Tracy and Paul Najjar believe their daughter Alexandra could have survived the Aug. 4 explosion at Beirut port if the authorities had raised the alarm on that fateful day. As they mourn the loss of their three-year-old, one question continues to haunt them: why did no one warn residents or...

One by one, the flags belonging to a patchwork of armed forces were lowered in a northern Iraqi town once brutalized by the Islamic State group. The territorial claims symbolized by each were replaced by the fluttering of just one: The Iraqi state’s. The hoisting of the national flag in...

US President Donald Trump warned Wednesday he would hold "Iran responsible" in the event of a fatal attack on Americans in Iraq, as the first anniversary of the killing of a top Iranian general in a US air strike approaches. "Our embassy in Baghdad got hit Sunday by several rockets," Trump...

Turkish police arrested at least 11 suspects in the country's northwestern provinces as part of an investigation into the smuggling of 117 illegal migrants, a security source said on Wednesday, Reuters reports. Acting on a tip-off, security teams conducted simultaneous operations in the...

Palestinian group Hamas on Wednesday condemned the normalization of relations between Morocco and Israel. "We condemn the signing of the normalization agreement between Morocco and the [Israeli] occupation, and we consider it a great disappointment to the Palestinian people and their...

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday voiced regret over a stalemate in maritime border talks between Israel and Lebanon and offered Washington's meditation. The two nations which remain technically at war opened negotiations in October after quiet US diplomacy, seeking to clear the...

Iraq has signed a preliminary deal to receive 1.5 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine in early 2021, the health ministry said. The country has been among the hardest-hit in the Middle East, with more than 580,000 reported cases although numbers have dropped dramatically...

Near the wreckage of Beirut’s port, a charity is bringing Christmas cheer to a city hammered by a devastating explosion, rising coronavirus infections and the worst economic crisis since Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war. The Solidarity Christmas Village, decked out with flashing fairy lights...

Often injured in high-risk jumps over obstacles in cemeteries and abandoned buildings, Gaza's parkour enthusiasts can now practice their niche sport on safer ground. The Palestinian territory's first parkour gym - equipped with wooden boxes over which youngsters can soar in twists and...

 Israel sent envoys to Morocco on Tuesday to meet its king and hammer out an upgrade of ties that was forged by the White House in a parting foreign-policy push by U.S. President Donald Trump. Led by National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat, the delegates were accompanied to Rabat by...

Youssef Abdelkarim's storefront on one of Baghdad's most historic streets is a time capsule -- literally. Thousands of wristwatches fill the tiny shop, where three generations have repaired Iraq's oldest timepieces. The dusty display window on Rasheed Street features a single row of classic...

An American nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine traversed the strategically vital waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula on Monday, the U.S. Navy said, a rare announcement that comes amid rising tensions with Iran. The Navy’s 5th Fleet based in Bahrain said the Ohio-class...

Ten years have passed since the outbreak of Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution, after Mohamed Bouazizi, a struggling young man who sold vegetables from his street cart, set himself on fire in protest at police injustice under the tyrannical regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The people rose up in...

Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and advisor, is due to arrive Tuesday in Morocco from Israel on the first direct commercial flight between the two countries since they normalised ties. The flight from Tel Aviv to Rabat is seen as highly symbolic after Morocco announced...

Hundreds of angry Iraqis protested Monday in several cities against a currency devaluation that has slashed their purchasing power amid a pandemic-fuelled economic crisis. The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) at the weekend devalued the currency by over a fifth against the US dollar, officially...

A group of 24 members of the European Parliament signed a petition launched Monday by the Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, which called on the Israeli government to lift its siege of Gaza and allow in COVID-19 medical supplies. The lawmakers include Manu Pineda, the...

The remaining parties to the ailing 2015 Iran nuclear deal said Monday that they were preparing for the possible return of the US to the pact as President-elect Joe Biden readies to take office next month. Biden, who takes office on January 20, has signalled Washington would rejoin the...

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Monday urged Iran not to waste the opportunity offered by the prospect of Joseph Biden’s United States administration returning to the nuclear non-proliferation deal. Speaking after a video conference of officials from the countries in the JCPOA deal,...

Oman will close its land, air and sea borders on Tuesday at 1 a.m. for one week, state television reported on Monday. The decision follows measures imposed by various countries following the outbreak of a new strain of COVID-19, Oman TV said.  

Turkey ended a countrywide weekend curfew early Monday as part of measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus. The curfew began on Friday at 9 p.m. and ended on Monday at 5 a.m. local time. In late November, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced new COVID-19 restrictions,...