Iran and Russia have bolstered ties in many fields over the last few years and Moscow has turned to Tehran for military support and economic partnerships as both countries face a raft of Western sanctions. The West has accused Tehran of supporting Russia's offensive in Ukraine by providing it with...

Abu Dhabi, UAE -- UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong Sunday discussed the relations and partnership between the two countries and explored avenues for its development to serve mutual interests. Additionally, they addressed a range of regional and international issues and...

A rare delivery of fuel enters the Palestinian territory; Netanyahu says Hezbollah will make "mistake of its life" if its starts a war with Israel and US says it will "take appropriate action" in response to any escalation in the Middle East.

Several wealthy Americans have threatened to withdraw their financial support from prestigious private schools like the Ivy League's Harvard University in Massachusetts, or the University of Pennsylvania, known as UPenn.

"Gaza was a desperate humanitarian situation before the most recent hostilities," five UN agencies said. "It is now catastrophic." At a peace summit in Egypt, UN chief Antonio Guterres urged a humanitarian ceasefire "to end this godawful nightmare".

While Israeli strikes have repeatedly caused the grounding of flights at the government-controlled airports in the capital Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo, it is the second time simultaneous strikes have hit the facilities since this month's conflict between Israel and Hamas began. "At around 5:25 am (0225 GMT),...

It has repeatedly called for talks on ending the conflict, which has risked undermining its growing ties with Iran and complicated its relations with long-time partner Israel. President Vladimir Putin spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Iranian and Arab leaders earlier this week in the hope...

New Delhi, India--India on Sunday flew 38.5 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Egypt's Sinai region for Palestinian civilians from the embattled Gaza Strip, the foreign ministry said. An Indian air force Boeing C-17 transport plane "carrying nearly 6.5 tonnes of medical aid and 32 tonnes of disaster relief material for...

Since Wednesday, three Iraqi bases used by US-led coalition troops have been targeted in five separate attacks -- Ain al-Assad, the Al-Harir base in northern Iraq and a military camp near Baghdad airport. The United States currently has about 2,500 troops stationed at the three bases, alongside around 1,000 soldiers...

Berlin, Germany--Qatar, a key power in the efforts to release hostages seized by Hamas from Israel, believes they can be released "very soon" thanks to ongoing discussions, a Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman told the German Welt am Sonntag newspaper Saturday. Doha's mediation played a key role in the release on Friday...

Demonstrators held signs reading "Freedom for Palestine", "Stop Bombing Gaza" and "End Israeli Apartheid". Many waved Palestinian flags and some chanted "5, 6, 7, 8, Israel is a terrorist state" and "Free Palestine". Since shock Hamas attacks, Israel has launched devastating air and ground bombardments of Gaza., killing some 4,385...

Saturday's was the first such delivery since the war broke out two weeks ago between Israel and Hamas, which rules the Palestinian enclave of 2.4 million people. President Joe Biden said in a statement that the opening of "this essential supply route was the result of days of diplomatic engagement...

Antonio Guterres addressed a Cairo summit and pleaded for a "humanitarian ceasefire" in the war between Israel and Hamas fighters that has caused devastation in much of Gaza. He said the Palestinian enclave of 2.4 million people was living through a humanitarian catastrophe with thousands dead and more than a...

Jerusalem - Casualties were reported along the Israel-Lebanon border on Saturday as the army traded fire with Iran-backed group Hezbollah amid fears of a new front opening as Israel battles Hamas. Israel already ordered the evacuation of Kiryat Shmona, a border town which is home to some 25,000 people, as...

Washington, US - The United States on Saturday welcomed the arrival of aid trucks from Egypt in the war-torn Gaza Strip, and urged all parties to keep the Rafah crossing open. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged "all parties to keep the Rafah crossing open to enable the continued movement...

RAMALLAH, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - Israeli troops on Saturday raided the West Bank home of a senior Hamas leader and detained members of his family, witnesses said. Saleh al-Aruri is the deputy to Hamas' overall leader Ismail Haniyeh and one of the founders of the Islamist group's military wing. Based in Lebanon,...

The first aid trucks arrived in the war-torn Gaza Strip from Egypt, AFP journalists said, bringing desperately needed humanitarian relief to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian enclave under Israeli siege. Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after the group carried out the deadliest attack in the country's history on October 7.

Abu Dhabi, UAE--Kazakhstan is keen to expand trade ties with the UAE, setting a target of $1 billion in mutual trade. Speaking to a media outlet in Abu Dhabi, Arman Shakkaliyev, Minister of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan, said: ‘’We got some great plans to unlimit our...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-- UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh have explored opportunities to further strengthen ties between the two countries in a meeting between the two leaders in Riyadh. The president and prime minister met on the sidelines of the joint summit between...

Speaking at a campaign fundraiser, US president said the Saudis wanted to recognize Israel and unite the Middle east, and he believes Hamas's attack on Israel was aimed at disrupting warming ties between the Jewish country and Saudi Arabia. "They (Hamas) knew I was about to sit down with the...

"We are in deep and advanced negotiations with all relevant sides to ensure that an aid operation in Gaza starts as quickly as possible... a first delivery is due to start in the next day or so," the UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said, quoted by his spokesman Jens Laerke...

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - The probability that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will launch a ground operation against Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip is over 50 percent, Israeli Ambassador to Russia Alexander Ben Zvi said. “A state of war has been declared. During the period of a state of...

KIRYAT SHMONA, ISRAEL - The Israeli military announced plans to evacuate the northern city of Kiryat Shmona on Friday, after days of clashes with Hezbollah fighters along the border with Lebanon. Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah and allied Palestinian factions have traded cross-border fire with Israel for days, after Hamas fighters attacked communities in...

Abir Bakr, a lawyer for Palestinian singer Dalal Abu Amneh who was arrested briefly four days ago, told AFP her client "went to the police station to file a complaint after she received hundreds of messages in both English and Arabic threatening her and her family with death".

Baghdad, Iraq - US troops stationed at two bases in Iraq have been targeted with rocket attacks that caused no casualties, US and Iraqi military sources said Friday, against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war. Armed factions close to Iran have threatened to attack US interests in Iraq over Washington's support...

The package also includes $7 billion for countering China and strengthening allies in the Asia-Pacific region, and over $9 billion for humanitarian assistance for Gaza, Ukraine and Israel. But most importantly, however, the huge funding ask is an attempt to bolster waning support for Ukraine by linking it with funding...

CAIRO, EGYPT – Tens of thousands of protesters rallied across Egypt in support of war-torn Gaza on Friday, with large crowds flooding into Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square, an AFP correspondent and Egyptian media said. The correspondent said several thousand packed into Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the 2011 uprising that toppled...

Tel Aviv, Israel -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declined to take a telephone call from US President Joe Biden during the latter’s visit to Israel on October 18, Israel's state-run Kan Radio said. Citing a source in Ramallah, the administrative center of the Palestinian West Bank where Abbas has his...

SHARJAH/ ABU DHABI, UAE -  Air Arabia announced the launch of a new route operating between Sharjah and Giza city in Egypt. The non-stop flights will connect Sharjah International Airport with Sphinx International Airport with a frequency of five weekly flights starting from  December 6, 2023. Group Chief Executive Officer,...

Mohammed bin Salman, the Gulf kingdom's de facto ruler, made his comments during a meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who before visiting Riyadh met with Israeli leaders and pressed them to let more humanitarian aid into Gaza. Prince Mohammed "affirmed that the kingdom considers targeting civilians in Gaza...

RAMALLAH, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - Israeli troops killed nine Palestinians in multiple clashes across the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the Palestinian health ministry said, as the death toll mounts in the territory while war rages in Gaza. At least 75 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers in the West...

Rafah, Palestinian Territories -- Eight sleeping children killed in one strike, doctors fighting but failing to save an unborn child -- such were the stories recounted by Gaza medics on Thursday as Israel stepped up its air strikes. Gaza's Hamas-run government said that children made up 1,524 of the 3,785 people...

HAIFA, ISRAEL –  Hate speech and incitement in Hebrew targeting Palestinians on social media is on the rise, said 7amleh- the Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media in a statement. 7amleh has documented over 103,000 instances of hate speech and/or incitement in Hebrew out of 120,000 posts collected...

PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA - Russia is ready to discuss and consider Turkey’s initiative to establish a guarantor system in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Moscow and Ankara staying in touch on the issue, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said here. "We are ready to discuss any constructive proposals. The said initiative...

US president said the aid convoy would be allowed to go into Gaza from the Rafah crossing in a first batch of humanitarian aid. According to him, the shipment would likely not cross until Friday as the road at the crossing needed repairs. It became possible only after Egypt's president...

"In light of (US) President (Joe) Biden's demand, Israel would not foil the supply of humanitarian aid via Egypt," the prime minister's office said, announcing a cabinet decision. The statement noted that aid to civilians in the southern Gaza Strip would be allowed "so long as these supplies do not...

"The United States is disappointed this resolution made no mention of Israel's rights of self-defense," US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said after the vote. The resolution said the Council "firmly condemns all violence and hostilities against civilians and all acts of terrorism."

The Socialist Party (PS) -- a heavyweight party of government just a few years ago but now a rump of its former self -- voted overnight to "suspend" participation in the NUPES alliance with hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), Greens and Communists.

Following Hezbollah's call, hundreds of demonstrators scuffled Tuesday night with Lebanese security forces outside the US embassy in the Beirut suburb of Awkar, where protesters hurled stones and set a building on fire, according to AFP correspondents. Palestinian refugee camps in the southern cities of Sidon and Tyre erupted in...

US and European stock markets mostly fell and oil prices rose as US President Joe Biden prepared for a trip to the Middle East aimed at preventing the Israel-Hamas conflict spreading across the region. Investors also weighed another raft of company earnings and rising interest rates.

Paris, France - Several technology industry leaders have decided to boycott one of the sector's biggest annual events after the organizer criticized Israel's actions following the Hamas attacks. Paddy Cosgrave, an Irish entrepreneur and co-founder of the Web Summit, wrote on social media platform X last week that he was "shocked...

The health ministry of the besieged enclave said between 200 and 300 people displaced by 10 days of heavy bombardment were killed in "occupation (Israeli) strikes" at the Ahli Arab hospital in cental Gaza. "Hundreds of victims are still under the rubble," a statement said, calling it a "war crime".

Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 and left over 1,400 people dead and triggered Israeli retaliatory strikes on Gaza where around 3,000 people have been killed, according to officials on both sides. "Ayman Nofal, 'Abu Ahmad', a member of the general military council , was killed" in an Israeli strike

Nicosia, Cyprus - A first group of evacuees from Israel arrived in Cyprus on Tuesday aboard a US-chartered cruise ship as the island's authorities announced plans for a twice-daily ferry link for those wishing to leave. The 159 evacuees on board the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Rhapsody of the Sea primarily...

Shanghai, China - China will this week weigh into the Israel-Hamas war by sending its special envoy to the Middle East, after the United States asked it to use its influence to stop the conflict from spreading. Washington says it hopes China's friendship with Hamas backer Iran could help calm the...

Amira, 44, and her children have moved to the courtyard of the Nasser hospital in the southern district of Khan Yunis. "Our bodies itch all over. It has been a week since we could take a shower," she told AFP as she prepared sandwiches for her children with some loaves...

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – The Kingdom’s Minister of Transport and Logistic Services Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser here launched a significant mega bus transport services project aimed at linking 200 cities and provinces.   The project will have a capacity to accommodate six million passengers annually. The project operates through three...

Since its invasion of Ukraine in February last year, Russia has been accused of taking thousands of Ukranian chlidren to its territory. A diplomat briefed on the process said that the children, aged between two and 17, have been staying at the Qatari embassy in Moscow while Doha mediated between...

If aid is not allowed into the besieged territory, doctors will have to "prepare death certificates for their patients," WHO regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, Ahmed al-Mandhari told AFP. Monday marked 10 days of relentless Israeli air strikes on targets in the Palestinian enclave, in retaliation for an October...

TEHRAN, IRAN - Iran on Monday said time was running short to reach a political solution in the Israel-Gaza conflict, warning of the "possibility of expanding the scope of war and conflict to other fronts". Israel declared war on the Palestinian group Hamas a day after waves of its fighters broke...