January, 2021

• 14 January

  Biden taps veteran diplomat William Burns for CIA director

  Burns, a former ambassador to Jordan and Russia, would bring with him decades of experience in the foreign service. President-elect Joe Biden has named career diplomat William Burns as his choice to be the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency. If confirmed, Burns would be the nation’s first-ever spy …

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• 14 January

  Pompeo to label Yemen’s Houthis a foreign terror group

  Relief organizations in Yemen warn the designation will hamstring their life-saving work in a country already considered to have the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The Trump administration will designate Yemen’s Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said late Sunday, despite months of pleading from relief …

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• 14 January

  US Launches Work on Consulate in Disputed Western Sahara

  The United States on Sunday started the process of establishing a consulate in contested Western Sahara, after Washington recognized Morocco’s sovereignty there in exchange for Rabat normalizing ties with Israel. U.S. Ambassador to Morocco David Fischer visited the port of Dakhla, 1,440 kilometers (895 miles) southwest of Rabat in the …

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• 14 January

  Cairo to host quartet meeting on Monday to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace process

  The meeting will focus on the peace process in the Middle East as well as ways to tap into the recently-signed normalisation agreements between Israel and the four Arab countries

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• 14 January

  Three-way talks on Ethiopian dam reach new impasse

  Negotiations between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt, in a long-running dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile, have reached a new impasse, the three countries said on Sunday. “We cannot continue this vicious cycle of circular talks indefinitely,” Sudanese irrigation minister Yasir Abbas said in a …

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• 14 January

  Pompeo says US designating Yemen’s Huthis a terrorist group

  The United States will designate Yemen’s Huthi rebels as a terrorist group, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday, a late-term move that aid groups fear will worsen a humanitarian crisis. With just 10 days left before President-elect Joe Biden takes office, the action could complicate the new administration’s efforts …

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• 14 January

  Rojava opposition leader accuses the PKK of harming Kurdish unity talks

  ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A leadership member of the opposition umbrella group Kurdish National Council (ENKS) accused the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) of being the de-facto ruler of northeast Syria’s autonomous region (Rojava), adding that the group has harmed Kurdish unity talks.

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• 14 January

  Deir ez-Zor: Seven Syrian Regime Forces Killed in Clashes with IS

  At least seven troops of the Syrian regime were killed in clashes with the Islamic State (IS) in the countryside of Deir ez-Zor, a monitor said on Saturday.

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• 14 January

  Daesh attack kills 7 gov’t loyalists in east Syria

  Daesh group fighters killed at least seven government loyalists in eastern Syria on Saturday, the latest in a series of deadly attacks, a Britain-based war monitor reported.

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• 14 January

  Ansar al-Tawhid Group Shells Syrian Government Forces in Idleb

  Ansar al-Tawhid have responded to Syrian government shelling by firing artillery at a government position in the Idleb province reports North Press. On Sunday, the armed group Ansar al-Tawhid shelled Syrian government sites in the south of Idleb Governorate in retaliation for earlier government shelling of their own defences in …

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