EU pledges $1 bn for Lebanon, urges curbs against illegal migration
The EU Commission's spokesman said in Brussels the aid will be disbursed "in grants", with 736 million euros earmarked to...Geostrategy
Hopes rise for possible truce deal between Israel and Hamas
Jerusalem, Undefined - Hopes rose on Monday for a long-sought-after truce and hostage release deal after almost seven months of war...Geostrategy
Syria has held ‘meetings’ with US: Assad
The United States was among the first to cut ties with Assad over the repression of anti-government protests that sparked...The United States was among the first to cut ties with Assad over the repression of anti-government protests that sparked war in 2011
Last year Syria returned to the Arab fold, seeking better ties with wealthy US-allied Gulf states, in the hope they can help fund reconstruction
Iran, Israel appear to pull back from brink as US approves military aid
Iran downplayed Israel's reported retaliation for its unprecedented drone and missile attack, tamping down fears that escalating attacks between the...Aiming to bolster Israel's defences including its Iron Dome air defence system, the US House of Representatives approved $13 billion in new military assistance for the country
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the aid bill, writing on X, that it "demonstrates strong bipartisan support for Israel and defends Western civilization."
Calls for calm after reported Israeli strike on Iran
An unidentified Israeli official told The Washington Post the "strike" was retaliation for Iran's drone and missile barrage and was...Israeli officials made no public comment on the attack and Iranian officials played down its significance
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Israeli micro-drones used in the operation had caused no deaths or damage
Israel strikes Syria again following overnight ‘retaliatory’ attack on Iran
Israeli strikes on Friday targeted a Syrian army position in the country's south, a war monitor said, as US media...Israeli strikes on Friday targeted a Syrian army position in the country's south,
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres: The Middle East is on a precipice
Explosions in Iran, US media reports Israeli strikes
Iran's air defence systems over several Iranian cities were activated, state media reported, after the country's official broadcaster said explosions...Israel had previously warned it would hit back after Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel over the weekend. Most of them were intercepted
Iran's Fars news agency reported "three explosions" were heard near the Shekari army airbase in the northwest of Isfahan province
Lebanon’s Hizbollah targets Israel base, wounding 14 soldiers
Hours after the strike on Arab al-Aramshe, an Arab-majority village in northern Israel near the border, Israeli forces hit targets...Israel and Hizbollah, an Iran-backed Hamas ally, have been exchanging near-daily cross-border fire since the Palestinian group attacked southern Israel on October 7
But Hizbollah strikes in the past few days have included a growing use of explosive drones and wounded people in Israel, which has struck deeper into Lebanon in recent weeks
Italy PM Meloni visits Tunisia for migration talks
Meloni's latest visit to Tunisia came as part of her so-called Mattei Plan, a program aiming to posit Italy as...Meloni met with Saied, who vowed in a national security meeting the day before that Tunisia "will be neither a center nor a crossing point" for sub-Saharan migrants
"Cooperation on migration remains a central aspect of the relationship between Italy and Tunisia," Italian officials said
UN Security Council to vote this Thursday on full Palestinian membership
Against the backdrop of the grinding conflict in Gaza, a city largely devastated by more than six months of war...The Palestinians formally revived this April an application first made to the world body in 2011
Statehood requires a defined territory, a permanent population, a government and the ability to enter into international relations
US, EU to impose fresh sanctions on Iran following recent missile attack on Israel
The United States announced Tuesday that it was preparing new sanctions on Iran's missile and drone program after last weekend’s...Washington would impose new sanctions targeting Iran, including its missile and drone program
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Brussels is working on expanding sanctions against Iran's supplies of weaponry
Putin talks to Raisi, expresses hope for restraint in Middle East
Moscow, Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, discussed the latest escalation in the Middle...According to the Kremlin, the Iranian leader said that Iran’s action was limited as he assured Putin that Tehran was not "seeking to escalate tensions further"
Iran's President Raisi warned that "the slightest action against Iran's interests will definitely be met with a severe, extensive and painful response."