Islamic State's Saudi ‘mufti’ slain in Iraq

A Saudi mufti with the Islamic State (IS or Daesh) has been killed in Iraq by the country’s armed forces, says an Iraqi news site, quoting an Iraqi military commander.

“Daesh mufti Abu Osama Al-Qahtani was killed inside a building in Baiji, Tikrit, along with four of his assistants in an air raid that targeted an IS meeting on Tuesday,” Lt. Gen. Ali Al-Freiji, commander in Saladin province, was quoted by Waradana as saying.

Rocket landings at Saudi-Iraq border under probe

Three Hawn rockets fell on Monday in a desert area near the northern border area of Jadida Arar, but caused no injuries or damages, a spokesman of the Border Guards has revealed.

An investigation has been launched to identify the source of the rockets, Maj. Mohammed Al-Ghamdi, the spokesman, told Arab News.

He said security forces are prepared to protect all the country’s borders. This includes tackling smugglers on the southern border and dealing with any fallout arising from the Iraq crisis.

Saudi arms will arrive soon: Syria rebel chief

The new head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition said he expected advanced weapons supplied by Saudi Arabia to reach rebel fighters soon and that the Geneva peace conference “is not possible” for now due to their currently weak military position.

Ahmad al-Jarba, who has close links to Saudi Arabia, told Reuters in his first interview since being elected president of the coalition on July 6 that the opposition would not go to a proposed peace conference in Geneva sponsored by the United States and Russia unless its military fortunes improve.

Thousands of Yemenis deported from Saudi Arabia

Sana: Saudi Arabia has begun deporting thousands of Yemeni labourers following new regulations requiring foreigners to work only for their sponsors, a Yemeni official said on Monday, a move that could “significantly damage” the poor country’s economy.

Some two million of Yemen’s 25 million citizens work abroad, more than half of them in larger and richer neighbour Saudi Arabia. Remittances bring in $2 billion (Dh7.34 billion) a year to Yemen, a country still grappling with revolt, a separatist movement and an Islamist insurgency.