Syria: Assad faces stunning setbacks as rebels seize Daraa, Hama, and Aleppo in quick succession
While Aleppo and Hama, the two other main cities taken from government control in recent days, fell to an Islamist-led...Geostrategy
Iran says ready to study any Syrian request for troops
Tehran, Iran - Iran will consider any request from its Syrian ally for troops to help tackle a sweeping rebel offensive...Geostrategy
Rare Abbas meeting with Gantz ahead of Biden visit to region
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas held talks in Ramallah to prepare for US President Joe...Abbas and Gantz, a former army chief of staff who heads the centrist Blue and White party, earlier met in December in Israel
Biden is due to visit Israel and the occupied West Bank from July 13 to 15, and will hold talks with new Israeli Prime Minister Lapid and Abbas
Biden to meet Saudi Crown Prince during his visit next week: White House
Biden is expected to press for increased Saudi oil production in the hope of taming spiraling fuel costs and inflation...Biden is expected to press for increased Saudi oil production in the hope of taming spiraling fuel costs and inflation at home
The White House emphasized Biden will address "greater collaboration" in the Middle East region on issues such as air defense
European Union warns of worst Palestinian displacement in ‘decades’
An EU envoy warned Thursday over the possible mass displacement of Palestinians from a West Bank area at the centre...About 27 buildings have been demolished in Masafer Yatta in West Bank, where Israeli SC ruled that its 1,000 residents 'failed to prove" their claim of permanent residents.
In the early 1980s the army declared the 3,000-hectare (30 square kilometre) territory a restricted military area and claimed it was uninhabited.
Boris Johnson steps down as Conservative Party leader
Johnson announced that he would step down after a slew of resignations from his top team in protest at his...The leadership election will take place over the summer and the victor will replace Johnson by the party's annual conference in early October, the BBC and others reported.
Defence minister Ben Wallace and Rishi Sunak, whose departure as finance minister on Tuesday sparked the exodus, were among the early frontrunners to succeed Johnson.
Arab parliament welcomes Yemen truce during Eid
The pan-Arab legislature expressed its hope that the humanitarian truce would contribute to ending the war.The pan-Arab legislature expressed its hope that the humanitarian truce would contribute to ending the war
The Arab Parliament urged Yemeni parties to commit to stopping all military operations and abiding by the Saudi initiative announced in March 2021
TotalEnergies of France pulls out of Russian oil project
Russian oil firm Zarubezhneft will take over its remaining 20 percent stake in the Kharyaga project in the Arctic pending...It has promised to stop purchasing Russian oil and gas by the end of the year, and make no further investments there
TotalEnergies had already ceded a 20 percent stake in the project and the role of operator to Zarubezhneft
Iran media reports arrest of several foreign diplomats
Iran's Revolutionary Guards arrested several foreign diplomats including a Briton, accusing them of "spying", the Fars news agency and state...The British government quickly denied that any of its personnel had been arrested, describing the reports as "completely false"
State television however reported that the Briton, identified as Giles Whitaker, the UK government's deputy head of mission in Iran, was only expelled from "the area"
Belgium ratifies controversial prisoner-swap treaty with Iran
Belgium's parliament on Wednesday approved a controversial prisoner-swap treaty with Iran in the first reading of a text that still...The treaty has been slammed by an Iranian dissident group, the NCRI and as well as some US lawmakers and Amnesty International
Tehran also holds a Swedish-Iranian academic from Brussels university under the "espionage" charges, and has sentenced him to death
Iran denies making demands beyond nuclear deal
The US has during latest indirect negotiations accused Iran of raising issues "wholly unrelated" to the nuclear deal.The US has during latest indirect negotiations accused Iran of raising issues "wholly unrelated" to the nuclear deal
The US walked out of the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 under then president Trump, who reimposed biting sanctions on Tehran
Kurdish Iraq decries ‘unjust pressure’ from Baghdad in oil row
Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region Wednesday deplored "unjust pressure" from the federal government's oil ministry, days after the judiciary nullified oil...The move comes as the Kurdish region and the federal government remain locked in a tug-of-war over the management of hydrocarbons
Iraq's supreme court in February ordered Kurdistan to deliver the oil produced in its territories to the federal government
