Middle East

Yemeni forces have shot down a US-built ScanEagle spy drone flying over the central province of Ma’rib which is the center of fierce clashes with Saudi-backed militants. A spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, tweeted Saturday that the Yemeni air defense forces and their allies used …

Lebanese central bank governor Riad Salameh maintained his innocence amid allegations of corruption, saying in a radio interview on Saturday that his conscience was clear. Salameh is under investigation in Switzerland on charges related to embezzlement, and probes are underway or being planned in several other European countries. Last week, …

Families of those missing after Turkey’s worst floods in years anxiously watched rescue teams search buildings on Saturday, fearing the death toll from the raging torrents could rise further. At least 44 people have died from the floods in the northern Black Sea region, the second natural disaster to strike …

Armed group ISIL claims responsibility for the attack in a statement on an ISIL-affiliated website. A roadside bomb exploded in the restive northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, killing eight members of Egypt’s security forces, including an officer, while six others were wounded. The troops were riding an armoured vehicle …

UN experts have called for an international moratorium on the sale of surveillance technology until regulations are enforced to protect human rights following a scandal surrounding the Israeli-made Pegasus spyware, which reportedly targeted political figures worldwide, including French President Emmanuel Macron. “It is highly dangerous and irresponsible to allow the …

Turkey’s chief prosecutor on Friday announced the arrest of 72 more people implicated in attacks on the shops of Syrian migrants in the capital Ankara. The new detentions bring the total number of people detained since Wednesday night’s violence to 148. The unrest broke out in response to a fight …

Emergency workers battled to relieve flood-hit areas of Turkey’s Black Sea region on Friday, as the death toll rose to 27 in the second natural disaster to strike the country this month. The floods, among the worst Turkey, has experienced, brought chaos to northern provinces just as authorities were declaring …

On Thursday, Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc rejected the Central Bank of Lebanon’s decision to lift fuel subsidies, saying that it contradicts the policies applied by parliament and the government. In addition to the statement issued by the Banque du Liban regarding hydrocarbons, the Banque du Liban had written to the government …

RAMALLAH, Thursday, August 12, 2021 (WAFA) – The Palestinian presidency today expressed its strong rejection and condemnation of the new Israeli settlement expansion projects in the Palestinian territories, particularly plans for the construction of 2,200 settlement units in the occupied city of Jerusalem and the rest of the Palestinian territories. …

Yemen’s Ansarullah movement has slammed the United States’ interventionist measures in Yemen, saying Washington is hindering a political resolution of the conflict gripping the impoverished country. In a post on his Twitter account on Wednesday, Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the movement’s spokesman, said, “The US meddling in Yemen has led to the …

Nine people were killed in flash floods in Kastamonu in Turkey’s Black Sea region that sent water and debris rushing through streets and damaged bridges, authorities said on Thursday. There was also flooding in the Black Sea provinces of Sinop and Bartin, where one person went missing on Wednesday and …

Iran summoned the Russian and British ambassadors on Thursday after a photograph was posted on the Russian embassy’s Twitter account recalling the 1943 Tehran Conference, Iranian state media reported. The picture, which outgoing foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called “extremely inappropriate”, has drawn criticism in Iran, with many saying on …

A crowd of Turks attacked shops and homes belonging to Syrians in the Turkish capital Ankara overnight in the wake of a street fight that led to a Turkish youth being fatally stabbed, a witness and media reports said. The windows of Syrians’ shops and homes were smashed and a …

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister said on Thursday the central bank had broken the law by deciding to remove fuel subsidies, and the damage done would outweigh the benefits of preserving the mandatory reserves which the bank is trying to protect. A loss of fuel subsidies would open a new phase …

Severe floods and landslides have caused major damages in several provinces of Turkey‘s Black Sea region after heavy rain. Heavy rains triggered severe floods and landslides in northern Turkey, injuring several people and leaving many others missing. Many people are missing after flooding destroyed houses in Kastamonu and Bartin Provinces. …

Turkey will start face-to-face education as scheduled, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Wednesday, and unvaccinated adults will have to be tested regularly against COVID-19. “It is not possible for us to compromise face-to-face education … We will take necessary measures to protect students and their families,” Koca said in …

Ongoing offensives by the Taliban militants in Afghanistan have forced thousands of civilians to flee their homes across the country. According to Press TV, the Taliban on Tuesday captured Farah City in western Afghanistan, the seventh provincial capital to fall to them since Friday. “This afternoon, the Taliban entered the …

As the Taliban militant group continues to make rapid advances across Afghanistan, the militants have captured another provincial capital in the northern part of the war-ravaged country, taking the number of cities they have seized since Friday to nine in the latest setback for the Afghan government. The latest city …

The Saudi Arabia-led coalition invading Yemen resorts again to the mass recruiting of al-Qaeda terrorists in order to prevent its easily predictable defeat in the strategic Yemeni Province of Ma’rib. Speaking to Yemen Press Agency (YPA) on Tuesday, informed sources in the west-central province said the coalition’s forces had brought …

Bahrain’s main opposition group, the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, says the Arab nation is demanding an end to tyranny and a peaceful transition to democracy in the Persian Gulf kingdom, as the ruling Ale Khalifah regime presses ahead with its crackdown on dissent. Al-Wefaq, in a statement released on Tuesday, …