Car bomb kills three outside hospital in Libya’s Benghazi

A car bomb killed at least three people outside a hospital in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Monday, witnesses said, in a further sign of the violent disorder plaguing the country since the 2011 revolution that toppled Muammar Gaddafi. (more…)

Libya protests prompt U.S. to evacuate diplomats

Growing concerns over protests roiling Libya prompted the State Department to begin evacuating some diplomats from Tripoli, as the Pentagon put troops stationed at nearby European bases on high alert. (more…)

Imam Moussa al-Sadr was murdered in Libya, report

The Shiite Imam Moussa Al-Sadr who went missing during his visit to Libya in 1978 was killed by the regime of Moammar Gaddafi according to a report by Now Lebanon.

This revelation could spell the end of the controversy on the spiritual leader’s mysterious disappearance in Libya. (more…)

Obama picks new U.S. ambassador to Libya

A veteran diplomat who’s served in Syria, Kuwait and Turkey will return to the Middle East as the new U.S. ambassador to Libya, President Barack Obama announced Wednesday.

If confirmed by the Senate, Deborah K. Jones will fill a post that’s been vacant since the previous envoy, Ambassador Christopher Stevens, died along with three other Americans (more…)

Whatever we were thinking, hope for a new Middle East lost

By: Joschka Fischer
TWO years after popular uprisings began to convulse the Middle East, few people speak of an “Arab Spring” anymore.

Libya Crackdown on Lebanese with Iranian visas

Reports that Libya has banned foreigners with Iranian visas in their passports from entering the country appear to be only partly true. An immigration official at Tripoli International Airport said that the ban applies solely to Lebanese passport holders with Iranian visas (more…)

Clinton bids farewell to the U.S. State Department

Hillary Clinton gave her final speech as secretary of state on Friday, thanking employees at the State Department in an emotional goodbye and pledging to them that she “will be an advocate from outside” for the work that they do. (more…)

The all-female militias of Syria, report

BEIRUT – The Syrian regime is arming and training Syrian women to fight for President Bashar al-Assad, putting it out in front of the Pentagon when it comes to sending women to the front lines.

A video posted on Russia Today’s Arabic channel from the central city of Homs shows dozens of women in combat fatigues (more…)

Europeans Warned to Evacuate Libya’s Benghazi

Several European governments urged their citizens to evacuate the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi in response to what the U.K. described as “a specific and imminent threat to Westerners,” highlighting jitters in the region after last week’s deadly hostage siege at a natural-gas facility in Algeria. (more…)

Assad’s speech echoes Gaddafi’s final desperate rallies

It was the first time in two years of revolution we have seen support for the Syrian leader so choreographed, accompanied by such fist-pumping chants from the audience.

Even the slogans were the same as the slain Libyan dictator: “God, Syria, Bashar, enough”. (more…)