The White House and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) officially declared that the Islamic State no longer holds any territory inside Syria, after losing its last territory in the village of Baghouz. “Syrian Democratic Forces declare total elimination of so-called caliphate and 100 percent territorial defeat of ISIS,” said Mustafa Bali, spokesman of the US-backed group. “On this unique day, we commemorate thousands of martyrs whose efforts made the victory possible.” Kurdish TV showed SDF fighters raising victory flags in Baghuz, after fighting the last battle for weeks since the beginning of March. Many Isis fighters have either surrendered to the SDF forces or escaped to other places across the region, which is why many think they still pose a threat. “The organisation is weaker, but there are still people there to take on the leadership function as we have seen many times in organisations such as these and the organisation is active,” warns senior British officer Chris Ghika. “We have low hundreds of fighters left in Syria and low tens of thousands in Iraq, but not all of them are fighters there, there is a support network, support staff, sympathisers.” IS also…
Egyptian Teenager’s Actions Save Schoolchildren from Italy Bus Attack
An Egyptian teenager was revealed to have aided and saved 51 schoolchildren in Milan when a bus driver hijacked the vehicle and set it on fire. Quick-thinking Ramy Shehatah, a 13 year old, hid his phone when the driver had taken the other students’ phones and managed to make a call asking for assistance while feigning to pray in Arabic while he contacted his father who then contacted police authorities. The driver, 47-year-old Ousseynou Sy, an Italian of Senegalese origin, had hijacked the vehicle, removed the hammers to break glass and doused the bus in petrol as his plan was to set the school bus on fire. The incident occurred on Wednesday; Shehatah’s efforts were essential to the rescue of the abducted as he gave instructions of the bus’ location. BBC reports that Sy had told the students that no-one would survive the attack which he was carrying out in protest for African migrant deaths at sea. Italian police forces located the bus, forced it to stop and broke the rear glass windows to remove the children from danger. Shehatah, who was born in 2005 in Italy despite not having…
Trump: Time for US to Recognise Golan Heights as Israeli territory
President Donald Trump announced Thursday that it is time for the United States to formally recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights territory, which is internationally recognized as Syrian territory. “After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!” the president tweeted. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1108772952814899200 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also tweeted his thanks to Mr Trump on Thursday. “At a time when Iran seeks to use Syria as a platform to destroy Israel, President Trump boldly recognizes Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” he wrote. According to a report by The New York Times, Netanyahu urged the United States to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the area during a meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Netanyahu will directly meet with Trump at the White House on March 25 to discuss further issues in the Middle East. The prime minister will also attend a White House dinner on March 26. When speaking to reporters on Thursday before Trump’s announcement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters…
Al Aswany Embroiled in Military Lawsuit for Criticism on State
Acclaimed writer Alaa Al Aswany stated that he is being sued by a military court for criticizing various institutions in the country, namely the armed forces and the judiciary as well as the Egyptian President. The Egyptian writer, who currently resides in the US, claimed that he is being sued to sensitive content in his last novel “The Republic, As If” as well as his written contributions to Deutsche Welle Arabic in which he criticizes infrastructure projects ordered by President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. This was made clear in his last contribution to DW dated Tuesday 19. Aswany’s last novel, Al Gomhoreya Ka’en (The Republic, As If) is currently banned in Egypt although it was published last year. It narrates the 2011 revolution, which Aswany was a strong participant in, up until the ousting of ex-President Mubarak. The novel supposedly criticizes Egypt’s courts, parliament and constitution. Current governmental narrative has discredited the incidents of 2011, opting instead on the ousting of MB-supporting former President Mohamed Morsy in 2013. Aswany wrote that he had been “referred to a military court, accused of having insulted the head of state and incited hatred…
The Land of One Faith: Christians Living in Saudi Arabia, the Home of Islam
Saudi Arabia: a country that has been the center of attention for many years because of its oppressive policies towards minorities such as women and foreign workers. However, with the recent introduction of the 2030 reform vision launched by its monarch King Mohammed Bin Salman, it has hit many firsts as it tries to economically compete with sister countries in the region such as the United Arab Emirates. The new generation might be oblivious as to how Saudi Arabia was less than 10 years ago. While the country’s history with discrimination against different races, genders, and socio-economic classes has been making headlines for years, a certain kind of discrimination, however, has been hushed and that is religious discrimination. It might come as a surprise that not everyone living in the kingdom is a Muslim because it is noted to be the birth place of Islam. But, in the decade that I have lived there, I have come across several religious minorities including those who belong to the fellow Abrahamic religion, Christianity. As expected, the religious minority in the kingdom faces discrimination by educational institutions, authorities, in work places and by other…
Uber Egypt Reveals Unique Items Left Behind in Rides: Pickles, Xylophone, and Even a Cat!
We’ve all done it: forgotten something important or of value in a cab, a plane, or indeed an Uber. And while it is easy to get your lost items back from your Uber, this year’s Lost & Found Index highlights some of the most absent-minded riders in the region. Providing a glimpse into what riders most commonly forget, the index also lists some of the more surprising items they tend to leave behind. It also highlights which cities are most forgetful, and which days of the week people tend to forget the most. While almost all of us have lost a phone at some point, some of riders are leaving behind unusual items such as wedding card invitations, a pair of binoculars and, unbelievably, even a sibling! In Egypt, one rider left behind a wheelchair, while others left unusual items including a container of home-made pickles, a tuxedo, a shisha, and a cat in its travel carrier. Some of the more personal items Egyptian riders are leaving in Uber were a xylophone, crutches, swimsuits and even luxury car keys. When it comes to commonly lost items, phones, cameras and sunglasses…
What Arab Leaders Can Learn from New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern
Fighting terrorism is long and never-ending battle in the Middle East. In some countries, it is a living reality, as in the case of Syria and Iraq, who have been engulfed by the satanic force of ISIS and other militants for the past couple of years. Egypt, too, has been subjected to terrorist attacks consistently throughout the years. Other than the battle that is currently ongoing in North Sinai to fight Islamist militants, the twin explosions on Palm Sunday in St. George’s Church in Tanta and St. Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria, as well as the deadly Al-Rawda mosque attack which left 305 killed, revealed just how grave and extreme the problem is. In that kind of context, it is difficult to see any other alternative to the use of force. For years, Arab leaders fought fire with fire. In 1982, President Hafez al Assad launched an aggressive military campaign against the Muslim Brotherhood in the town of Hama, leading to thousands killed. Until today, his son inherits the same strategy and tactic of using the iron first, drowning the country into a brutal civil war for eight years against various groups,…
Egyptian Parliament Agrees to Law that Protects Your Personal Data
The Egyptian House of Parliament’s Communications Committee passed the law to secure personal data on 18 March which will protect privacy, accomplish financial inclusion strategy and enhance human rights indicators in Egypt. Mohamed Hegazy, Chairman of the Law and Legislation Committee of the Ministry of Communications, clarified in the meeting that this bill will not be reinforced on privacy concerns regarding online personal data or cyber security. The law, however, aims to regulate personal information pertaining health information, financial transactions, political ideology, and online marketing. Egypt wants to organize the policies for data protection starting with the digitizing people’s personal information upon the person’s approval. The policies will follow international laws and European guidelines to align with the new regulations the European Union (EU) imposed. The EU’s regulations state that all current and potential clients have to preserve the personal data obtained from Europeans, meaning this bill will apply to all the countries in contact with the EU including Egypt. Representatives of international companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, Uber, Careem along with 19 others as well as 1,300 Egyptian companies have attended a hearing where they discussed with the…
Egypt named Africa’s “Hottest Tech Scene” by Business Insider
Business Insider named Egypt’s tech entrepreneurship scene as Africa’s “hottest tech scene” while highlighting two main challenges that are present in the field. With almost 100 million citizens, Egypt has one of the highest populations in the Middle East and Africa with 61 percent of its population under 30 and 40 percent is aged between 10 and 29 according to the Population Council. The country is also a home for several issues such as education, transportation and pollution which created a great base for young striving entrepreneurs who are want to create solutions using technology. Egypt National Report by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s most recent report revealed that 46 percent of the country’s adult population is aspiring to become entrepreneurs by obtaining the necessary qualifications. The founder and director of AUC Venture Lab, the first university incubator, Ayman Ismail wrote in the National Report, “Entrepreneurship is a key driver of economic growth for Egypt and around the world.” Although entrepreneurial sector in Egypt has various opportunities, Business Insider believes that there are two main obstacles that face young entrepreneurs: “Brain Drain” and “The challenges behind setting up a startup.” Most of…