Tag Archives: Middle East

Haaretz reports: U.S. President Donald Trump called Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan to congratulate him on winning a referendum expanding his authority, sources in Erdogan’s palace said on Monday. Turkey voted on Sunday to switch to a presidential system, greatly increasing Erdogan’s powers. Unofficial results, which the opposition said it would challenge, showed a narrow victory for him with 51.4 percent …

Bloomberg reports: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said a chemical-weapons attack in Syria that provoked U.S. missile strikes on the Middle Eastern country may have been orchestrated. “There’s growing evidence that this was staged,” Lavrov said at a Moscow news conference with his Iranian and Syrian counterparts on Friday. Publications including in the U.S. and the U.K. have highlighted “many …

CBS News reports: Fifty-seven percent of Americans approve of the airstrike against Syrian military targets – calling immoral the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons that led to the strike – but most are leery of any military involvement beyond airstrikes, a CBS News poll shows. President Trump’s overall approval rating edged up, though most respondents voice unease about his …

Raw Story recaps: On Sunday’s edition of “Last Week Tonight,” host John Oliver wrecked the Trump administration’s attack on Syria this week, but reserved particular scorn for the media figures who suddenly reversed course and became uncritical supporters of the administration. Brian Williams’ decision to quote a Leonard Cohen song was particularly awful, Oliver said. “This is not a song, …

CNN reports: The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has told CNN that removing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power is a priority, cementing an extraordinary U-turn in the Trump administration’s stance on the embattled leader. Two days after the US launched military strikes on a Syrian airbase in response to a chemical weapons attack widely blamed on …

Newsweek reports: Russia deployed its most advanced Black Sea frigate Friday into the eastern Mediterranean, where U.S. Navy destroyers had launched an airstrike earlier that day against the Moscow-backed Syrian military. As Russian leadership condemned the U.S.’ first intentional attack on the military of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since the country’s six-year conflict began, Russia’s Admiral Grigorovich frigate reportedly left …

USA Today reports: Syria condemned U.S. missile strikes on a Syrian air base, describing them Friday as a “blatant act of aggression.” The office of Syrian President Bashar Assad said the strikes, which President Trump launched in response to a chemical attack on civilians, were “shortsighted,” “reckless” and “irresponsible.” Talal Barazi, the governor of Homs province, where the base is …

Marco Rubio has been on every network this morning to praise Trump’s strike on Syria. From the Washington Examiner:  Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said Friday that President Trump had the legal authority to launch a missile attack at a Syrian airfield Thursday night, because it was a limited attack that fell short of a full declaration of war. “The president …

From the Russian propaganda outlet RT News: President Putin “regards the strikes as aggression against a sovereign nation,” his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, noting that the president believes the strikes were carried out “in violation of international law, and also under an invented pretext.” Peskov also insisted that “the Syrian army doesn’t have chemical weapons,” saying this had been “observed …

Reuters reports: Russia wants an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss U.S. missile strikes on Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday, describing the action as “thoughtless”. The ministry said in a statement that Russia was also suspending a Syrian air safety agreement with the United States, saying: “This is not the first time the United …

NBC News reports: The United States launched dozens of cruise missiles Thursday night at a Syrian airfield in response to what it believes was Syria’s use of banned chemical weapons that killed at least 100 people, U.S. military officials told NBC News. Two U.S. warships in the Mediterranean Sea fired 59 Tomahawk missiles intended for a single target — Ash …

The Associated Press reports: The spokesman for President Vladimir Putin tells The Associated Press that Russia’s support for Syrian President Bashar Assad is not unconditional. Thursday’s statement from Dmitry Peskov comes several days after a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held province in Syria. Moscow, Assad’s key backer, has supported the Syrian government militarily since 2015. Turkey said on …

CNBC reports: President Donald Trump holds a joint press conference with Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Wednesday afternoon. At the news conference, the pair of leaders will likely address the alleged chemical attack in Syria that killed dozens, including children, according to NBC News. On Tuesday, Trump called the “chemical attack” a “heinous” act by Syrian President Bashar Assad, but …

The Hill reports: Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley tore into Russia on Wednesday over Bashar al-Assad’s suspected use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people the day before, as the U.N. Security Council took up a resolution condemning the attack. “Russia has shielded Assad from U.N. sanctions. If Russia has the influence in Syria that it claims it …

Via Mediaite: Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois condemned the United States government’s lack of action in response to the Syrian government’s alleged use of chemical weapons. Near the end of the interview, anchor Alisyn Camerota played a clip from 7-year-old Syrian refugee Bana Alabed, who called for an end to the war so, “the children of Syria [can] play and …

NBC News reports: White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday the suspected chemical attack in Syria “cannot be ignored by the civilized world” and blamed President Barack Obama’s administration for not standing up to Syrian President Bashar Assad. “These heinous actions by the Bashar al Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration’s weakness and irresolution,” Spicer told …

Al Jazeera reports: At least 58 people, including nine children, were killed in an air raid that released “toxic gas” on the rebel-held Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun on Tuesday, a monitor said. The attack caused many people to choke or faint, and some had foam coming from their mouths, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, citing medical …

The New York Times reports: Passengers on foreign airlines headed to the United States from 10 airports in eight majority-Muslim countries have been barred from carrying electronic devices larger than a cellphone under a new flight restriction enacted on Tuesday by the Trump administration. Officials said the new directive was not based on information pointing to a credible, specific threat …

Politico reports:  The United States on Friday abstained as the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution — vigorously opposed by President-elect Donald Trump and the government of Israel — that criticizes Israeli settlement construction in land claimed by the Palestinians for a future state. The measure, though largely symbolic, was the first the Security Council has adopted on Israel …

ABC News reports: The United States has allowed the United Nations Security Council to condemn Israeli settlement as having “no legal validity”. The Security Council voted today on a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlements after four council members again put forward the measure a day after Egypt withdrew it under pressure from Israel and US President-elect Donald Trump. …