The Houthi rebels say they are acting in support of Hamas, targeting Israel and Israeli-linked vessels to push for a stop to the war in the Gaza Strip. In response to the Hothis attacks, the United States set up a multinational naval task force last month to defend shipping interests...

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 US secretary of state -- on his fourth Middle East tour since the war broke out -- was back in Israel on Tuesday to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his war cabinet, including opposition figure Benny Gantz. He also voiced hope that, after the war, Israel...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia--Jasem Mohamed Al Budaiwi, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, have reviewed relations in a meeting in Riyadh. The meeting discussed the latest developments and updates in both the regional...

US top diplomat Antony Blinken also said all the leaders on his tour, which took him to six countries before heading to Israel, had agreed to work with the US to help Gaza's recovery and long-term stability. He was speaking after meeting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a lavish...

Witnesses told AFP that two rockets were fired at the car -- one hit the front of the vehicle and the other hit Hamza who was sitting next to the driver. The Israeli army told AFP that it had "struck a terrorist who operated an aircraft that posed a threat...

The footage from the cemetery in Al-Tuffah neighbourhood in Gaza City showed bodies wrapped in bags and laid out on mounds of soil. Other bodies were strewn around smashed up graves, as a dozen men clad in masks worked with shovels to rebury them, the video showed.

The Houthis say they are targeting Israel and Israeli-linked vessels to push for a stop to the offensive in Gaza. The attacks are endangering a transit route that carries up to 12% of global trade, prompting the US to set up a multinational naval task force to protect Red Sea...

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.

Josep Borrell held talks with the head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, Mohammad Raad, Lebanese media reported. An EU source confirmed the meeting, which came hours after the group's fighters fired rockets at an Israeli military base in response to the killing of a senior Hamas figure in a suspected Israeli...

The French leader posted a photograph of an airman standing on the cargo ramp of a military plane, with parachutes visible in the sky below. The supplies dropped by France and Jordan were equipped with systems that remotely guided them to a Jordanian field hospital operating in the territory, the...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has turned into one of the Muslim world's harshest critics of the scale of death and destruction happening in Gaza -- and of Washington's support for Israel. The US State Department on Friday announced $10 million rewards for information about five alleged Hamas foreign operatives...

BEIRUT, LEBANON - The head of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hizbollah group warned Israel on Friday that it will respond swiftly "on the battlefield" to the killing of Hamas's deputy leader in its south Beirut stronghold. "The response is inevitably coming. We cannot remain silent on a violation of this magnitude because it...

According to the navy, it "responded swiftly to a maritime incident in Arabian Sea involving a hijacking attempt" of a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier ship. The incident comes at a time when many vessels have been rerouted from the Red Sea, where Yemen's Houthi rebels have carried out drone and missile...

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,...

Rafah, Palestinian Territories--Hunger is everywhere at Rafah zoo, in Gaza's far south, as internally displaced Palestinians seek shelter from the war between cages and animals die of starvation. "The situation is very tragic, there's no food, water, medicine, or anything," its owner Ahmed Jumaa said, a parrot perched on his shoulder....

The Essex County prosecutor, Ted Stephens, confirmed Hassan Sharif was shot more than once, and that "it does not appear the imam was the victim of a bias crime or that this is related to terrorism." Images published by the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) showed...

Antony Blinken will leave Washington on Thursday evening on a trip that will include Israel, marking his fourth trip to the region and fifth to Israel since Hamas fighters carried out the deadliest-ever attack inside Israel on October 7. No details have been offered about which Arab country he will...

Israel has previously announced the deaths in Gaza of Hamas commanders IN the war, but Aruri is the most high-profile figure to be killed, and his death came in the first strike on the Lebanese capital since hostilities began. The strike adds to widespread fears that the Israel-Hamas war could...

According to United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, it had received reports of up to three explosions 1-5 nautical miles from the merchant vessel, which was travelling between the coasts of Eritrea and Yemen. The US Central Command later said Houthi rebels had fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles into the southern...

Nearly three months of conflict have claimed almost 22,000 lives in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and devastated much of the besieged territory. Despite relentless global demands for a ceasefire, military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Monday the army was preparing for "prolonged fighting" expected to last "throughout this...

The fighting pitted the army of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group led by Al-Qaeda's former Syria branch. The Britain-based war monitor, which has a network of sources inside Syria, said the bombardments struck a bakery, a mosque, a power plant and a popular market.

The Palestinian Football Association had celebrated in June last year when the national team won -- for the third time -- a spot in the Asian cup. But with no end in sight to the Gaza war, the team now feels crushed as they try to prepare for the upcoming...

Dubai, UAE--Several rockets fired from the Gaza Strip targeted Tel Aviv and southern Israel as the country rang in the New Year on Monday, according to AFP journalists on the ground. Air-raid sirens sounded as journalists in Tel Aviv saw Israeli missile defence systems intercept the rockets. People who had...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a meeting with the country's major commanding officers in Pyongyang on New Year's Eve said that if in his words the enemy initiated military confrontation and provocation against the DPRK, our army should deal a deadly blow to thoroughly annihilate them by mobilizing...

Israel unilaterally withdrew the last of its troops and settlers in 2005, ending a presence inside Gaza that began in 1967 but maintaining near complete control over the territory's borders. All settlements on occupied Palestinian land are regarded as illegal under international law, regardless of whether they were approved by...

In Dubai and Abu Dhabi, lights and fireworks illuminated the skies as international tourists soaked up the celebratory scenes. The festivities in the region though took place against the backdrop of the Gaza war, where the Israeli army continued with its offensive and the civilian toll inched up.

The prime minister of Israel told a news conference that the war will continue for many months "until Hamas is eliminated and the hostages are returned." He vowed to bring home all Israelis still held hostage in Gaza, while saying the military was involved in a "complex fight" and needed...

UN chief Antonio Guterres on Friday reiterated his call for "an immediate humanitarian ceasefire", while the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of the growing threat of the spread of infectious diseases among Gazans. Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry says the Israeli military campaign since then has killed at least 21,507 people,...

A massive air attack targeted schools, a maternity hospital, shopping arcades, blocks of flats, and many other sites, according to Ukrainian officials. The assault triggered international condemnation and fresh promises of military support to Ukraine, which has been fighting off invading Russian troops since late February 2022.

New Year's Eve is usually marked in boisterous fashion in Pakistan, with fireworks and aerial gunfire -- as well as a bank holiday on January 1. Sharjah, an emirate of the United Arab Emirates, on Thursday banned New Year's Eve fireworks over the war in Gaza.

Tel Aviv, Israel - Israel is negotiating the release of hostages held by the radical Palestinian movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the relatives of the hostages, The Jerusalem Post reported. According to the publication, Netanyahu confirmed that Israel is working to get all the hostages...

Sources close to Hamas say Cairo's three-stage plan provides for renewable ceasefires, a staggered release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel, and ultimately a ceasefire to end the war sparked by the deadly October 7 attack on Israel. It also provides for a Palestinian...

Holding banners demanding an immediate ceasefire, the activists gathered in Manhattan's Bryant Park while some briefly stood in the middle of the busy Sixth Avenue in the heart of New York's Midtown district. Several women shrouded in black held baby dolls swaddled in white cloths to represent the toll the...

Israel again pounded Gaza with air strikes and shelling after its military chief warned the war raging with Hamas since the Palestinian group's October 7 attacks will last "many more months". A strike hit a house near Al-Amal hospital in Khan Yunis, killing 22 people and wounding 34, the Gaza...

Lebanon-Israel border has witnessed increasing hostilities amid the Israel-Hamas conflict since October 7, escalating exchanges involve the Israeli army and Hamas ally Hezbollah. Since hostilities began, more than 150 people have been killed on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah combatants but also more than a dozen civilians, three...

After President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022, Western countries hit Russia with a slew of sanctions including a European Union embargo on its seaborne oil deliveries. As it was losing much of its market share in Europe, Moscow pivoted to other buyers including China.

The army said that one of its soldiers injured by an anti-tank missile along with other troopers was in a serious condition. The army blamed Hizbollah for constant firing at Israeli "civilian and religious sites". Hizbollah, which on Tuesday announced the death of two of its fighters, says it is acting...

The Tuesday meeting additionally provided a chance for Israel and the United States to talk about the eventual "governance and security in Gaza, a political horizon for the Palestinian people, and continued work on normalization and integration," the White House official said.

"It runs counter to the pursuit of enduring mutual interests in establishing security and stability, and it opposes the declared intention of the American side to enhance relations with Iraq," Baghdad said.

Rows of victims' bodies, shrouded in white bags, lined the ground at Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, ahead of a mass funeral. WHO has warned that only nine of Gaza's original 36 hospitals remain even partially functional. It has termed the situation as unacceptable, demanding a ceasefire.

Sweden and Finland bids earned approval from all NATO members except Turkey and Hungary. They remain the only NATO members left to ratify Sweden's bid 19 months after it applied for membership. Sweden and Finland dropped decades of military non-alignment and sought to join the organisation after Russia invaded Ukraine...

The Gaza health ministry said an Israeli strike late Sunday killed at least 70 people in Al-Maghazi refugee camp, in the territory's center. Camp resident Zeyad Awad said Israel's army had sown "panic in the hearts of my children" and accused it of targeting civilians "indiscriminately, without mercy".

Riyad, Saudi Arabia -- Key regional players have welcomed the agreement – involving a comprehensive set of measures aimed at establishing a ceasefire, improving living conditions, and resuming political dialogue under the auspices of the United Nations (UN) – reached by the warring parties in Yemen.  Jassem Mohamed Albudaiwi, the...

The Houthis welcomed Spain's stance, with deputy foreign minister Hussein al-Ezzi saying "we highly appreciate Spain's refusal to be drawn into American and British lies on the issue of maritime navigation". The Iran-backed Houthis have carried out several strikes on Red Sea shipping in what they say is in support...

There was no revelry on Sunday, with few worshippers on the streets of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, as Israel's war on Gaza continues.

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...

Hassituha (You Felt It), a mostly silent play from eastern Libya, symbolizes both the country's divisions between west and east, and the rebirth of Libya's National Theatre Festival,

In one step back from the newfound isolation, the Un on Friday, after painstaking negotiations, let through a UN Security Council resolution on humanitarian aid for the beleaguered Gaza Strip, after vetoing two earlier calls to halt the fighting. But the United States still remained apart from some of its...

The Syriac Catholic Church was not alone, with the leaders of three of Syria's major churches -- the Greek Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox and Melkite Greek Catholic patriarchs -- announcing they were cancelling Christmas festivities and limiting celebrations to religious ceremonies. More than 20,000 people have been killed in Gaza since...