Tehran. “If Biden stays with that policy, there will, in the end, be a violent confrontation between Israel and Iran,” said Hanegbi. Meanwhile, other Middle Eastern countries such as...

Lebanese president's daughter 'doesn't mind' conditional peace with Israel "I defend the interests of my country Lebanon first. Are we required to remain in a state of war?" • Maronite leader: "Lebanon should be the last Arab country to normalize its relations with Israel." Claudine and Mireille Aoun, daughters of Lebanon's President Aoun arrive for a state dinner given at the Elysee palace in Paris (photo credit: STEPHANE MAHE / REUTERS) Claudine Aoun Roukoz, daughter of Lebanese President Michel Aoun and head of the National Commission for Lebanese Women, stressed that she would "not mind" if Lebanon makes peace with...

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called on Turkey to respect International Law at the Press Conference following the 5th trilateral meeting in Israel with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday... “We have emphasised the need for respect of international law in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean. Respecting, in particular, the right of Cyprus to exercise its sovereign rights in its EEZ “. Mr Tsipras went on to underline the need for a just and viable solution of the Cypriot problem with the scrapping of the guarantees on the occupied part of the island and...

As forces mass in Europe, the biggest stumbling block to EuropeÂ’s future strategic independence as well as American grand strategy is once again Germany. North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies Turkey and Greece are embroiled in a dispute over Turkish oil and gas exploration in the Mediterranean, and Greece is backed by the French navy. After the French military conducted training exercises with Greek forces in the region on Thursday, Turkey warned France to retreat. Within a day, three things happened in rapid succession.First, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signed a treaty to relocate troops out of Germany to...

The power shift in the Middle East over the past several years has reshaped the political challenges facing several of its constituent countries, and has led them to consider a possible expansion of their framework of relations. Considering Turkey’s repeated interventions in the affairs of more than one state and the potential threat its ambitions pose to the region’s future, the strategic interests of Israel and many Arab countries—especially the UAE and Saudi Arabia—necessitate a strengthening of relations among countries that can offset Ankara’s aggression. Advertisement Greece is perhaps uniquely suited to assist in this cooperation. Jerusalem boosted its ties...

A joint American-Israeli delegation landed in Bahrain Sunday, where officials will be signing a number of bilateral agreements following an announcement last month to normalize relations. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's national security adviser, Meir Ben-Shabbat, led the delegation that flew out of Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport on Sunday morning. Ben-Shabbat said ahead of departure the visit will ‘translate plans to actions and concrete agreements’ with the signing of a range of deals involving finance, investment, trade, tourism, communications, technology and agriculture.

A force to be reckoned with Posted on 9 August 2010 in Defence The Egyptian Air Force (EAF) or Al Quwwat Al Jawwiya Il Misriya, is one of the largest air arms in the region and is also one of the longest established. Formed in 1930 as the Egyptian Army Air Force, it became fully independent in 1937. Initially it had close links with the British Royal Air Force and was primarily equipped with British-supplied aircraft. Spitfires gave way to Meteors and Vampires before the 1952 revolution, after which the new president, General Gamal Abdel Nasser, turned to the Soviet...

Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, one of the most widely recognized and respected Saudi officials in the world, gave a three-part interview to the government-controlled Al Arabiya news network and proceeded to tear down 70 years of myths about the leadership of the Palestinian national movement. Bandar spent 22 years as a Saudi ambassador to the U.S. and is known to speak for the government. It was an extraordinary series of interviews — a brutal assessment of the numerous self-inflicted wounds by Palestinian leaders going all the way back to the 1930s. It was broadcast in Arabic with English subtitles...