Middle East

Wildfires spread through parts of Lebanon on Tuesday after forcing some residents to flee their homes in the middle of the night, while others were stuck inside as the flames reached villages south of Beirut, authorities said. A heatwave in the region coupled with strong winds intensified the fires that …

Donald Trump lashed out at Europe after hundreds of Isis prisoners escaped during the Turkish offensive in northern Syria. The US president said that the UK and other EU countries “should have taken back” the captured fighters and their families instead of leaving them in camps guarded by Kurdish forces. …

Conservative political outsider Kais Saied has won Tunisia’s presidential election with 72.71 percent of votes, the North African country’s electoral commission said Monday. Saied garnered 2.7 million votes against one million received by his rival business tycoon Nabil Karoui in Sunday’s runoff, the commission said. Karoui conceded defeat earlier on …

The United States forces have reportedly left five “high value” prisoners behind in Syria amid Turkey’s offensive against the war-ravaged country. The New York Times report on Sunday came after hundreds of ISIL allies escaped from a low-security detention camp amid Turkey’s invasion into northern Syria. There are reportedly about …

Donald Trump has made the apparent suggestion that Kurdish forces have deliberately been releasing Isis prisoners who are reported to have escaped during Turkey’s offensive in Syria. As part of his latest in a string of attacks on Fox News – a network that has consistently been supportive of the …

These statements, which were revealed by a documentary presented by PBS network, on Saturday, in the TV programme Frontline, were made by Bin Salman in a meeting with US President Donald Trump during his famous visit to Riyadh in May 2017. Martin Smith, the presenter of the documentary, entitled The …

  Nearly 800 women and children affiliated with Isis escaped from a camp in northern Syria on Sunday, Kurdish officials said. An estimated 785 people are reported to have fled amid a Turkish offensive in the area, with many in the severely depleted Kurdish guard force forced to leave their …

Tunisian polling stations opened on Sunday in a run-off that will resolve presidential elections between media magnate Nabil Karoui and retired law professor Kais Said. The first presidential round, in which 26 candidates competed, saw what was termed an “electoral earthquake” following a “vote of punishment” by voters against representatives …

Egyptian media sources reported that seven soldiers of the security forces were injured after two simultaneous bombings in Rafah and Bir al-Abd towns in northern Sinai. Egyptian security and medical sources said that “the first explosion occurred in Rafah during an armored sweep of the area west of the city, …

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Saturday that several Islamic State (IS) detainees managed to escape a prison in northern Syria as the region is being challenged by the Turkish offensive. SDF’s Cooperation and Military Operations Center released the footage from a CCTV camera showing several people, allegedly …

A massive column of black smoke has risen from a train station in Saudi Arabia’s city of Jeddah. The Haramain high-speed railway connects Islam’s holy cities of Mecca and Medina and is crucial for facilitating annual pilgrimages. There have been no reports of casualties as yet, and the possible cause …

Sanaa has released 290 prisoners, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), including 42 survivors of the bombing of a detention center last month. The head of the prisoners’ committee in Yemen, Abdul Qader al-Murtada, had earlier confirmed that Sanaa would release 350 prisoners, including three Saudis …

Saudi Arabia has sent messages to Iran’s president through the leaders of other countries, an Iranian government spokesman said on Monday, at a time of heightened tensions between the regional rivals. “Messages from the Saudis were presented to (Iran’s President) Hassan Rouhani from the leaders of some countries,” spokesman Ali …

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince warned in an interview broadcast on Sunday that oil prices could spike to “unimaginably high numbers” if the world doesn’t come together to deter Iran, but said he preferred a political solution to a military one. Speaking to the CBS program “60 Minutes,” Mohammed bin Salman …

A prominent Egyptian activist who was released on probation in March was arrested on Sunday, said his family and a security source, the latest detention in what activists say is the largest wave of arrests since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took office. Rights groups say about 1,900 people have been …

Several hundred protesters have taken to the streets in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, to protest against alleged corruption and the economic conditions in the country. Around 500 people carrying Lebanese flags gathered in central Beirut’s Martyr Square on Sunday to march to the seats of government and parliament. The protesters …

Afghanistan’s presidential polls have closed amid accusations of fraud and misconduct. Insurgent attacks aimed at disrupting voting in the country’s north and south caused dozens of casualties. An upsurge in violence in the run-up to the elections, following the collapse of US-Taliban talks to end America’s longest war, had already …

The longtime bodyguard of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman was killed and seven others were wounded during an incident in Jeddah. The personal bodyguard of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman was shot dead in “a personal dispute,” state television reported Sunday. Major General Abdulaziz al-Fagham was killed in the Red Sea city …

An Emirati newspaper said on Sunday that Emiratis had bought Iraqi antiquities illegally, indicating that Iraq was approaching the UAE to retrieve them. An official source as saying: “The Iraqi Ministry of Culture plans to conduct a series of visits to Arab and European countries, in order to confirm Iraq’s …

Yemeni Army has released the footage of a large-scale military offensive carried out by Yemeni soldiers and allied fighters from Popular Committees in Saudi Arabia’s southern border region of Najran, where three Saudi military brigades were completely destroyed and thousands of militiamen taken hostage. Speaking at a press conference in …