Hesham Haj Ali

Mohammad was 14 when he left Syria. He used to live in the southern city of Daraa with his family, close to the Jordanian border. On March 18, 2011 in the older part of Daraa city, people protested corruption and a recent hike in prices of fuel and food . The government immediately responded with violence. Two people were killed. The situation escalated quickly. More protests erupted and the government’s response was getting more and more violent. The peaceful protests turned to an armed struggl

CAIRO, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s oil supplies to Canada will not be impacted by a dispute between the two countries, the kingdom’s energy minister said on Thursday, reassuring customers after Riyadh froze new trade with Canada and ruled out mediation efforts. The world’s largest oil exporter has a “firm and long-standing policy” that petroleum supplies are not influenced by political considerations, Khalid al-Falih said in a statement. “The current diplomatic crisis between Saudi Arabia

CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamic State claimed responsibility for five attacks in an area it calls the “State of West Africa” that it said resulted in 118 casualties in the past week, according to a video posted on its account on the messaging website Telegram late on Thursday. The militant group, which typically uses the “State of West Africa” to refer to Nigeria, made the claim in a video presentation of attacks it says it carried out between Nov. 16 and 22. It did not specify the number of people k

NEW DELHI/CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and told him about plans to scale up investments in India’s tech, farm and energy sectors, an Indian official and the Saudi news agency (SPA) said on Friday. The two leaders, who are in Argentina for the G20 summit, met in the prince’s residence in Buenos Aires and discussed Saudi Arabia’s readiness to supply India with oil and petroleum products. The G20 summit in Buenos Aires is the fir

CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamic State (IS) has recorded 69 casualties from the Nigerian Army and troops from an African anti-militant force in attacks over the past week, the Jihadist group said in its weekly paper on Thursday. Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), which split from Nigeria-based Boko Haram in 2016, has carried out a series of attacks in the last few months. In its newspaper Al-Nabaa, IS said its fighters killed a number of African coalition soldiers in attacks on a military ba

CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) - Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah reached a deal over political reconciliation on Thursday after Hamas agreed to hand over administrative control of the Gaza enclave the group has controlled for more than a decade. Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh announced the Egyptian-brokered accord in a statement without providing further details about a deal expected to cover administrative, security and border crossing arrangements in the Gaza Strip. The Western-backed mainstrea

CAIRO (Reuters) - Jihadist group Islamic State said on Thursday it had killed 13 Nigerian soldiers and five troops from a west African anti-militant force in attacks over recent days. Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), which split from Nigeria-based Boko Haram in 2016, has carried out a series of attacks in the last few months. In its newspaper Al-Nabaa, IS said its fighters killed the Nigerians in attacks on a military barracks on Friday, a military post on Sunday, and a town on Mond

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least four people were killed and 15 wounded in a suicide attack targeting a predominantly Shi’ite district of Baghdad on Thursday, a military spokesman told Reuters. Iraq’s National Security media center said in a statement that the attacker had detonated an explosive vest after being besieged by security forces at the entrance to the Saqlawiyah public garden in the Shula district of northwest Baghdad. This resulted in the death and injury of “a number of civilians”, it

CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamic State (IS) killed 11 Nigerian soldiers in an attack on the northeastern town of Gajiganna, the group claimed through its news agency AMAQ on Saturday. The Jihadist organization said the attack on the soldiers took place in the town in northeastern Borno state on Friday. It published pictures of burned barracks and dead bodies it claimed belonged to the soldiers. Three sources, including one hospital source, confirmed the attack. They said the militants stormed the tow