Paris, France--France wants an independent inquiry into the deaths of scores of Palestinians during an aid delivery in the northern Gaza strip, Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said Friday. "We will ask for explanations, and there will have to be an independent probe to determine what happened,"  Sejourne told the France Inter...

Brazil's Finance Minister Fernando Haddad told a news conference in Sao Paulo that it was "impossible" to reach a final joint statement. The minister said the impasse was over the ongoing conflicts without explicitly mentioning Russia's invasion of Ukraine or Israel's ongoing military campaign in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Beirut, Lebanon--Lebanon's Hizbollah said it launched a salvo of rockets at an Israeli air control base on Tuesday in retaliation for deadly Israeli strikes on east Lebanon. Hamas ally Hezbollah has exchanged near-daily fire with the Israeli army since the Gaza war erupted in October, but strikes have been largely restricted...

As customers in the Middle East shun international restaurants, local businesses report they have benefited from the boycott.

Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah declared that Israel has not achieved any "real victory" in 100 days other than killing. In a televised speech to his supporters, Nasrallah said the "enemy has failed in achieving its declared, half-declared and implicit objectives." His speech commemorated the death of a senior Hizbollah commander...

In a video posted online and broadcast at a meeting in Tel Aviv in support of the hostages, Emmanuel Macron said that France does not abandon its children and "that is why we have to resume negotiations again and again for their release." He said that France is determined that...

In a statement, Hizbollah said that it targeted the "enemy's northern command centre" in the Israeli city of Safed with "several suicide drones". The attack, according to Hizbollah, an ally of Hamas, was part of its response to the killings of top field commander Wissam Tawil on Monday and Hamas...

The army spokesman told reporters that its forces dismantled "the Hamas military framework in the northern Gaza Strip" and that Palestinian fighters were now operating in the area only sporadically and "without commanders". He said the army is now concentrating on dismantling Hamas in the centre of the Gaza Strip.

The commander of Sudanese paramilitary forces Mohamed Hamdan Daglo wrote on X, previously Twitter, that he had apprised South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in a meeting in Pretoria about "the root causes of the war and the factors contributing to its persistence." Daglo has also met regional leaders in Kenya,...

Israeli prime minister said that in spite of the high toll in Gaza, the country had no choice but to keep fighting. He said the military campaign will continue with full force "until the end, until victory." Israel says it has lost some 154 troops in Gaza since it began...

Dubai, UAE--A Hamas official on Monday said one of the group's tunnels revealed by the Israeli army in Gaza had "successfully" accomplished its mission, downplaying the Israeli announcement of its discovery. On Sunday the Israeli army showed images of what it said was the biggest Hamas tunnel uncovered so far...

Pope Francis spoke a day after the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said a Christian mother and daughter had been shot dead by an Israeli soldier on the grounds of the Gaza Strip's only Catholic church. He said at the end of the Angelus prayer that he continues to receive "very serious...

Israeli forces, according to the Gaza health ministry, fired at "patient rooms" and arrested staff at the Kamal Adwan hospital in Gaza City during a "siege" that lasted several days. The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said the same day that the hospital director and about 70 other medical staff were...

The Israeli army said that it had mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat, and fired, killing three of them. It added that "immediate lessons" have been learnt from the event, which have been passed on to all IDF troops in the field," it added, expressing "deep remorse over...

Around 80,000 Lebanese serve in the army, which is seen as a key pillar of the country's stability. The force is also deployed in the country's south, which has seen deadly exchanges of fire, mainly between the Israeli army and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, since the Israel-Hamas war began in...

President Joe Biden while expressing his frustration with rightwing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred this week to "indiscriminate bombing" in Gaza". The Democratic US administration is even beginning to talk about a "timetable" for how long Israel's high-intensity military operations can continue.

Hundreds of people fled after Israel's army ordered the evacuation of Gaza's main hospital where over 2,000 people were trapped by the war between Israel and Hamas. An AFP journalist witnessed the movement but health officials in the Hamas-ruled territory said 450 patients remained at Al-Shifa hospital. Israel's army denied...

UNICEF's executive director Catherine Russell, on a rare visit to the Palestinian territory by a top UN official, said she witnessed devastating scenes and urged Israel and Hamas to "stop this horror".

According to the official, the Rafah crossing point remained closed because Israel refused to approve the list of wounded who were to be evacuated. As a result no wounded Palestinians or dual nationals were evacuated on Wednesday from Gaza to Egypt. The crossing reopened on November 1 to allow people...

According to a statement posted by Hamas on Telegram, Israel "directly" bombed citizens' home, saying that most of the dead were women and children. Gaza's health ministry said that "more than 30 (dead) arrived at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in the massacre committed by the occupation in Al-Maghazi...

The MSF pleaded that the people who plan to leave Gaza must be allowed "without further delay" and should also have the right to return. It called for a ceasefire and greater number of people to be evacuated. Its Gaza staff were still offering care in spite of the Israeli...

Dubai, UAE--The New York Times's Gaza hospital blast investigation does not conclude in any way who is responsible for the deadly explosion at the al-Ahli hospital on October 17. Nevertheless, they assert that the projectile seen in the Al Jazeera live footage, cited by many as central to the investigation,...

Hamas militants fired barrages of rockets at Israel from multiple locations across the Palestinian territory, according to the accounts of many journalists from Gaza City. Palestinian militants have begun a "war" against Israel, the country's defense minister said, adding "troops are fighting against the enemy at every location."

New Delhi, India - Army chiefs and senior officers from 30 countries including the United States met in India on Tuesday to discuss threats facing the Asia-Pacific region, in the face of concern at an increasingly assertive China. US Army chief Randy George said the region was "critically important", speaking to reporters...

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former army chief, has ruled for nearly a decade in the Arab world's most populous country, which is now mired in a deep economic crisis. Experts had predicted Sisi would move forward the 2024 election, ahead of a possible switch to a flexible exchange rate...

The clashes broke out after pro-Ankara rebels tried to infiltrate Kurdish-held northeast Syria, killing 23 people, a war monitor said. The spike in violence comes amid days of separate clashes in Kurdish-held parts of neighboring Deir Ezzor province after US-backed, Kurdish-led fighters detained the head of a local military body...

Haftar, who backs the country's eastern administration, is close to Russia's private Wagner mercenary group, whose troops guard military and oil infrastructure in the country. "This is the first official visit of a Russian military delegation to Libya," Moscow's defense ministry said.

NABLUS, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES -  Three Palestinians were killed on Friday in the occupied West Bank, a day after the United Nations urged a "meaningful political process" to stem renewed violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli forces killed two Palestinian fighters when a firefight erupted during an Israeli raid on the northern...

Citing a military source, Syrian state news agency SANA said that Israel carried out air strikes near the government-held city of Homs. The air strikes hit "some points in the vicinity of the city". Israel, during more than a decade of war in Syria, has launched hundreds of air strikes,...

KHARTOUM, SUDAN -  Sudanese authorities loyal to the regular army have declared UN envoy Volker Perthes "persona non grata", accusing him of taking sides in nearly two months of devastating fighting with rival paramilitaries. Fighting has raged in the north African country since mid-April, when army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and...

Beirut, Lebanon--A Saudi national who had been kidnapped in Beirut has been freed in a "special operation" by the Lebanese army near the Syrian border, it said in a statement Tuesday. "An army intelligence patrol managed to free kidnapped Saudi national Mashari al-Mutairi during a special operation on the Syrian border,"...

NEW YORK, US -  United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said he was "shocked" by a letter from Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, reportedly requesting the replacement of special envoy Volker Perthes amid a brutal war with paramilitaries. Guterres "is proud of the work done by Volker Perthes and reaffirms his full confidence...

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, said that the three were among the group's "fighters". The health ministry identified the three men killed in an overnight Israeli army raid in the Balata refugee camp as Muhammad Abu Zaytoun, Fathi Abu Rizk and...

On average, a soldier used to earn about $800 a month before the crisis, but the value of the Lebanese currency, the pound, has since crashed and salaries are now worth around just $100. Since June last year, Qatar and the United States have announced millions to help prop up...

Heavy fighting in Sudan has displaced 700,000 people within the country since the middle of April, the United Nations said, adding the figure had doubled in a week. Sudan was thrown into chaos when fighting broke out on April 15 between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo,...

According to the health ministry of the Hamas-ruled Gaza, 12 people were killed, including women and children. Among the deceased were also three senior officials of Islamic Jihad whom the Israeli army had targeted in the attack. An AFP journalist in the area spotted the top of a building on...

The fighting in Sudan has caused over 330,000 people to flee their homes within the country, with over 100,000 others escaping over the borders, the United Nations said. UNHCR, the UN's refugee agency, is estimating that over 800,000 people could potentially flee to neighboring countries as the conflict continues in...

Calling on warring parties in Sudan to immediately cease hostilities, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that any further escalation of the conflict between the army and paramilitary forces, led by rival generals, "could be devastating for the country and the region. Guterres' envoy to Khartoum said at least 185...

On Thursday, the Israeli army said more than 30 rockets had been fired from Lebanese territory into Israel in the largest escalation on the northern border since Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34-day war in 2006. It was the first time Israel has confirmed an attack on Lebanese territory since...

An Israeli settler killed an assailant in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military said, the latest bloodshed in a surge of violence in the Palestinian territory. The incident occurred at Dorot Illit settlement in the north of the West Bank, the army said in a statement.

Armed with science and knowledge, the heroes of this army, make the ultimate sacrifice for their homeland and are always ready to contribute to building and maintaining regional and international peace, using the latest cutting-edge technologies to build upon the foundations set by late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan,...

Abu Dhabi, UAE--A joint Oman-UAE military exercise codenamed “Cooperation-3” began in Oman on Monday. The 11-day drill, which concludes on February 16, 2023, saw the participation of a force from Muscat Regiment, Infantry Bridge (23) of the Royal Army of Oman (RAO), and its support divisions, as well as aircraft...

Israeli troops killed a Palestinian driver in West Bank, officials on both sides said, with the army saying the car had hit a soldier's leg before speeding off. Nassim Naif Salman Abu Fouda, 26, died from "a bullet wound to the head fired by the occupation (Israeli) soldiers in Hebron,"...

Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian in the West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, in what the army described as a "stabbing attack". The ministry said that Arref Abdel Nasser Arref Lahlouh, 22, was killed "by Israeli gunfire," near the city of Qalqilya. Lahlou is the 19th Palestinian killed...

BEIRUT, LEBANON - Six Syrian fighters from a pro-Turkish group died in clashes with regime troops that still raged Monday in northwest Syria, rebel forces and a war monitor said. A pro-Turkey rebel statement said the six were killed and three more wounded in the offensive launched by government forces backed...

Gaza City, Palestinian Territories— The Israeli air force said it had carried out overnight air strikes against sites of the Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip after a rocket was fired from the Palestinian enclave towards Israeli territory. The Israeli army reported on Saturday evening a rocket had been fired...

Turkey struck back in northern Syria after its forces were shelled from near Kobane in the latest deadly escalation that killed three people wearing Syrian army uniform and wounded several other fighters. The raids by Turkish army hit outposts operated by the Syrian army and Kurdish-led forces.

King Abdullah II protested in an interview against attacks on Jordan's borders by "militias linked to Iran", following deadly clashes with drug smugglers on the frontier with Syria. Abdullah called for "a change of behavior by Iran" and said that Jordan "does not want tensions in the region".

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan reviewed bilateral relations in a meeting between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistan army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Jordan has foiled an attempt to smuggle drugs into the kingdom from its border with Syria, seizing 900,000 Captagon pills and hashish.