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The European Union (EU) on Friday issued a sharply worded statement in which it criticized the law that was approved this week in the Knesset, which allows the permanent residency of terrorists to be revoked. “This week, the Israeli Knesset adopted legislation which empowers the Israeli Minister of Interior to revoke the permanent residency status of persons involved in terrorism, treason or espionage,” the statement said. While the EU stressed it “rejects terrorism in all its forms”, it warned that “the new law could make the residency status of Palestinians in East Jerusalem, a protected population under International Humanitarian Law,...

On his return from a recent two-day trip to Israel -- where he met with high-level officials -- Adonis Georgiadis, the vice president of Greece's opposition party, New Democracy, declared his support for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital. In an interview with Skai Radio on March 7, Georgiadis called it "almost funny to discuss whether Jerusalem is a Jewish city or not." "[It] was founded by the Jews... in ancient times. You can read Flavius Josephus or read Diodoros Siceliotis and see the references to the city of Jerusalem, where there was the High Priest of Solomon's Temple and that...

Hundreds of tents are to be erected near the Gaza-Israel border for a six-week protest, officials said Thursday, in what may stir fresh tensions with Israeli forces. Gaza families are to set up hundreds of tents -- possibly thousands - for the protests running from March 30 to May 15, organizers said. Protesters plan to call for the granting of a right of return for millions of so-called “Palestinian refugees” across the Middle East. Organizers said the families could stay in the tents for prolonged periods, with youth and community activities planned. The demonstration has the backing of all political...

Hezbollah in Lebanon has declared a state of emergency for fear of an Israeli attack approved by the United States. "Hezbollah declared its ranks in readiness for the past two days, for fear of Israeli aggression on Lebanon," the Rai Al-Youm newspaper published in London reported Thursday. "High alert was declared in light of information received that the Israeli army is conducting secret military maneuvers jointly with the United States, which are currently taking place in the country and in the Mediterranean," journalist Kamal Halaf, who is close with Hezbollah, said. Citing sources in Hezbollah, Halaf added that US military...

Israel’s goal of peaceful co-existence with its surrounding neighbors has not prevented the IDF from taking the necessary steps to prepare for a potential war. Tensions have been rising on Israel’s northern borders with Syria and Lebanon over the past few weeks. On February 10, the IDF shot down an Iranian drone, which had entered Israeli airspace in a clear violation of Israel’s sovereignty. In response to this escalated act of aggression by Iran, the IDF launched several attacks against targets in Iran and Syria. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently visited the northern border, along with top security officials. “Our...

The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem will open in May to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel declaring its independence, Trump administration officials said Friday. A senior State Department official said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson approved a security plan late Thursday for an embassy location to open in Jerusalem. “We are excited about taking this historic step, and look forward with anticipation to the May opening,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement on Friday. Officials told Fox News the embassy would initially be located in the neighborhood of Arnona on a compound that currently houses the...

Iran’s armed forces spokesman said on Saturday that there can be no talks on the country’s missile program without the West’s destruction of its nuclear weapons and long-range missiles. “What Americans say out of desperation with regards to limiting the Islamic republic of Iran’s missile capability is an unattainable dream,” Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri told the official IRNA news agency. “The condition for negotiations on Iran’s missiles is the destruction of America’s and Europe’s nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.”

The PKK threatens to move the battle into Turkey, saying that the battle of Afrin is the beginning real revolution Kurdistan in Turkey and calls Kurdish youth to join the resistance against the Turkish occupation army in every a place.

The emergency room at Northwestern Memorial Hospital was packed with flu patients when Caleb Stevens hobbled through the doors on crutches one evening in January, his leg pulsing with pain from a week-old gunshot wound. The clerk at the intake desk was unfazed when Stevens said he had been wounded in Syria. She took his passport and told him to join the rest of the people in the waiting room. So he sat with his mom for 20 minutes, his right leg wrapped in a cast, a splint and bloody bandages. He was still wearing a red-and-white Christmas sock someone...

Turkey’s prime minister said Saturday that Turkish troops have captured a strategic village in the Kurdish-held enclave in northwestern Syria, tightening its grip on Kurdish militia in the sixth week of its offensive on the area. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the Kurdish Afrin district has been “surrounded” by the military, special police and paramilitary forces, as well as allied Syrian opposition fighters. “Afrin has been surrounded. We have cleared all areas near our borders of terror nests,” he said at a rally in the central province of Konya, adding that Turkey would not cease its campaign against “terror.”

The Syrian Democratic Force (SDF) on Thursday called on the UN to stop the Turkish invasion and to demand Turkey to follow the UN Security Council resolution that includes Afrin in its 30-days ceasefire. “The UN Security Council unanimously adopted its resolution 2401 at its meeting on Saturday, February 24th, 2018, on the basis of a draft submitted by the State of Kuwait and the Kingdom of Sweden, which explicitly provided for the cessation of all combat operations by all parties on all Syrian territory for at least one month,” SDF spokesperson Kino Gabriel said. “The Turkish state and its...

A federal judge ruled that the state of Indiana cannot block Syrian refugees from resettling in the state under an order from then Gov. Mike Pence (R). In November 2015, Pence was part of a group of 16 governors who announced plans to block Syrian refugees from settling in their states in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris. All but one of the governors were Republicans. The Indiana policy prevented state agencies from making payments to a nonprofit that helped resettle Syrian refugees. U.S. District Judge Tonya Walton Pratt on Tuesday ruled that Indiana could no longer withhold authorized...

An aid convoy carrying humanitarian supplies for 50,000 displaced people has arrived in Afrin in Syria, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday, as Turkey wages an offensive in the area. The spokeswoman, Iolanda Jaquemet, said it was the first time this year that the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent had got the agreement of the warring sides for such a convoy. The ICRC is concerned that the fighting between Turkish forces and the Kurdish YPG militia is moving closer to a dam and water treatment facility that are vital for water...

Samantha Power, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. during President Barack Obama (D)'s second term, claimed that her guiding philosophy was Responsibility to Protect (R2P). However, in this absolutely heartbreaking letter in Tablet Magazine, "AMBASSADOR SAMANTHA POWER LIED TO MY FACE ABOUT SYRIA," by Kassem Eid, a Syrian who survived unspeakable torture and poison gas bombing attacks from Syrian president Assad's forces but managed to escape and then tried to warn her about the true situation, we learn that Power's real motto was Responsibility to Protect Our Rear Ends (R2PORE) by not getting involved.

The Iraqi military has reportedly warned of an Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) resurgence in northern Iraq, noting that the group has already attacked the Kurdish-majority Kirkuk region, home to lucrative oil fields. In an interview with Bas News, Ahmed Askari, a member of the Kurdish-held Kirkuk Provincial Council, dismissed as false the Iraqi military’s allegation of an ISIS re-emergence in northern Iraq, a region primarily controlled by the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). However, Kurdistan 24 reports: Islamic State (IS) extremists on Saturday launched an attack on an oil field in Kirkuk Province, killing at least two police officers. A security...

The materials include acid-resistant tiles, valves and pipes, reports say. An as-yet-unreleased UN report also says Pyongyang's missile specialists have been seen at Syrian weapon-making facilities, the New York Times says. The allegations come after fresh reports of chlorine gas being used by Syrian forces, which the regime denies. North Korea is under international sanctions over its nuclear programme. The supplies reported to have been illicitly sent to Syria by North Korea included high-heat, acid-resistant tiles, corrosion-resistant valves and thermometers. The tiles are said to be used to construct facilities where chemical weapons are produced. Five shipments were sent to...

Britain would consider joining US military strikes against the Syrian government if there is evidence chemical weapons are being used against civilians, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Tuesday. Johnson said he hoped Britain and other Western nations would not stand by in the event of a chemical attack, voicing support for limited strikes if there is "incontrovertible evidence" of the Syrian's government involvement. "If we know that it has happened, and we can demonstrate it, and if there is a proposal for action where the UK could be useful then I think we should seriously consider it," Johnson told...

The Turkish state’s accusations against former PYD Co-chair Saleh Muslim were not reciprocated by the Czechia’s judiciary. Muslim was released without any conditions. Former PYD Co-chair Saleh Muslim who had been taken into custody in Prague this weekend on Turkey’s demand faced a judge today. The hearing was held in the Prague Municipal Court and Muslim was released. Turkey’s accusations with no legal base were not reciprocated by the court. Judge Jaroslav Pytloun didn’t comment on the verdict. Sources close to the case say the court didn’t pose any conditions and ruled that Muslim can move freely within the EU...

Aid workers said the men would trade food and lifts for sexual favours. Despite warnings about the abuse three years ago, a new report shows it is continuing in the south of the country. UN agencies and charities said they had zero tolerance of exploitation and were not aware of any cases of abuse by partner organisations in the region. Aid workers told the BBC that the exploitation is so widespread that some Syrian women are refusing to go to distribution centres because people would assume they had offered their bodies for the aid they brought home.