Middle East

The Kuwait Oil Company declared a “state of emergency” on Monday following an oil spill on land, but said no injuries or disruption to production had been reported. The emergency followed an “oil leak in the west of the country”, the state-owned company said in a statement, as video posted …

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived Sunday in the United Arab Emirates, his second visit to the Gulf since a devastating earthquake last month prompted Arab outreach to his government. The trip — Assad’s second to the UAE in as many years — comes after a visit to Oman last month, …

The Israeli regime forces have killed four Palestinians, including a teenager, during a raid in the occupied northern West Bank city of Jenin, a week after three others were killed in an assault on the city. The Thursday raid – the latest since Israel intensified attacks on areas in the …

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman has slammed as “hypocritical” Berlin’s stance toward Iran’s peaceful nuclear program as the European country remains silent on Israel’s nuclear arsenal which is a “threat to the region and the world”. In a statement on Friday, Nasser Kana’ani reacted to remarks made by German Chancellor Olaf …

UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg says momentum to end the conflict in Yemen has been renewed by a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran to resume ties. During a briefing at the Security Council on Wednesday, Grundberg urged the warring parties to “seize the opportunity” to …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly instructed his cabinet ministers to avoid traveling to the United States and meeting American officials unless he receives an invite to meet with US President Joe Biden at the White House. “As long as I don’t visit there, nobody does,” an unnamed source …

A meeting of the deputy foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey, Iran and Syria, scheduled for this week, has been postponed to an unspecified date, a source from the Turkish foreign ministry said on Thursday. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said last week that the deputy foreign ministers of the four …

Britain and a dozen other EU member states condemn the Israeli parliament’s approval of a bill that will enable settlers to return to areas of the West Bank evacuated in 2005 as part of the so-called Disengagement Law. In a joint statement on Monday, the UK and the EU countries, …

The ‘Security Bond-2023’ exercises in the Gulf of Oman seek to “inject positive energy” into the region, Beijing said Russia, China and Iran are holding a five-day maritime exercise, seeking to bolster their naval security, Beijing’s Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday. The ministry said the three-nation ‘Security Bond-2023’ wargames in …

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi says the Islamic Republic has turned the threats posed by unilateral sanctions into an opportunity to make significant progress. Raeisi made the remarks during a press conference with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko after they met at the Saadabad Palace in Tehran on Monday. “Iran has …

The death toll in Turkey from last month’s major earthquakes has risen to 48,448, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Monday, as authorities rush to set up container cities to house for the longer-term those left homeless by the disaster. The combined death toll including those killed in Syria has …

Iran and the United States have reached an agreement to exchange prisoners, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told state TV on Sunday, adding that he hoped the exchange would take place soon. “Regarding the issue of prisoner swaps between Iran and the US we have reached an agreement in the …

Israeli soldiers shot dead three Palestinian gunmen after they fired at troops in the occupied northern West Bank, the army said on Sunday, as violence in the region continued. The military said that “gunmen opened fire” at an army position near the Jit junction west of Nablus, with the soldiers …

A top military adviser to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says a post-US era has started in the Persian Gulf region in the wake of a China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore diplomatic ties. Speaking on Sunday, Major General Yahya …

Iraq and Oman welcomed on Friday the agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran to re-establish diplomatic ties. The countries earlier on Friday said they would also open embassies and exchange ambassadors within a period of two months, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. Iraq hailed “turning a new page” …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday formally set May 14 as the date for parliamentary and presidential elections — a month earlier than scheduled despite February’s devastating earthquakes. “Our nation will go to the polls to elect its president and parliamentarians on May 14,” Mr Erdogan said in a …

Iran and Saudi Arabia have reached an agreement in the Chinese capital of Beijing to restore their diplomatic relations and re-open embassies and missions, seven years after they were broken off over several issues. The agreement was struck on Friday after several days of intensive negotiations between Secretary of Iran’s …

A young Palestinian man has died after he was shot by an Israeli settler east of the northwestern occupied West Bank city of Qalqiliya, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Health officials identified the victim as 21-year-old Abdul-Karim Badie Sheikh, a resident of Sanniriya town, noting that he was …

Five Palestinians have been wounded in a settler attack in Huwara, where soldiers and settlers danced together celebrating Purim. Israeli soldiers have been filmed dancing with Jewish settlers on the streets of a Palestinian village where settlers attacked five members of the same family. The five Palestinians were hospitalised after …

An Israeli air strike knocked Aleppo airport out of service on Tuesday and forced the Syrian authorities to reroute flights carrying aid for people affected by last month’s earthquake, Syrian state media reported. The Israeli military declined to comment. In the second attack on Aleppo airport in six months, Syrian …