Middle East
A “major” shift is needed to repair broken ties between the Turkish state and the country’s Kurdish minority following the historic decision of the Kurdistan Workers Party to disarm, its jailed founder said Sunday. The message from Abdullah Ocalan was transmitted through a delegation of the pro-Kurdish DEM party
Middle East
US President Donald Trump said Monday he was considering offering sanctions relief to Syria as it seeks to rebuild after a grinding decade-plus civil war. “We are going to have to make a decision on the sanctions, which we may very well relieve. We may take them off of Syria
Middle East
Israel’s air force struck near Syria’s presidential palace early Friday hours after warning Syrian authorities not to march toward villages inhabited by members of a minority sect in southern Syria. The strike came after days of clashes between pro-Syrian government gunmen and fighters who belong to the Druze
Middle East
Syrian estate agent Fahd Haidar shuttered his business and got out his rifle to defend his hometown of Jaramana when it came under attack this week by Islamists loyal to the new government. Seven Druze fighters were among the 17 people killed in the Damascus suburb as clashes raged from
Middle East
Lebanese official media said eight people were wounded by in a drone attack in a border village, as Syrian Arab Republic said it responded to artillery fire from Lebanon. Eight Syrian refugees were wounded and taken to hospital in the northeast area of Hermel after an “explosives-laden drone blew up”
Middle East
As calls for Lebanon’s Hezbollah to disarm gain momentum, a senior Hezbollah official told Reuters the group is ready to hold talks with the Lebanese president about its weapons if Israel withdraws from south Lebanon and stops its strikes. US-backed President Joseph Aoun, who vowed when he took office
Middle East
Hezbollah and all militias in Lebanon must be disarmed “as soon as possible,” US Deputy Special Envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus has told the Lebanese broadcaster LBCI. Ortagus, who was speaking to LBCI’s Toni Mrad in an interview aired on Sunday, emphasized President Donald Trump’s firm
Middle East
Gulf Cooperation Council nations will face a 10 percent US tariff under Donald Trump’s new trade policy, aimed at addressing what he called long-standing unfair practices. While the GCC was spared the steepest penalties, other Arab nations were hit harder — with Syria and Iraq facing tariffs of 41 percent
Middle East
Eid Al-Fitr in Syria was charged with newfound joy this year, as thousands freely celebrated the holiday for the first time after the fall of Bashar Assad. From the early morning hours, crowds of men, women and children flocked to pray at Damascus’s historic Umayyad Mosque in the Old
Middle East
Rana Al-Ahmad opens her fridge after breaking fast at sundown with her husband and four children during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Apart from eggs, potatoes and some bread, it’s empty because state electricity in Syria only comes two hours a day. “We can’t leave our food
Middle East
Lebanon’s cabinet on Thursday named asset manager Karim Souaid as central bank governor, official media reported, a post crucial to implementing economic reforms demanded by the international community. He was appointed despite reservations of new reformist prime minister Nawaf Salam, who called on Souaid to commit to the government’
Middle East
Iraqi naval forces have seized an unidentified ship in Iraqi territorial waters in the Gulf suspected of smuggling fuel, the naval forces said in a statement. Fuel smuggling is common in Gulf waters, where heavily subsidised fuel from some countries is sold on the black market to buyers across the
Middle East
A Lebanese professor is back in her home country after she was expelled from the United States for attending the funeral of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah during a trip to Beirut, her family said Tuesday. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist and professor at the Ivy League Brown University, was
Middle East
The US is weighing in with Lebanon’s government on the selection of the country’s next central bank governor in a bid to curtail corruption and illicit financing for armed group Hezbollah through Lebanon’s banking system, five sources familiar with the issue said. Washington’s feedback on the
Middle East
The Israeli military said it carried out an air strike in southern Lebanon on Tuesday that killed a senior Hezbollah militant who was reportedly responsible for a drone and rocket arsenal. “Earlier today, the IAF (air force) conducted a precise intelligence-based strike in the area of Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon,
Middle East
On a lush green hilltop on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, Carmela Keren Yakuti proudly shows off her home in Dovev, which she fled more than 16 months ago over fears of a Hezbollah attack. “Now that everyone is back, it’s an amazing feeling,” said Yakuti, 40, standing