Middle Orient

By STRATFOR Egypt’s former air force chief and minister for civil aviation, Ahmed Shafiq, has been designated the new prime minister by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and tasked to form the next Cabinet, Al Jazeera reported Jan. 29. The announcement comes shortly after Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman was appointed …

WASHINGTON — For one of his first foreign visits, President Barack Obama will call on NATO ally Turkey, an overwhelmingly Muslim country viewed as critical to aiding the U.S. pullout from Iraq, turning around the Afghanistan war and blocking Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The invasion of Iraq has strained the long …

A man held a gun to his head in front of the Turkish Prime Minister’s office in Ankara on Monday in protest against economic conditions before surrendering to bodyguards, a Reuters reporter at the scene said. The man, who was alone, gave a letter to police before being led away …

TEHRAN (FNA)- The US efforts to hold direct talks with Iran is one of the Islamic Revolution’s achievements, Hams envoy to Tehran said. The United States and Iran broke diplomatic relations in April 1980, after Iranian students seized the United States’ espionage center at its embassy in Tehran. The two …

JABALYA CAMP, Gaza Strip  – Five-year-old Mohammed al-Najjar lets his mind wander as he puts crayon to paper in an effort to depict an Israeli air strike inside a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. “This is the plane and those are two missiles it fired. They hit a house …

CAIRO – A Hamas leader on Sunday played down reports that his group wanted to establish a new umbrella body to replace the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole representative of the Palestinians. Mahmoud al-Zahar told Al Jazeera television that remarks by Hamas’s leader in exile, Khaled Meshaal, that some …

JERUSALEM/GAZA  – An Egyptian proposal to stabilize post-war Gaza calls for an extended truce between Israel and Hamas, a prisoner exchange and the initial opening of at least two of the enclave’s border crossings, diplomats said. Ahead of an Israeli election on Tuesday, negotiations in Cairo have grown increasingly intense …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Supreme Leader’s Adviser Ali Akbar Velayati, in a meeting with Iraqi National Security Advisor Muwafaq Al Rubaie, congratulated the Iraqi nation and government on the successful holding of the country’s recent provincial council elections. Velayati, who arrived in Baghdad Saturday, reiterated that the massive turnout of Iraqi …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Developments in Gaza have created a wide gap among the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) member states, an official in the council’s secretariat told FNA on Sunday. “The Palestine issue has divided council’s members into two groups,” Media Affairs Official in PGCC’s secretariat Salim Al Alavi said. Reminding …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran delivered message of friendship and peace to the oppressed Gaza people by its humanitarian aids sent to the area via Lebanon. Iran delivered the humanitarian aids to Lebanon after it was denied entry by Egypt, Head of Iranian Red Crescent Society team to Gaza Ahmad Navab said …