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Russia's ambassador to Iran has said Moscow will consider selling its advanced S-400 anti-aircraft missile system to Tehran, despite U.S. objections and threats. Ambassador Levan Jagarian told the Resalat daily newspaper Sunday that Russia would have "no problem" selling S-400 systems to Iran when the United Nation arms embargo on the country expires on October 18, Iran's Tasnim News Agency reported. "We are not afraid of U.S. threats and we will live up to our commitments," Jagarian said, explaining that Russia will properly consider Iranian arms requests despite continued pressure from the U.S. for nations to further isolate Tehran. President...

Today's top stories 02.10.20; 1) Israel and Lebanon have formulated a framework agreement to launch direct-negotiations on "maritime and land boundary demarcation between the two countries."2) The European Union concluded a two-day summit, today -- the first day of which focused primarily on EU relations with Turkey and tensions surrounding the Eastern Mediterranean.3) The Israeli Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem expressed regret over Armenia's decision to recall its ambassador for consultations.

If a visitor from Mars observed press coverage of President Donald Trump Middle East peace negotiations, he would have heard an amazing tale about Donald Trump’s incompetence and futility of his efforts. The most experienced negotiator, John Kerry, declared in 2016 "There will be no separate peace between Israel and the Arab world…. No. No, no, and no." In April 2016 Harvard Business Review wrote, “The Donald Trump approach to negotiation would be not only ineffective but also disastrous.” In October 2019 The Atlantic posted an article “Trump’s Middle East Policy Is a Fraud.” Infamous for its foresight, especially when...

Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article was first published by the Gatestone Institute. The kidnapping, sexual abuse, and forced conversion of Christian women and girls in Egypt—a “particularly vulnerable group to exploitation” that is quietly living an “unimaginable nightmare”—is rampant with no signs of abatement.  This is the finding of a report published on September 10, 2020 by Coptic Solidary (CS), an international organization based in Washington D.C., that works to promote equal citizenship rights for Egypt’s Christian minority.  In its 15-page report, titled “‘Jihad of the Womb’: Trafficking of Coptic...

Today's top stories 29.09.20 Rival Palestinian factions reach an agreement that will see parliamentary and presidential elections held within six-months -- as part of a collective Palestinian effort to resist Israel's normalization with Arab and Muslim states.Damascus is reportedly seeking to revive direct-negotiations with Jerusalem.French president Emmanuel Macron accuses Hezbollah and its allies for the failure to attain much sought-after political breakthrough for Lebanon.

With settlement efforts gaining pace, Egypt has proved capable of mediating between the opposing sides in Libya, though it had thrown its weight behind the eastern forces fighting the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) and its Misratan allies, which Turkey has backed with military, intelligence and militia support. Ankara's rigid attitude in the conflict has reduced its clout to influence over only its allies. And the infighting in the GNA presents a further risk to Turkish interests in the upcoming settlement process. In other words, Turkey has failed to preserve the advantage it gained through its scale-tipping military...

The forum includes Egypt, Israel, Greece, Cyprus, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Italy. Energy Ministers of seven countries, including Israel’s Yuval Steinitz, attended an event launching the new East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF) in a virtual event hosted in Cairo on Tuesday morning. “The blessing of gas brings regional cooperation with Arab and European countries, the first of its kind in history, including contracts to export $30 billion of blue-and-white gas to Jordan and Egypt, and that’s only the beginning,” Steinitz said. The forum includes Egypt, Israel, Greece, Cyprus, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Italy, whose ambassadors, and Egyptian Energy...

Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is King of Saudi Arabia He is 84 years old and said to be in ill health. Social media mill grinding out the rumours he is in critical condition. https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/1307847955639083008

U.S. Africa Command says that at least two MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter jets, possibly piloted by shadowy Russian mercenaries, have crashed in Libya. Jared Szuba, the Pentagon correspondent for AI-Monitor, Tweeted out that one of the jets was apparently lost on June 28, while the other went down on September 7, 2020. This information had come in a statement from Rear Admiral Heidi Berg, U.S. Africa Command's (AFRICOM) director of intelligence. Another tweet indicates that Berg believes that "Russian fighter aircraft," presumably MiG-29s too, but potentially also Su-24 Fencer strike aircraft, have conducted airstrikes in Libya. AI-Monitor's Szuba follows that up...

Call it a new 'Great Game' or war for hearts and minds, or just influence peddling, but Iran and Turkey are now engaged in greater efforts to expand their role in Africa. This comes as Russia and China are also extending networks on the continent. It is important to understand that this is in the context of the US generally reducing its global role and comes around 60 years after European colonialism was rolled back. The increasing footprint of Iran and Turkey have caused concern for other states that view their role as belligerent. That means that Gulf media is...

For decades, foreign policy experts—the blob—assumed much about the Middle East that has turned out to be completely wrong. It’s been remarkable to watch the mainstream press and official Washington try to downplay the significance of the peace deal the Trump administration brokered between Israel and two Arab states this week.The signing of the Abraham Accords on Tuesday between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain at the White House, which for the first time normalized relations between Israel and the two Persian Gulf states, is by any measure historic. It’s been 26 years since any Arab state recognized Israel,...

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, special aide to the president of the Islamic Parliament of Iran, said on Sunday that the United Arab Emirates had made a “big mistake” in normalizing relations with Israel. In an interview with Iran’s Arabic-language Al-Alam TV, Amir-Abdollahian, formerly Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs, said that establishing relations with “the cancer of the region, the Zionist entity,” was not in the UAE’s interest. The UAE may very well have upset its own security and stability with this move because Israel upsets the stability everywhere it is present, said the Iranian official, who added that...

The US is cutting aid to Ethiopia over a controversial mega dam being built on a tributary of the River Nile. The move was triggered by Ethiopia's move to start filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam before reaching agreement with Egypt and Sudan. Egypt has long been opposed to any development on the Nile that could reduce the amount of water it receives. Ethiopia says it needs the dam to provide a reliable electricity supply. Once fully operational, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) will be the largest hydro-electric plant in Africa and provide power to up to 65 million...

Rejecting peace for an entire century. Israel’s legendary Foreign Minister Abba Eban had famously quipped that “the Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” It is the most fitting attribute for the Palestinians. Historically, they have said no to the British Peel Commission of 1937, which promised them a state on 75% of mandatory Palestine. The Yishuv, Palestine’s Jews, who were originally called Palestinians during the British Mandate (1920-1948) said yes, despite of being offered a small piece of the second partition of Palestine. In the first partition of Mandatory Palestine, in 1922, Winston Churchill, then British Colonial Secretary, sliced off...

The normalization agreement between the UAE and Israel has effectively ended the racist BDS movement. A Palestinian man walks by a grafitti sign calling to boycott Israel seen on a street in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on February 11, 2015. (photo credit: MIRIAM ALSTER/FLASH90) With the recent developments between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, it’s become clearer than ever that there’s no future for the discriminatory and racist Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. From its inception, the movement was rooted in a desire to destroy the State of Israel as we know it. While cleverly presenting itself...

Hamas spokesperson Mushir al-Masri has said that the terror organization has decided to "remove the siege" in any way possible, Arab media reported. Al-Masri added that "if the negotiation efforts fail, it will mean that the Zionist enemy will experience a siege in the heart of the bomb shelters." "Since we have nothing to lose, we will not accept the continuation of the siege, the force, and the enemy's attempt to use the coronavirus plague to renew the siege on the Palestinian nation. All options are open." Meanwhile, the Qatari emissary to Gaza confirmed the continuation of negotiations to restore...

President Trump and his administration facilitated a historic, world-changing peace treaty between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. The “Abraham Accord” is the first peace treaty since the Israel-Jordan treaty signed 26 years ago. This was a stroke of diplomatic genius and I applaud the hard work of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the countless others. I remember Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat’s courageous visit to Israel in 1977 and the resulting peace between the two countries. I was nearly 30 at the time, and even though I had left Egypt many years earlier, I was thrilled at the...

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Gen. Abdulhadi Dirah, the spokesman for the army's Sirte-Jufra Joint Operations Unit, said that carrying military ammunition, Ilyushin-type planes conducted five flights to Sirte and Jufra provinces on Saturday. Carrying Bashar al-Assad regime's soldiers, two more flights were made from Syria to Benghazi, the second biggest Libyan city, which is the center of the Haftar's forces, Dirah said. Libya has been torn by civil war since the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The government was founded in 2015 under a UN-led agreement, but efforts for a long-term political settlement failed due to a...

“in an apparent accident, while preparing explosives.” Four terrorists from Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Saraya al Quds brigade died in an explosion at their facility in Sajaiya, in eastern Gaza City. They were killed “in an apparent accident, while preparing explosives.” This is what commonly is referred to as a “work accident,” a topic we have covered many times: Four terrorists from Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Saraya al Quds brigade died in an explosion at their facility in Sajaiya, in eastern Gaza City. They were killed “in an apparent accident, while preparing explosives.” This is what commonly is referred to as a...

An Egyptian government-appointed village mayor has just ruled that a Christian family must sell its home and leave their village, in what is being described as a strange and unprecedented incident for that village. This happened during a traditional “reconciliation session.”  In Egypt, local authorities and involved parties of a dispute often meet outside of courtrooms in an effort to resolve matters and restore peace before getting the law involved. The case revolves around a Christian youth who accidentally hit and killed a Muslim girl with his motorcycle in the narrow streets of the village of Hawarat al-Maqta.  Despite the...