Israel has hit the Gaza Strip with air strikes and artillery fire on the seventh day of its offensive and as diplomatic efforts to halt the bloodshed intensified. Aircraft struck three training facilities of Hamas's military wing, the Qassam...

Jordan, where the US Central Intelligence Agency has been covertly training Syrian rebels for more than a year, is reluctant to host an expanded rebel instruction programme, US officials say. Jordan's reticence, confirmed by four US officials, is a potentially serious setback...

A total of 121 Palestinians have died in Israel's five-day bombardment of Gaza as Hamas continued to launch rockets into central Israel and the US offered to help broker a truce. A dozen Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks overnight on Saturday in the occupied...

Iraq's security forces and allied Shiite militias executed at least 255 Sunni prisoners as they fled a lightning jihadist-led advance last month, Human Rights Watch said on Friday. “Iraqi security forces and militias affiliated with the government appear to have unlawfully...