A deadly battle between Lebanese Sunnis and Shi'ites overnight prompted warnings of more violence as the country is pushed to breaking point by a financial meltdown and political tensions. Two people - a 13-year-old Lebanese Sunni boy and a Syrian man - were killed in the Khaldeh area south...

French President Emmanuel Macron will meet iconic singer Fairouz and members of Lebanon's political leadership next week as he returns to the country in search of serious reform in the wake of the devastating Beirut port blast, the Elysee said Friday. Macron will be in Lebanon Monday and...

The United States plans to reduce its military force in Iraq from the current 5,200 to about 3,500 by November, US officials said Friday. The cut would be in line with President Donald Trump's repeated call to bring troops home and his reelection campaign pledge to end what he calls "endless...

UN's special envoy for Middle East peace said on Friday that under the current circumstances no mediation efforts to prevent escalation between Palestinian resistance groups and Israel in Gaza Strip can succeed.  “Palestinian militants must immediately stop the launching of...

French President Emmanuel Macron will head to Beirut next week to pressure local politicians into pressing ahead with the creation of a government that can implement urgent reforms, a French presidential official said Friday. "The president has said it he will not give up. He made a...

Israel has listed an El Al flight taking off Monday for Abu Dhabi, which would be Israel's first commercial passenger flight to the United Arab Emirates after the two countries agreed to a US-brokered deal to normalize relations. The website of the Israel Airports Authority listed the...

Israeli tanks and warplanes bombed Hamas positions in Gaza Friday and the Islamists retaliated with rockets as a three-week-old flare-up showed no let-up despite international mediation efforts. Warning sirens sounded before dawn in Israeli communities near the border as the pre-dawn air...

The UN Security Council is voting on a resolution that would extend the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon for a year but reduce its troop ceiling from 15,000 to 13,000 in response to US pressure. The French-drafted resolution also makes another concession to the...

Israel's Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a cluster of homes in a Jewish settlement outpost in the occupied West Bank was built on privately owned Palestinian land and must therefore be removed. Accepting a petition by Palestinian plaintiffs, Israel's top court overturned a 2018 District...

The head of Hamas resistance group Ismail Haniyeh said on Thursday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has always pushed for intra-Palestine reconciliation. Speaking to reporters in Istanbul, he said: "President Erdogan has been in favor of intra-Palestine reconciliation for a long...

Lebanon's central bank issued a circular Thursday asking banks to recapitalize as part of reviving the banking sector which has been badly hit by the financial meltdown. The circular said banks must urge depositors who transferred more than $500,000 abroad as of July 1, 2017 to deposit...

Jordan should release all teachers arrested in a crackdown on their trade union, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday, accusing Amman of using coronavirus as a pretext to stifle peaceful dissent. Authorities closed the Teachers' Syndicate and arrested its leaders on July 25, after it led...

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas agreed with his Israeli counterpart Thursday that an effort must be made to extend a weapon embargo on Iran, while stressing Germany still sees the landmark 2015 deal between Tehran and world powers as the best way to prevent the country from obtaining a nuclear...

The UN envoy for Iraq said Wednesday the coronavirus pandemic has made things worse in the country, with a 10 percent increase in poverty and 3 million people who can’t afford to buy enough food. Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert told the UN Security Council the pandemic has also disrupted studies...

 France's foreign minister said Thursday that Lebanon risked disappearing due to the inaction of its political elite who needed to quickly implement a new government to implement crucial reforms for the country. "The international community will not sign a blank check if the they...

Gaza will remain in lockdown at least until Sunday, health officials said Wednesday after reporting two deaths and 26 COVID-19 cases in the first public outbreak of the coronavirus in the blockaded Palestinian enclave. As of two days ago, when the first four cases were discovered in a...

Turkey confirmed on Wednesday 1,313 new cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the tally to 262,507. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced on Twitter that the total number of recoveries had reached 239,797. Citing Health Ministry data, Koca said that 1,002 patients recovered from...

 A Palestinian who entered Israel from the occupied West Bank on a work permit stabbed an Israeli to death Wednesday and was later arrested, Israeli police said. The stabbing took place at a junction near Petah Tikva, in central Israel. Police said the suspect, a 46-year-old man from...

Iran said Wednesday it had agreed to grant the U.N. nuclear watchdog access to two sites that the agency suspects once secretly hosted nuclear material or activities, easing a months-long standoff over the issue. Wednesday's breakthrough in the dispute over the sites near Karaj and Isfahan...

French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Beirut Sept. 1, his office said Wednesday. Macron was the first foreign leader to visit Beirut after a massive blast destroyed parts of the Lebanese capital in early August.