New Delhi: In the biggest hike in nearly three decades, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday increased India’s annual Haj quota by 34,500, a move welcomed by the NDA government as a “matter of pleasure”. Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Saudi Arabia’s Haj and Umrah Minister Dr Mohammad Saleh bin Taher Benten inked an agreement in this regard in Jeddah today, ...

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and his Djiboutian counterpart Ismail Omar Guelleh stressed the importance of enhancing economic and trade cooperation at a Monday press conference in Cairo that preceded the signing of memorandums of understanding between the two countries El-Sisi said that his meeting with Guelleh saw fruitful talks on ways of boosting the special ties between the two countries. ...

As ties between Cairo and Damascus strengthen, Syrian journalist Abdulrahman al-Masri explores the factors behind possible military cooperation between Egypt and Syria and the consequences this would have both locally and regionally. OTTAWA, CANADA – The Syrian regime-friendly newspaper As-Safir published an article on November 24 claiming that an Egyptian military unit had been deployed to Syria to provide logistical ...

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Syrian government, flush with pivotal battlefield gains and bolstered by support from Iran and Russia, is finding itself the beneficiary of an evolving regional realignment spurred by the war in Syria. Egypt and Turkey, countries that were once vocal opponents of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, have, to varying degrees, softened their positions. Egypt, the region’s most ...

USS EISENHOWER, Persian Gulf –  One after another, fighter jets catapult from the flight deck of the USS Eisenhower, a thousand-foot (305-meter) American aircraft carrier, afterburners glowing amber above the blue Persian Gulf, on their way northwest to join the fight in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State. The fighter jets refuel on the way before receiving from coalition ...

What you are witnessing today in Yemen is a religious and cultural genocide, Catherine Shakdam, Director of Programs at Shafaqna Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, told RT. The Saudi ambassador to the United States has called the Saudi-led bombings in Yemen “righteous” and “legitimate” and that they will continue“no matter what.” However, he was less clear over their use of ...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Defying the weakness of crude oil prices, Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil giant Saudi Arabian Oil (Saudi Aramco) has pledged to invest $334 billion in oil facilities and projects during the decade to 2025. With the announcement, the company left no doubt that it will continue spending huge sums of money to maintain and expand its ...

The former deputy governor of South Sudan’s Upper Nile state, John Ivo Mounto, confirmed on Sunday his defection to the armed opposition faction under the leadership of Riek Machar, charging that the country will never be at peace if President Salva Kiir continues to play a central role in the affairs of the young nation. Mounto told Sudan Tribune on ...

Exclusive to The Middle East Online Edited by Nelly Tawil 43 people are dead after a fierce government bombardment on a opposition-controlled Syrian town, casualties included children and medical staff according to a monitoring group. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the airstrike and shelling lasted for hours on Saturday, striking Jayrud, a town situated 60 kilometers north-east ...

Exclusive to The Middle East Online Edited by Nelly Tawil US Secretary of State, John Kerry, has warned the Syrian regime and its main military backer Russia, to respect the “frayed” ceasefire and said that its “patience was not infinite” amid mounting death tolls. The US Secretary of State addressed the Oslo Forum on conflict resolution and mediation, he stated ...