Middle East

Iraq’s national carrier is to resume flights to the capital of neighboring Syria for the first time since the war there erupted in 2011, a spokesman said Thursday. Iraqi Airways will operate a weekly service from Baghdad to Damascus starting Saturday, spokesman Layth al-Rubaie said. Rubaie said the resumption of …

Facebook said on Thursday it had removed 265 Facebook and Instagram accounts, pages, groups and events linked to Israel due to what it called “inauthentic behavior” targeting users in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa. The move is part of wider efforts by Facebook to address concerns over privacy lapses …

Israeli troops wounded nearly 50 Palestinians at the Gaza border on Wednesday during protests to mark the 71st anniversary of the “Nakba”, or catastrophe, when many Palestinians lost their homes in the fighting around Israel’s creation, Gaza officials said. Thousands had gathered at the coastal enclave’s frontier with Israel, the …

The Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen carried out several air strikes on the Houthi-held capital Sanaa on Thursday after the movement claimed responsibility for drone attacks on Saudi oil installations. The Sanaa strikes targeted nine military sites in and around the city, residents said. Rubble filled a populated street lined …

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday Tehran does not seek war with the United States despite mounting tensions between the two arch-enemies over Iranian nuclear capabilities and its missile program. In comments to senior officials carried by state television, Ayatollah Khamenei also reiterated that the Islamic Republic …

Iran has developed software to protect its industry against the Stuxnet computer virus, the Iranian communications minister said on Thursday, after accusing Israel in November of a cyber attack on Tehran’s telecommunications facilities. Stuxnet, which is widely believed to have been developed by the United States and Israel, was discovered …

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday opened a suspension bridge over the Nile touted as the world’s widest, one of a series of military-led, mega-projects designed to improve infrastructure and provide jobs. The bridge, which crosses the Nile just north of central Cairo, is a key link in a …

Iran has suspended some of its commitments under a nuclear agreement it signed with six world powers in 2015, upon an order from the country’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), an informed official in the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) says. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, …

Saudi Arabia said armed drones had struck two oil pumping stations in the kingdom on Tuesday in what it called a “cowardly” act of terrorism two days after Saudi oil tankers were sabotaged off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. The energy minister of the world’s largest oil exporter …

ran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif will hold talks with his counterpart in the Indian capital on Tuesday after New Delhi stopped purchases of Iranian oil this month in the wake of renewed U.S. sanctions. India was Iran’s top oil client after China, but halted imports after Washington reimposed sanctions on …

Saudi Arabia said on Monday that two of its oil tankers were among those attacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and said it was an attempt to undermine the security of crude supplies amid tensions between the United States and Iran. The UAE said on Sunday that …

ran’s Foreign Ministry said it wants clarification of what happened at the UAE port of Fujairah, where four ships were reportedly targeted in a “sabotage operation.” Sunday’s incident at Fujairah port was “alarming and regrettable,” a spokesman for Iranian Foreign Ministry, Abbas Mousavi, said in a statement on Monday. He …

Several powerful explosions on Sunday hit the port of Fujair in UAE following a huge fire that engulfed at least seven oil tankers, state media reported. The blasts took place early on Sunday morning, according to the Lebanon-based Al Mayadeen television channel, which reported the development hours later. It said …

President Hassan Rouhani called on Saturday for unity among Iran’s political factions to overcome conditions which he said may be harder than those during the 1980s war with Iraq, state media reported, as the country faces tightening U.S. sanctions. “Today, it cannot be said whether conditions are better or worse …

Yemen’s Houthi movement called on the United Nations on Saturday to press the Saudi-led coalition to implement the Hodeidah agreement, al-Masirah TV said, citing the movement’s political office. The movement had started withdrawing from Saleef port in Hodeidah under a U.N.-sponsored deal, added that the Saudi-led forces should take “similar …

The Lebanese government said on Friday that only soldiers serving at the frontline with Israel would benefit from a financial incentive that was designed for frontline troops but has been widely applied. A demand for the strict application of the “Measure 3” scheme was included in a tough draft budget …

A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck near the Iraqi city of Sulaimaniya on Saturday. Local medics said no injuries were reported and officials said there was no significant material damage. Media said the quake occurred 71 km southeast of the city at a depth of 10 km. Sulaimaniya’s seismic monitoring office …

Iran’s top security body dismissed as “psychological warfare” a U.S. announcement that a carrier strike group and bombers are being sent to the Middle East as a message to Tehran, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday. U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said on Sunday the United States …

US President Donald Trump has expressed his full support for Israel after another escalation in the conflict when Gaza Islamic Jihadist launched hundreds of rockets and IDF responded with massive air strikes. “These terrorist acts against Israel will bring you nothing but more misery,” Trump tweeted, advising the Gazan people …

A number of powerful explosions have been heard in Saudi Arabia’s port city of Yanbu’, local sources said Monday, with reports falling short of giving any reason for the blasts or possible casualties. No further details have been made available up to this moment and no group or individual has …