Arab world

    In a rare condemnation of Israel, the UN Security Council has said its settlements in occupied Palestinian territories have no legal validity. The vote on Friday only passed because the US declined to use its veto - as its has dozens of times in the past - and instead abstained from voting. In doing so, the Obama administration not only permitted Israel to be rebuked, but also rejected a call from both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump, to block the move. The resolution was put forward at the 15-member council for a vote by New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela and Senegal a day after Egypt withdrew the measure under pressure from Israel and the US President-elect. It was adopted with 14 votes in favour, to a round of applause. It is the first resolutio...

    The US got it wrong about Saddam Hussein and Iraq, the CIA analyst who interrogated the former dictator has said. John Nixon had numerous conversations with the deposed leader and now says that America was critically mistaken about their intervention Iraq in a number of ways. In particular, he claims, the CIA’s view of Hussein’s attitude to using chemical weapons was wrong. They were also mistaken about his health, personal habits and his involvement in running Iraq. Mr Nixon also criticised the conduct of George W Bush, under whose leadership America invaded Iraq, saying the former president heard only what he wanted to hear on the topic. During the interrogations, Mr Nixon asked Hussein if he’d ever thought of engaging in a pre-emptive strike with WMDs against US troops ...

    Bashar al Assad has said history is being made in a video message about liberating Aleppo from anti-government forces. Speaking in a Twitter clip, the president said: "What is happening today is the writing of a history written by every Syrian citizen. The writing did not start today, it started six years ago when the crisis and war started against Syria. He said Syria, the region and the international situation would be different after liberating Aleppo. Reuters A child waves from inside a bus as she is evacuated from rebel-held areas in AleppoIt comes as hundreds of civilians started to leave the east of the city, headed for rebel-held areas outside Aleppo as part of a ceasefire deal. Images on Syrian television showed at least 17 buses and 10 ambulances in the first con...

    A Saudi court on Tuesday sentenced 15 people to death for spying for the kingdom's arch-adversary Iran, Saudi-owned media reported, a ruling that could heighten antagonism between the regional powers. The Specialised Criminal Court in Riyadh sentenced 15 other defendants to prison terms ranging from six months to 25 years, and acquitted two of them, the Arabic-language al-Riyadh newspaper said on its website. The defendants - comprising 30 Saudi Shi'ite Muslims, one Iranian and an Afghan - were detained in 2013 on charges of espionage for Iran and went on trial in February. Tuesday's rulings are subject to appeal, and death sentences must go to the king for ratification. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi denied that any Iranian spying had occurred in Saudi A...

    Prince Alwaleed bin Talal makes social and economic case for lifting ban, which he says is akin to denying women education Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said the driving ban on women went beyond what is required by religion. • A billionaire Saudi prince has called for an “urgent” end to his country’s ban on women driving. “Stop the debate: Time for women to drive,” Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said on his official Twitter account. Alwaleed is an unusually outspoken member of the Saudi royal family who holds no political posts but chairs Kingdom Holding Co, whose interests include US banking giant Citigroup and the Euro Disney theme park. The philanthropist is a longtime advocate of women’s rights in the kingdom, which has some of the world’s tightest restrictions on women and is ...

    An Iranian dissident who secretly disclosed the excesses of prison brutality in the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations, endangering her own life, has escaped to Europe. She is now living at an undisclosed location for her safety. Shabnam Madadzadeh, 29, was held for six years, serving a five year prison service, in some of the most infamous prisons of Iran's deeply politicised criminal justice system. Through letters she sent secretly from her cells, Madadzadeh drew attention to the often draconian conditions she and thousands of other women faced. More from IBTimes UK • Dozens killed in train crash as two passenger services collide east of Tehran • Obama says outlook in Syria is bleak as Russia, Syria and Iran carry out • From Nato to Isis: What President Trum...

    The marchers made their way to the city of Karbala, 62 miles south west of Baghdad, on Sunday and Monday for the holy day of Arbaeen, which marks the end of a 40-day mourning period following Ashura, the religious ritual that commemorates the death of the Prophet Mohammad's grandson Imam Hussein in 680 AD. Large crowds visit the shrines of Imam Hussein and his half-brother Abbas in Karbala, where they were killed in a revolt against the Umayyad ruler Yazeed in the 7th century AD when they refused to pledge allegiance to Yazeed's Umayyad caliphate. Nusayyef al-Khattabi, who heads the Karbala provincial council, said he expected the total number of visitors over several days to range “between 17 million and 20 million”. Among them are an estimated three million foreigners, t...

    An Islamic State leader has given a startling frank interview about his life as one of the world's most wanted jihadis. Rachid Kassim, 29, has been linked to a string of terror attacks in Europe including the murder of a policeman and his partner near Paris and a Catholic priest near Normandy. He is believed to have run an encrypted app called Telegram which spread advice on how to carry out atrocities until it was cracked by French intelligence services in September. The French-born extremist has given an on-the-record interview for the first time toAmarnath Amarasingam, an academic based in Washington who specialises in jihadism research. He spoke candidly about a number of topics, including how he felt about beheading a prisoner. Kassim appeared in one of Islamic State'...

    The Iraqis, who have accused troops of abuse over incidents dating back as long ago as 2003, are given spending and living allowances after being flown to hotels overseas for interviews. A controversial law firm, that shut down over alleged irregularities over its conduct in Iraq, has also been paid money out of public funds to attend the interviews in Turkey and Lebanon. A senior MP said the payments could act as a ‘lucrative’ incentive for Iraqis to make claims of abuse. MPs questioned why the interviews are not carried out by video link. The admission over payments followed a series of further damaging revelations made to a defence select committee investigating the treatment of troops. The parliamentary inquiry heard that British troops are being subjected to secret su...

    Syrian President Bashar al Assad has said Donald Trump could be a natural ally if he fulfils his pledge to fight terrorists. Speaking for the first time on Mr Trump's unexpected election victory, Mr Assad said he was unsure the US President-elect would be able to keep his word and step up the fight against jihadists. If...he is going to fight the terrorists, of course we are going to be ally, natural ally in that regard with the Russian, with the Iranian, with many other countries," Mr Assad told Portugal's RTP state television. On Friday, Mr Trump indicated that he will focus on fighting Islamic State in Syria rather than attempting to oust Mr Assad's regime. He told the Wall Street Journal he had an opposite view of many people regarding Syria", adding: We're backing reb...