Dubai, UAE--The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity has "lost contact" with two of its foreign staff in Yemen, the group told AFP on Monday. The employees, a German and a Burmese, had been in the northern province of Marib, the aid group said without giving further details. International organizations and...

Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in the last 12 years of civil war in Syria, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters as well as Syrian army positions. "The Israeli enemy undertook an aerial aggression from the direction of the Mediterranean west of Latakia, targeting Aleppo International...

The rebels "detonated tunnels they had dug beneath army positions and simultaneously launched an assault from other tunnels", said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Britain-based Observatory. The attack, which also wounded 20 soldiers, came as Syria and its main military ally Russia bombarded the mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya area of...

The conflict between the army under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo broke out on April 15. "The war in Sudan is fuelling a humanitarian emergency of epic proportions," said Martin Griffiths, under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator.

Johannesburg, South Africa -- Russia's special military operation pursues the goal of ending the war in Ukraine unleashed by a number of Western countries and their satellites, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of BRICS leaders. "Russia has decided to support the people who are fighting for their...

Moscow, Russia -- One fourth of all investors in state securities have been forced to leave the Russian market due to sanctions, Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said at a meeting of the Council for strategic development and national projects headed by President Vladimir Putin. "We see that a considerable...

The latest tit-for-tat exchange saw Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and the chief of Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, vow to send the other's country "back to the Stone Age" if the other escalates violence. On the sleepy streets of Ghajar, home to manicured flower beds and ice cream...

On a riverbank in war-ravaged Syria's north, felling has reduced what was once a lush forest to dispersed trees and decimated trunks poking out from dry, crumbly soil. Syria's war has devastated the environment, triggering an "alarming" loss of forest cover across the country, Dutch peacebuilding group PAX warned in...

Fighting raged from Monday night between the influential 444 Brigade and the Al-Radaa, two of the myriad of militias that have vied for power since the 2011 overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi. In August last year, 32 people were killed in Tripoli in battles between divided Libya's two rival...

The poorest country on the Arabian peninsula, Yemen's economy has collapsed in the eight years of war between Iran-backed Houthis and the Saudi coalition-backed government. The conflict has left hundreds of thousands of people dead and millions displaced, with the UN having accused all parties -- including in Saudi Arabia...

Twelve years after conflict broke out when President Bashar al-Assad repressed peaceful pro-democracy protests, Syrians are still trying to escape a war that has killed more than 500,000 people. At least 141 Syrians were among up to 750 migrants thought to have been on a trawler that set off from...

Geneva, Switzerland--Four months into Sudan's conflict, the situation is spiraling out of control, with mass displacement and millions on the verge of famine, humanitarian organizations warned on Tuesday, urging immediate international action. Since Sudan's conflict erupted on April 15, the country has been plunged into a humanitarian crisis, with more than six...

Representatives from around 40 countries including China, Germany, India and the United States took part in last weekend's gathering in Jeddah, though Russia was not invited. "It makes sense for us to continue these talks, because they increase the pressure on Russia to realize that it has taken the wrong...

Residents of the Damascus region heard the blasts which came from "the warehouses of pro-Iran militias" in a mountainous area east of the capital. During more than a decade of war in Syria, neighboring Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on Syrian territory, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and Hezbollah fighters, as...

Until April 15, when the conflict erupted between the army headed by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Seif had worked at a Khartoum university. Now the engineering lecturer and his family live in Wad Madani, In order to survive, he has started selling...

Tehran, Iran-- In a defiant posture toward the West, Russia has declared that it will continue to enhance military cooperation with Iran, despite what it termed as enemies' opposition to the ties between the two countries. Deputy Foreign Minister of Russian Federation Sergei Alexeyevich Ryabkov said that the military cooperation...

While living and hygiene conditions can be dire even in official displacement camps, the situation in informal settlements is sometimes worse, with no semblance of organisation and little or no humanitarian assistance. Tanya Evans of the International Rescue Committee said such informal camps "can be considered the 'forgotten camps' of...

Dubai, UAE--Oil prices soared more than a dollar a barrel on Friday to record a sixth consecutive week of gains, after top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia extended supply cuts through September, adding to undersupply concerns. Brent crude futures rose $1.10, or 1.3%, to settle at $86.24 a barrel, while...

Amnesty said scores of women and girls, some as young as 12, have been subjected to sexual violence, including rape, with some held for days in conditions of sexual slavery. For its report, Amnesty said it had interviewed more than 180 people, primarily in eastern Chad where refugees from Darfur...

The talks to be hosted in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah next weekend will discuss a path toward peace in Ukraine, convening representatives from Kyiv, Western powers and developing countries. Russia is likely to miss the meeting just as it did not participate in a similar gathering last...

The Arab world's most impoverished country, locked in an eight-year conflict between Houthi rebels and forces supporting the internationally recognized government, has deep ties to coffee.

A government security official said that "an arms dealer was killed along with his wife and five of his children and another eighth person inside the family's home while dismantling a projectile left over from the war". Another security official confirmed the death toll of the incident, which took place...

Violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict this year has killed at least 201 Palestinians, 27 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian. They include, on the Palestinian side, combatants as well civilians and, on the Israeli side, three members of the Arab minority.

The conflict broke out in the capital Khartoum on April 15 and spread to Darfur, leaving at least 3,000 dead across Sudan and hundreds of thousands displaced. The war has pitted army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commander of the paramilitary RSF forces.

The library has continued to preserve cultural heritage in Jerusalem through their restoration and digitisation, with support from local and international organizations.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes also targeted positions of the Syrian army's elite Fourth Division near the airport in the town of Dimas. One Syrian pro-regime fighter and two foreign, Iran-affiliated combattants were killed in the strikes, the Observatory said.

The sinking of the vessel, or an on-board explosion, would have unleashed a thin slick of oil across the Red Sea, imperilling wildlife, coastal fishing villages, lifeline ports and maritime traffic. Fixing leaks below deck was especially fraught given the intense heat and vapours coming off the crude, which can...

Putin has been threatening to pull out of the arrangement, arguing that elements of the deal allowing the export of Russian food and fertilizers have not been honored. Russia also accuses rich countries of profiting from the bulk of Ukrainian exports. But Zelensky says that "60% of the volumes" were...

As Egypt said more than 250,000 people crossed in from Sudan -- fleeing ceaseless air strikes, street battles, rampant looting and sexual violence -- property owners in Cairo saw an opportunity. Inflation in Egypt hit a record high of 36.8 percent in June, and the pound has lost half its...

UNITED NATIONS - The COVID-19 pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis and the war in Ukraine have pushed 165 million people into poverty since 2020, the United Nations said, calling for a pause in debt repayments for developing countries. Because of these shocks, 75 million people will have fallen into extreme poverty,...

Amid reports of a mass grave having been found in the country's Darfur region, the African leaders summit exhorted an end to the fighting in Sudan. The ICC meanwhile said it has begun a new probe into alleged war crimes in the country, adding that the spiraling violence was a...

The Egyptian presidency said the meeting in Cairo will be attended by representatives of "Sudan's neighboring countries", but has not announced who else is expected to join Sisi and Abiy. The meeting in Cairo follows multiple diplomatic efforts to broker an end to the violence in Sudan, with repeated ceasefires...

German Patriot missile systems and French fighter jets were guarding the skies as NATO leaders gathered in Lithuania, on NATO's eastern flank and a land once occupied by Moscow. The Western military alliance is set to offer its full-throated backing for Kyiv's quest for victory, but its 31 nations are...

"The recent operation in the occupied West Bank and car ramming attack in Tel Aviv worryingly underscore an all too familiar pattern of events: that violence only begets more violence," Volker Turk said in a statement. Turk said Israeli forces in the West Bank needed to abide by international human...

The focus of the discussion between the two was war refugees and a crackdown on cross-border smuggling, according to Jordan's foreign ministry. The diplomat's visit comes amid an increasing regional engagement with the Assad regime, peaking with Syria's return to the Arab League after years of isolation since Syria's war...

The city of Jenin and its adjacent refugee camp are a regular site of confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants. "One citizen was killed and another seriously injured in the occupation (Israeli) bombing of Jenin," the Palestinian health ministry said.

Citing a military source, Syrian state news agency SANA said that Israel carried out air strikes near the government-held city of Homs. The air strikes hit "some points in the vicinity of the city". Israel, during more than a decade of war in Syria, has launched hundreds of air strikes,...

The Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic will "clarify the fate and whereabouts of all missing persons" in the country and "provide adequate support to victims, survivors and the families of those missing." But Syria, along with Russia, China and Iran, objected to the new body,...

EU foreign ministers were scrambling to digest the fall-out from the uprising at their regular meeting in Luxembourg. Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said the unrest was an "internal affair" for Russia. He insisted that the "most important thing" was supporting Ukraine so it can win back its territory.

Russian forces which back President Bashar al-Assad's regime were responding to rebel drone strikes over the past week that killed four civilians including two children, according to the Observatory. Six civilians died in Jisr al-Shughur and three rebel fighters were killed nearby by Russian air strikes. Another three civilians, including...

Tehran, Iran--Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations has rejected the claim by the United States and its allies about Russia’s use of Iranian drones in the Ukraine war. The mission in a statement on Friday said the "anti-Iran claims" are aimed to influence the six-month periodic report of UN...

After gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan descended into a civil war that left nearly 400,000 people dead and millions displaced between 2013 and 2018. A peace agreement signed in 2018 provided a power-sharing agreement between rivals Salva Kiir and Riek Machar in a government of national unity.

UN chief Antonio Guterres has warned that Sudan is descending into death and destruction at unprecedented speed as he urged donors to step in and curb the unfolding catastrophe. The UN has two appeals for tackling the crisis -- the humanitarian response within Sudan, which needs $2.6 billion this year,...

"Two martyrs and 28 injured as a result of the ongoing (Israeli) aggression on Jenin," a statement from the Palestinian health ministry said, without elaborating on the identity of those killed. Jenin's deputy governor, Kamal Abu al-Rub said, "The army stormed the (Jenin refugee) camp and the city after the dawn...

The tablet- whose text is written in cuneiform, the Babylonian alphabet- bears the insignia of Shalmaneser III, the Assyrian king who ruled Nimrod.

Several truces have been agreed and broken during the two-month war, including after the United States slapped sanctions on both generals after a previous attempt collapsed at the end of May. A 24-hour ceasefire from June 10 to June 11 provided Khartoum residents with a brief respite from the air...

A Yemenia Airways plane carrying 277 travelers departed at around 8 pm, seven years after Sanaa's international airport was blockaded by the Saudi-led coalition. Two more flights will depart on Monday and Tuesday, officials said. The Houthis' Works Minister Ghaleb Mutlaq said about 200 flights would be needed to accommodate...

Since April 15, the regular army headed by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has been locked in fighting with paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commanded by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. The fighting has driven 2.2 million people from their homes, including 528,000 who have fled to neighbouring countries, according to the...

"The shift to a clean energy economy is picking up pace, with a peak in global oil demand in sight before the end of this decade as electric vehicles, energy efficiency and other technologies advance," IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a statement. "Oil producers need to pay careful...

That crucial accord granting safe passage for Ukrainian grain to be exported via Black Sea ports despite Moscow's invasion was signed in July 2022 by Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations. It was renewed again in May but for only two months, until July 17. But the Kremlin on...