Tag Archives: Saudi Arabia

Lebanese top diplomat’s remarks on the Gulf states and the rise of ISIL were ‘insulting’, Riyadh says. Saudi Arabia has summoned the Lebanese ambassador to protest against “insulting” remarks by Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe, who made critical comments about the Gulf states. In a television interview on Monday, Wehbe …

Saudi Arabia has announced on Sunday the Hajj will be held this year following health and safety requirements due to the pandemic. The Hajj and Umrah Ministry said in a statement that Hajj will go ahead this year with all the health, security, and regulatory standards and regulations in place …

Imran Khan’s visit to Riyadh is a significant move to rebuild relations between the historic allies following recent setbacks, say, analysts. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has started a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia in an effort to reset relations after tensions between the longtime allies in recent years. Khan’s …

A report revealed the Trump administration didn’t break the law when it expedited $8bn in arms sales to the Gulf nations but concluded it failed to fully assess the humanitarian impact associated with the transfers. The US State Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has found that president Donald …

An internal probe into a controversial US arms sale to Saudi Arabia has cleared Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of any wrongdoing, according to a senior State Department official, who briefed reporters prior to the report’s release. The State Department on Monday said the inspector general’s report found that Pompeo …

Saudi Arabia has suspended the supply of oil to Pakistan as the latter complains about Riyadh’s foot-dragging on a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) to address India’s contentious measures in Muslim-majority Kashmir region. In 2018, Pakistan borrowed a $6.2 billion loan from Saudi Arabia that included a …

Saudi Aramco’s net income plunged by 50% in the first half of the year, according to figures published Sunday, offering a revealing glimpse into the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on one of the world’s biggest oil producers. Profits for the first six months of the year plunged to $23.2 …

Just days after the brutal killing of prominent Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey in the fall of 2018, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman dispatched a group of hitmen, known as the Tiger Squad, to Canada to seek out and kill one of his former top intelligence officials who had …

State Department officials voiced concern over risks to civilians before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo rammed through $8.1 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other Arab allies, a former aide was quoted Monday as telling lawmakers. Democrats in Congress issued subpoenas to compel appearances by four aides to …

A Saudi Arabian-backed consortium has withdrawn its bid to buy the English Premier League side Newcastle United. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) had been part of a three-party deal fronted by PCP Capital Partners, a venture capital and private equity company founded and run by British businesswoman Amanda Staveley, …

Masked pilgrims arrived Thursday at Mount Arafat, a hill near Islam’s holiest site, to pray and repent on the most important day of the hajj, the annual pilgrimage in Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The global coronavirus pandemic has cast a shadow over every aspect of this year’s pilgrimage, which last …

Hajj pilgrimage is usually one of the world’s largest religious gatherings but this year only up to 10,000 people already residing in the kingdom will participate in the ritual as the Saudi hosts try to prevent the spread of virus pandemic. Muslim pilgrims have begun the annual Hajj, dramatically downsized …

Pilgrims were quarantined Tuesday in the Muslim holy city of Mecca ahead of the dramatically downsized hajj as Saudi authorities strive to prevent a coronavirus outbreak during the five-day pilgrimage. Up to 10,000 people already residing in the kingdom will participate in the annual ritual starting Wednesday, according to hajj …

Weighing just 9kg at ten years old, Hassan Merzam Muhammad is so emaciated by the severe malnourishment plaguing hundreds of thousands of Yemeni children like him that he can no longer walk. Fears of famine in Yemen are resurfacing, the United Nations says. A U.N. report Wednesday said Yemen was …

Saudi Arabia’s 84-year-old ruler, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, has been admitted to hospital in the capital Riyadh, suffering from inflammation of the gall bladder, state news agency SPA said on Monday. The king, who has ruled the world’s largest oil exporter and close U.S. ally since 2015, is undergoing medical …

A political source announced the date of Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi’s visit to Saudi Arabia and Iran. The source said in a press statement today that the Prime Minister will receive on Sunday tomorrow in Baghdad the Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif. He added that Al-Kadhimi will visit Saudi …

Saudi-led military aircraft have carried out fresh deadly strikes in Yemen, this time targeting a residential area in the northern province of al-Jawaf, as part of the Riyadh regime’s ongoing aerial bombardment campaign against its crisis-hit southern neighbor. Local sources told Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that the fighter jets …

Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday that it permanently cancelled the licence of Qatari broadcaster beIN Sports, which has been barred from broadcasting in the kingdom since mid-2017 over political disputes with Qatar. Saudi’s General Authority for Competition (GAC) said in a statement that it was also fining beIN Sports 10 …

Britain is providing more than a dozen repressive regimes around the world with wiretaps, spyware and other telecommunications interception equipment likely to be used to spy on dissidents, according to public records. The rules are quite clear on this. The UK should not export security goods to countries that might …

Yemeni forces have carried out a major military operation against military and strategic positions in southwestern Saudi Arabia, a military spokesman says. Brigadier General Yahya Saree, the spokesman for Yemen’s Armed Forces, said in a statement on Monday that many drones and high-precision ballistic missiles were used in the operation. …