Monday, 19th January
LIBYA – Libya’s internationally-recognized government has recalled retired general Khalifa Haftar, a former general under Gaddafi, to army duty. (Reuters)
EUROPEAN UNION – The European Union said it would appeal against an EU court ruling that the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas should be removed from the bloc’s terrorist list. The move was criticized by Hamas, but welcomed by Israel. (Reuters)
IRAN – A general of the Revolutionary Guards was killed along with a number of fighters from the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah group in an Israeli air strike in Syria. (Reuters)
Tuesday, 20th January 2015
ISLAMIC STATE – The militant group Islamic State released an online video purporting to show two Japanese captives and threatening to kill them unless it received $200 million in ransom. (Reuters)
ISRAEL – A prosecutor, who accused Argentina’s President of orchestrating a cover-up in the investigation of Iran over the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center, was found dead in his apartment with a gunshot wound to the head. (The Guardian)
Wednesday, 21st January 2015
LIBYA – A Parliament set up in Libya to rival the elected assembly has suspended UN sponsored peace talks because of what it called fresh violence from the country’s recognized government. (Reuters)
SYRIA – Syria called on the UN Security Council to take action against Turkey for allowing a French woman linked to militant attacks in Paris to illegally enter Syria along with other foreign fighters. (Reuters)
Thursday, 22nd January 2015
YEMEN – The President of Yemen Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi resigned, days after Houthi rebels battled their way into his presidential palace, plunging the unstable Arab country deeper into chaos and depriving Washington of a key ally against al-Qaeda. (BBC)
ISRAEL – A letter purported to be from Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas’ armed wing, appealed to the Lebanese Hezbollah group to unite with Hamas in battling Israel after a rift over the Syrian civil war. Hamas has been hostile toward the President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, while Hezbollah, backed by Iran, has been fighting against the rebels trying to topple him. (Reuters)
IRAQ – The Prime Minister of Iraq, Haider al-Abadi, said he feared lower revenues from falling global oil prices could hurt his country’s military campaign against Islamic State. (Reuters)
Friday, 23rd January 2015
SAUDI ARABIA – King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia died and his brother Salman became king, the royal court in the world’s top oil exporter and birthplace of Islam said in a statement carried by state television. (Reuters)
TUNISIA – The Prime Minister-designate of Tunisia, Habib Essid, said he had formed a government without any cabinet posts for moderate Islamists after negotiations among secular party Nidaa Tounes and other smaller partners in Parliament. (Reuters)
GREECE – Greece’s anti-bailout leftists Syriza held their lead over the ruling conservatives in two of the final opinion polls to be published before Sunday’s snap election. (ANSAmed)
