Israel’s outreach to Saudi Arabia points to cooling rapport with U.S.

Israel’s outreach to Saudi Arabia points to cooling rapport with U.S.

Special to WorldTribune.com by Dr. Jack Caravelli, Geostrategy-Direct Dore Gold, the Director General of Israel’s foreign ministry and a highly experienced diplomat, in late December gave the ministry’s first ever interview to a Saudi media outlet. Speaking to the Saudi-owned online newspaper Elaph, Gold emphasized the common interests Israel and Saudi Arabia have in blunting […]

Sisi at Christmas mass: Diversity in traditions are part of ‘God’s norms of life’

Sisi at Christmas mass: Diversity in traditions are part of ‘God’s norms of life’

Special to WorldTribune.com Egyptian President Abdul Fatah Sisi on Jan. 6 apologized for the torching of Christian churches during the Morsi regime and vowed “the churches will be fully restored this year.” Sisi made the remarks as he, for the second consecutive year, attended the Coptic Christmas mass at Saint Mark’s Orthodox Cathedral. Last year, […]

Iraq’s Kurds to keep exporting oil independently due to budget differences with Baghdad

Iraq’s Kurds to keep exporting oil independently due to budget differences with Baghdad

Special to WorldTribune.com Iraqi Kurds, feeling stiffed by the Iraqi government out of their share of oil revenues, will export crude independently in 2016. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said the move was needed amid a continuing slump in oil prices after Iraq failed to deliver on its promise of a 17 percent share of […]

Iran rolls out new underground missile depot for nuclear-capable Emads

Iran rolls out new underground missile depot for nuclear-capable Emads

Special to WorldTribune.com Iran on Jan. 5 announced a new underground missile depot in which nuclear-capable Emad missiles are stored. In video footage on state television, speaker of Iranian parliament Ali Larijani inaugurates the depot that is run by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). It is the second such facility revealed in recent months. […]

Petro kingdom at risk? 2016’s Mideast power matrix and the Chinese definition of ‘crisis’

Petro kingdom at risk? 2016’s Mideast power matrix and the Chinese definition of ‘crisis’

Special to WorldTribune.com By Norman Bailey Predictions that events in Saudi Arabia will be key to regional developments in 2016 have much merit. A number of analyses and New Year predictions have centered lately on what events might happen during 2016 involving Saudi Arabia. Certainly, several recent events might lead to such conclusions, to wit: […]

ISIL executes female citizen journalist who refused to flee Syria

ISIL executes female citizen journalist who refused to flee Syria

Special to WorldTribune.com Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) executed a female journalist who had chronicled daily life in the terror group’s de facto Syrian capital. The anti-ISIL activist group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently reported that 30-year-old journalist Ruqia Hassan, who wrote under the pseudonym Nissan Ibrahim, was executed by ISIL jihadists in […]

Egypt reaffirms solidarity with Saudi Arabia

Egypt reaffirms solidarity with Saudi Arabia

Special to WorldTribune.com Egypt’s foreign minister on Jan. 4 confirmed Cairo’s continued solidarity with Saudi Arabia after the kingdom cut ties to Iran. “We reject Iranian interference in the internal affairs of the kingdom,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told the press while meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir in Riyadh. “We made a […]

Moscow asks Hizbullah to cool it with attacks near Israel

Moscow asks Hizbullah to cool it with attacks near Israel

Special to WorldTribune.com Russia has made a direct plea to Hizbullah for restraint against Israel. The request from Moscow came after a Jan. 4 incident in which Hizbullah terrorists set off an explosive device targeting Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops in the Shebaa Farms area near the Lebanon-Israel border. Hizbullah said the attack on Jan. […]

Egypt kills more than 60 ‘Takfiri’, ISIL jihadists in Sinai

Egypt kills more than 60 ‘Takfiri’, ISIL jihadists in Sinai

Special to WorldTribune.com Egypt has intensified its effort to quell the terrorist threat in the Sinai Peninsula, killing more than 60 jihadists in the past two weeks. On Jan. 3, an operation that included attack helicopters, fighter jets and ground forces killed at least 25 terrorists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) […]

Christian leaders condemn ISIL holiday attacks on Syrian city

Christian leaders condemn ISIL holiday attacks on Syrian city

Special to WorldTribune.com Christian leaders in the Middle East are condemning the “sinister” holiday bombings of Christian-owned restaurants in Qamishli, Syria by Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL). ISIL claimed responsibility for three bombings on Dec. 30 that killed 20 people (13 of them Christians) and injured 40. Qamishli is home to a significant […]