Free at last, free at last, they are free at last. The Islamic State has officially fallen in Mosul as Prime Minister Haider al-Aabdi arrived in the liberated city yesterday, and congratulated the Iraqi forces and people for achieving what his office described as the “great victory” over the group. Abadi toured districts in the eastern part of Mosul after Iraqi forces reached the Tigris river on the Western bank. Federal Police declared mission accomplished this weekend after gaining control of the last areas in the Old city.
If you’re tired of war and unaccountable arms dealing, this might interest you. The UK’s High Court is to rule on the legality of UK arms exports to Saudi Arabia sometime soon. The court will decide whether the British government failed to suspend weapons sales to the Saudi kingdom, which is fighting a war in Yemen. The Campaign Against the Arms Trade, which is bringing the case forward, claims the UK has contravened humanitarian law and inadvertently caused thousands of civilian deaths.
Promises, promises, but fortunately not that many kept. The US laptop ban on Middle Eastern airlines is slowly going away as two other carriers have now become exempt. Kuwait Airways and Royal Jordanian have become the latest airlines who suffered from the ban since March to let passengers take laptops in the cabin on US-bound flights. Etihad, Turkish Airlines, Emirates and Qatar Airways became exempt last week.
