AFP, RIYADH: Yemen’s exiled government has said it welcomes in principle a US-backed plan to resume peace talks with Iran-backed rebels on the basis of forming a unity government. At a meeting in Riyadh, the cabinet gave an “initial welcoming to the ideas that came out of the meeting in…

AFP, NAJRAN, Saudi Arabia: It doesn’t look like there is war in Najran. Not when you drive down King Abdul Aziz Road in the late afternoon sun,…

AFP, ABUJA: Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said Sunday that Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau is “wounded”, in his first comments on military claims that the jihadi leader was injured in an attack. Nigeria’s armed forces said on Tuesday that Shekau had been wounded in an air strike…

AFP, BAGHDAD: Iraq has officially asked Saudi Arabia to recall its ambassador to Baghdad after the envoy allegedly told media outlets of a plot by Iran-backed Iraqi groups to assassinate him. “The Iraqi foreign ministry has sent an official request to the Saudi foreign ministry to replace its…

AFP, BEERSHEBA, Israel: An Israeli court on Sunday postponed a hearing for a UN worker accused of aiding the Islamist movement Hamas after a dispute over whether he should be immune from prosecution. Waheed Borsh, wearing a brown prisoner’s uniform, appeared briefly in court in the southern Israeli…

AFP, SIRTE, Libya: Forces loyal to Libya’s UN-backed unity government pushed Sunday into the last areas of Sirte held by the Islamic State group in what was the jihadists’ coastal stronghold, a spokesman said. “Our forces entered the last areas held by Daesh in Sirte: district number…

AFP, CAIRO: Egyptian authorities on Sunday released a renowned human rights lawyer arrested after protests against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s decision to hand over two islands to Saudi Arabia. Malek Adly had been held in pre-trial detention since being arrested by plainclothes police on…