*News and analysis

Syrian army troops were at the gates of the rebel bastion of Yabrud near the Lebanese border Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. State television confirmed the news, reporting: “Syrian army units have advanced in the Yabrud area and now control its eastern approaches and northeastern boundary.” The ...

Thousands of Zaidi rebels marched through a provincial capital in northern Yemen on Friday to demand the resignation of the central government, which they accused of corruption, witnesses said. With many toting assault rifles and accompanied by vehicles mounted with rocket launchers, they chanted “down with the corrupt government,” as ...

The West is planning a new push against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad through funding proxy war on the conflict-stricken country, a report suggests. The British daily The Guardian reported that a fresh clandestine effort is under way for opening up a “southern front” against the Syrian president. A secret command ...

New research suggests that as many as one in seven Dutch institutional investors have excluded companies involved in the Israeli occupation of Palestine in the course of the last five years. “This is an indication that it is not uncommon,” explains a new report. “Many of these institutional investors did ...

Comedians say that the art of telling jokes relies on “timing.” Israeli’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the world’s top comic politician, seemed to be proving the point with his “timely” claims about seizing Iranian rockets aboard a cargo ship in the Red Sea. Standing in front of 40 pointed missiles, ...

The New York Times US daily revealed that Hizbullah’s participation in Syria war has been a source of foreboding to the Zionist entity. Quoting “Israeli” officials and experts, the newspaper stated: “Hizbullah is acquiring battlefield experience, and the only way for al- Assad, a longtime Hizbullah ally, to repay the ...

Christian leaders in South Africa have thrown their full support behind Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), a global campaign to educate and mobilize the public against Israeli violations of Palestinian rights. On Sunday, Anglican Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town Desmond Tutu reiterated his support for IAW and for the Palestinian-led campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions(BDS) on Israel. ...

Malaysian authorities arrested 114 people in Perak on Saturday on the basis of their Shia faith, in what is the latest crackdown against followers of the Shia Muslim faith, the second largest school of Islamic thought. The arrest took place while they were attending a celebration to commemorate the birth ...

MP Hassan al-Yasseri said on Saturday that the main objective behind the move is to show to the world that the Shia school of Islam is fiercely opposed to sectarianism and takfiri thought and that it seeks peace and dialogue among religious denominations.  Al-Yasseri said the move can highlight the ...

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of openly funding the insurgents his troops are battling in western Anbar province, in his strongest such statement since fighting started there early this year. Security forces have been fighting insurgents from the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq ...