With support from a military force from neighboring Saudi Arabia, Bahrain crushed the 2011 protests which had demanded a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister.Bahrain faced US criticism at the time, with former president Barack Obama imposing an arms embargo for four years. But Obama's successor Donald Trump fully...

MECCA, SAUDI ARABIA- If a landmark reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran has eased tensions in the Gulf, clouds have also lifted at the hajj pilgrimage, where Iranian visitors finally feel welcome again. Seven years of enmity between the Sunni and Shiite powers had made for a cool reception for Iranian...

In a significant step towards reconciliation, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan conducted a landmark visit to Iran to hold talks with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, focusing on regional security. This visit comes after both nations agreed to mend ties in a Chinese-brokered deal, following a diplomatic severance in...

Lebanon's hijacked sovereignty must be restored after an election denied the powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah a parliamentary majority, said Christian leader Samir Geagea. Geagea's campaign for the May 15 election centered mainly on disarming Hezbollah, cementing his role as the movement's staunchest domestic rival.

Iran on Friday buried a second Shiite Muslim cleric killed in a suspected jihadist attack at a revered shrine in the country's north, state television reported. Sadegh Darai, a middle-ranking cleric, died Thursday from wounds sustained in the stabbing attack earlier this week in Mashhad, Iran's second-largest city. Another cleric,...

An attacker stabbed to death an Iranian Shiite Muslim cleric Tuesday and wounded two others, one of them seriously, in the shrine city of Mashhad, said officials and state media.

Traditionally, many Muslim-majority countries have followed dates set by Saudi religious authorities, but in recent years many have used their own astronomic calculations.

Sunday saw the swearing-in of 329 members of the unicameral parliament and the re-election of influential Sunni MP Mohammed al-Halbussi as speaker.

It was meant to compete with the Taj Mahal in grandeur, but former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's monumental Al-Rahman Mosque project was never completed. Instead, the half-finished edifice of grey concrete stands in the heart of Baghdad as a testimony to the sectarian and political strife that has shaped much...

Iraq's Shiite Muslim firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr was Tuesday confirmed the biggest winner of last month's parliamentary election that had sparked charges of voter fraud from pro-Iranian factions. Sadr's movement won 73 out of the assembly's 329 seats, the election commission said.

Saudi authorities released Abdullah al-Zaher, a citizen from the Shiite minority whose death sentence was later commuted, after years in prison for participating in anti-government protests, human rights groups said.

Heavy fire rang out as ambulances rushed the wounded through the deserted streets, a few blocks from the Palace of Justice, where hundreds of black-clad protesters had gathered moments earlier to demand Tarek Bitar's removal.

A new single-member constituency system for electing Iraq's 329 lawmakers is supposed to boost independents versus the traditional political blocs that are largely centered on religious, ethnic and clan affiliations. The election is being held a year early in a rare concession to the youth-led protest movement that broke out...