Middle East

November 2022

How a former pro-Kremlin politician and a fleet of trucks kept one Ukrainian city out of Putin’s grasp

Oleksandr Vilkul had no military experience before the war, yet when he was awoken by a phone call early on February 24 he knew exactly what needed to be done.

---

Iran is at ‘turning point’ amid ongoing protests and paranoia over police spies

A swarm of black-clad security forces on motorcycles, a crowd of screaming students ducking for cover — and, as shots ring out, two campus security guards helplessly waving their arms to shield young people from gunfire.

---

Gallery

Cop27: ‘Loss and damage’ must dominate the poolside chats at climate summit

It’s not what you’d associate with a summit aimed at preventing the end of the world as we know it, but in hushed tones among attendees heading to Cop27, the question is being asked: are you bringing a swimsuit?

---

Benjamin Netanyahu ‘back’ due to strong showing by extreme-right party

Benjamin Netanyahu made a dazzling comeback yesterday after a surge in support for a hard-right party granted the former prime minister enough seats to form a government.

---

Iran to ‘investigate’ beating and shooting of protester on video

A video shows Iranian security forces kick and beat a man with truncheons. As they depart on motorbikes, an officer fires a shotgun at the man lying on the ground, apparently at his face.

---

Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu on brink of return to power, exit polls show

Benjamin Netanyahu’s hopes of making a comeback were boosted last night after early exit polls suggested the former Israeli prime minister could win enough seats to form a government.

---

‘Freedom’ cry as Iran plans to put 1,000 people on trial over protests

A mountainside overlooking the southern Iranian city of Shiraz has had the Persian word for “freedom” painted on it, as authorities yesterday announced plans to put 1,000 people on public trial in Tehran after anti-government protests.

---

October 2022

Dissent grows, with Iranians now knocking turbans off clerics’ heads in displays of contempt for establishment

Young Iranians are filming themselves knocking the turbans from the heads of clerics in open displays of contempt for the country’s religious establishment.

---

Iranian forces open fire on protesters as anger mounts against over women’s killings

Iranian security forces opened fire on Friday on demonstrators in a southeastern city that has seen weeks of unrest amid nationwide demonstrations, activists said. They said the shooting in Zahedan killed at least two people, threatening to ignite further tensions.

---

Doubts cast in Iran on explanation for death of teenage girl in protests

EVIDENCE released yesterday has cast doubt on Iran’s official explanation for the death of a teenage girl at the heart of the surging anti-government protest movement.

---

Gallery

‘World’s dirtiest man’ dies after taking his first bath in decades

An Iranian man nicknamed the “dirtiest man in the world” for living in filth and not washing for decades has died at the age of 94, state media reported yesterday.

---

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman cancels trip abroad due to health scare

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has had to pull out from attending the Arab League summit after advice from his doctors not to travel, the Algerian presidency has said.

---

Protesters attack the banks as Iran cleric demands crackdown

Protests broke out in south-eastern Iran yesterday, with demonstrators attacking banks, state media reported, as a senior cleric called for tough measures against the demonstrators .

---

Gallery

Crowds cheer Iran’s ‘no hijab’ climber Elnaz Rekabi on her return home

Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi received rapturous applause upon her return to Tehran yesterday from South Korea, where she caused controversy by competing without a headscarf.

---

Iranian climber who competed without hijab given hero’s welcome at airport

Iranian competitive climber Elnaz Rekabi received a hero's welcome on her return to Tehran early Wednesday, after competing in South Korea without wearing a mandatory headscarf required of female athletes from the Islamic Republic.

---

Iranian rockclimber ‘apologises’ after competing without headscarf after fears for her safety

An online post on the account of an Iranian climber offered an apology after she appeared without a headscarf at a competition in South Korea.

---

Vladimir Putin’s use of Iranian drones and closer links between Moscow and Tehran risks Israel being pulled into war

Vladimir Putin’s use of Iranian suicide drones in Ukraine risks pulling Israel into the war and has raised the prospect of closer nuclear co-operation between Tehran and Moscow.

---

Iran denies Tehran jail fire was lit by inmates over death of Mahsa Amini

A huge fire at Iran’s most notorious prison for political opponents was dismissed yesterday by the regime as the result of a fight between inmates.

---

Palestinian doctor treating wounded shot dead in Israel raid on West Bank refugee camp, local reports claim

Israeli military yesterday carried out an arrest raid in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank and killed two Palestinians in gun battles, Palestinian reports say. It was the latest bloodshed in what has become the deadliest year in the territory since 2015.

---

‘No-one can uproot the Islamic Republic’ – Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issues stern warning as Iran protests continue

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said yesterday that no-one should dare think they can uproot the Islamic Republic, in his toughest warning to protesters since Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody ignited nationwide unrest which is now in its fourth week.

---

Riot police attack Iranian marchers who chant: ‘Woman, life, freedom!’

Protests swept across at least 19 cities in Iran yesterday, sparked by the death of a 22-year-old woman detained last month by the country’s morality police, even as security forces targeted demonstrators in the streets.

---

Gallery

Iran chokes off internet access as protesters return to streets and death toll tops 200 as schoolchildren arrested

Iran suffered a “major disruption” in internet service on Wednesday as calls for renewed protests again saw demonstrators on the streets weeks after the death of a 22-year-old woman who had been detained by the country's morality police.

---

Gallery

Shakira latest celeb to support Iran hijab protesters; energy workers stage wildcat strike

Shakira has become the latest celebrity to voice her support for the women of Iran, amid widespread protests in the country and accusations of human rights violations.

---

Iran hijab protests: 19 children among 185 now believed killed in crackdown on dissent

Protests ignited by the death of a young woman in police custody continued across Iran on Sunday in defiance of a crackdown by the authorities, as a human rights group said at least 185 people, including children, had been killed in demonstrations.

---

Generation Z shatters fear factor in its opposition to Iran’s patriarchal clerics

Dressed like a punk-rocker in dark make-up and clothes, Nika Shakarami’s high voice rang out on the streets as she was filmed singing to her fellow protesters. Just days later, her broken body was secretly buried by security forces far from her village — the latest victim of Tehran’s brutal crackdown on youngsters demanding basic human rights.

---

Mahsa Amini (22) ‘not murdered’, says Iran coroner

An Iranian coroner’s report denied Mahsa Amini had died due to blows to the head and limbs while in the custody of Iran’s morality police and linked her death to pre-existing medical conditions, state media said yesterday.

---

Revolt grows as schoolgirls chant ‘death to Khamenei’ at paramilitary speaker in Iran

Iranian schoolgirls have been filmed furiously chanting and waving their headscarves at a paramilitary speaker.

---

Ireland’s honorary consul to Lebanon staging bank sit-in demanding access to his savings

The honorary consul general of Ireland to Lebanon, Georges Siam, is currently staging a sit-in at a bank outside Beirut demanding access to his own savings.

---

Saudi Arabia plans desert ski resort to host Winter Games

SAUDI ARABIA has unveiled its plans to open the first outdoor ski resort in the Gulf after winning the right to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games in Neom, a futuristic desert megacity.

---

Students attacked as Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says the West is to blame for protests

Iran’s security forces and pro-regime militias attacked students at one of the nation’s most prestigious universities as part of a widespread effort to quell a widespread outbreak of political protests sparked by the September 16 death of a young woman in the custody of the morality police.