in Iraq
Iraq
Middle East enters new era with Israel strikes on Iran
Washington — After years of high-level US pressure on its ally to show restraint, Israel's purported attack on Iran takes the region and Western-led diplomacy into uncharted territory.
Iran and Israel have long waged a shadow war, marked by assassinations of Tehran's nuclear scientists and attacks on Israel by the clerical state's allies in the Arab world such as Lebanon's Hezbollah, but the United States has put a top priority on preventing a wide-scale war.
The...
Categories: Iraq
Israelis grapple with how to celebrate Passover while many remain captive
JERUSALEM — Every year, Alon Gat's mother led the family's Passover celebration of the liberation of the ancient Israelites from Egypt thousands of years ago. But this year, Gat is struggling with how to reconcile a holiday commemorating freedom after his mother was slain and other family members abducted when Hamas attacked Israel.
Gat's sister, Carmel, and wife, Yarden Roman-Gat, were taken hostage in the October 7 attack. His wife was freed in November, but his sister...
Categories: Iraq
Blinken: Military operation in Rafah would have 'terrible consequences' for civilians
Categories: Iraq
Liberal Democrats Urge ‘No’ Vote on Israel Aid to Pressure Biden on Gaza
Progressives in the House who oppose unfettered military aid to Israel are pressing their colleagues to vote against the $26 billion bill, which is likely to pass, to send a message to President Biden.
Categories: Iraq
US not involved in Israeli strikes on Iran, Blinken says
The Biden administration said it was not involved in Israel’s predawn drone strike inside Iran on Friday. As White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports, both Iran and Israel appear to be heeding calls for de-escalation, at least for now.
Categories: Iraq
Israel-Iran conflict eases pressure on Biden to condition aid
washington — The threat of a wider war between Israel and Iran may give U.S. President Joe Biden more breathing room to provide military assistance to Israel without restrictions sought by progressive lawmakers of his own party.
Iran's massive April 13 aerial assault on Israel and Israel's more limited counterstrike early Friday have left the region on edge, fearing an escalation of the 6-month-old Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
An aid package is set to be voted on in the U.S. House...
Categories: Iraq
French police detain intruder at Iranian consulate in Paris
Paris, France — French authorities Friday detained a man suspected of entering the Iranian consulate in Paris and falsely claiming to be armed with an explosive vest, police and prosecutors said.
No explosives or arms were found on the man or the premises after he surrendered to police following the incident.
The man, born in 1963 in Iran, had been convicted for setting fire to tires in front of the entrance of the Iranian embassy in Paris in 2023, the Paris prosecutor's office...
Categories: Iraq
Tel Aviv, Tehran downplay Israeli airstrike on Iran
washington — Both Tel Aviv and Tehran downplayed Israel’s predawn aerial strike inside Iran on Friday, suggesting neither side wants to see the situation escalate into a full-scale regional conflict.
Israel offered no official comment on the incident.
Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency, IRNA, reported only that, “citing an Iranian official,” an air defense system had been activated early Friday “after the sound of an explosion” was heard near a major air base in the central Isfahan...
Categories: Iraq
US not involved in Israeli strikes on Iran, says Blinken
White House — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday the United States was not involved in Israel’s predawn aerial strike inside Iran and declined to confirm reports that Washington was notified of Israeli plans shortly before the attack.
“The reports that you've seen, I'm not going to speak to that except to say that the United States has not been involved in any offensive operations,” he said during a press conference following a meeting of the Group of Seven (G7)...
Categories: Iraq
Israel conducts airstrike in Iran, US media say, citing Israeli, US officials
WASHINGTON — Israel carried out a predawn aerial strike inside Iran on Friday.
The New York Times and The Washington Post cited Israeli officials as saying Israel had carried out an airstrike in Iran. U.S. officials were cited by multiple news outlets as calling it a missile strike.
The location or target of the apparent Israeli strike was not immediately identified.
About an hour after the reports emerged, an Israeli military spokesperson contacted by VOA said he had no comment "at...
Categories: Iraq
Arrests of Pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University create more tension on campus
New York — More than 100 Columbia University students were arrested Thursday, culminating months of on-and-off student protests on campus since October 7 when the war between Israel and Hamas began.
Columbia has seen numerous protests with students voicing their support for Palestinians and against Israel's bombing of Gaza that has resulted in the deaths of about 33,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The arrests were authorized by university President Minouche...
Categories: Iraq
US vetoes Palestinian bid for full UN membership
united nations — The Palestinians failed to pass a major hurdle in their renewed effort to seek full United Nations membership on Thursday when the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution recommending their admission.
“It remains the U.S. view that the most expeditious path toward statehood for the Palestinian people is through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority with the support of the United States and other partners,” said U.S. Deputy U.N....
Categories: Iraq
Chinese official criticizes US for its UN votes on Gaza cease-fire
jakarta, indonesia — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi criticized the United States on Thursday for its votes on previous United Nations resolutions for a Gaza cease-fire, following talks in Jakarta with his Indonesian counterpart, Retno Marsudi.
During the talks, Wang highlighted the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East, and he called on all parties to exercise restraint in the conflict.
“The conflict in Gaza has lasted for half a year and caused a rare...
Categories: Iraq
Turkey’s leader to visit Iraq in bid for support against Kurdish rebels
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan travels to Iraq next week for the first time in 12 years. Erdogan is looking for Iraqi support in his war on Kurdish rebels based in Iraq and as Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, the visit also aims to counter Iran’s influence.
Categories: Iraq
Iran warns Israel against attacking nuclear sites
Tehran, Iran — A senior Revolutionary Guards general threatened on Thursday to target Israel's "nuclear facilities" if it strikes Iran’s sites, state media reported, anticipating retaliation for Tehran's weekend attack.
Israel has vowed a response to the Iranian aerial attack, which was mostly intercepted. World leaders have urged de-escalation.
Violence involving Iran-aligned groups across the Middle East has soared since the start of the Israel-Hamas war with the...
Categories: Iraq
Record flooding in Dubai grounds flights; airport working to fully resume operations
Categories: Iraq
Google fires 28 workers protesting contract with Israel
New York — Google fired 28 employees following a disruptive sit-down protest over the tech giant's contract with the Israeli government, a Google spokesperson said Thursday.
The Tuesday demonstration was organized by the group "No Tech for Apartheid," which has long opposed "Project Nimbus," Google's joint $1.2 billion contract with Amazon to provide cloud services to the government of Israel.
Video of the demonstration showed police arresting Google...
Categories: Iraq
Pakistan to host Iran's president Monday for official bilateral talks
Islamabad — Pakistan announced Thursday that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will pay a three-day official visit to Islamabad, starting April 22, as the neighboring countries seek to mend relations after an unprecedented exchange of antiterror missile strikes on each other’s territory.
“He is coming. We welcome them,” Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told reporters in the Pakistani capital. “The visit is on the card for April 22nd, 23rd and 24th. We are obviously making full preparations for...
Categories: Iraq
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
_0.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
