Iran called Thursday for the US to be held accountable for "cruel" sanctions that have hampered its efforts to fight a coronavirus outbreak that it said claimed another 90 lives. The Islamic republic has been struggling to contain the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease since revealing...

A Gaza court has sentenced a Palestinian man to six months in jail for escaping from a coronavirus quarantine facility on the Egyptian border, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday. The 33-year-old was arrested on Saturday, a few hours after breaking out of the compound at Rafah, where...

The electric lanterns and ornate decorations of Ramadan would normally be hanging in the streets of Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem by now, but not this year amid coronavirus restrictions and growing economic woes. The holy fasting month is expected to start on Friday but, as...

Iran will destroy U.S. warships if its security is threatened in the Gulf, the head of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards told state TV on Thursday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran over “harassment” of U.S. vessels. “I have ordered our naval forces to destroy any...

For some $15 a day, deliverymen don masks and gloves in Iran's capital to zip across its pandemic-subdued streets to drop off groceries and food for those sheltering at home from the virus. Like the wider Mideast, from skyscraper-studded Dubai to the narrow alleyways of Cairo, Iranians in...

Turkey has accepted Palestine’s call for medical and financial assistance in the fight against the novel coronavirus, according to an official statement Thursday.  Turkey announced an aid package for Palestine during an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation...

Iran reopened parks and recreational areas Wednesday, pressing ahead with measures to ease its coronavirus curbs despite one of the worst outbreaks of the disease in the Middle East. Ninety four people died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours raising the overall toll to 5,391, Health...

 U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday it was an Israeli decision whether to annex parts of the West Bank and the United States will offer its views on this to the new Israeli government in private. "As for the annexation of the West Bank, the Israelis will ultimately make...

 Iran’s death toll from COVID-19 rose by 94 in the past 24 hours to 5,391 people, Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said on state TV on Wednesday. The Islamic Republic has recorded 85,996 cases of the new coronavirus, Jahanpur said, noting that 63,113 people have recovered...

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has denounced Iran following Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps' succesful launch of the country's first military satellite into orbit, increasing tension with the United States over Tehran's nuclear and missile program. Pompeo reacted to Tehran's announcement...

Amid tensions with Iran, President Donald Trump said Wednesday on Twitter he has given orders for the Navy to "shoot down and destroy" any Iranian gunboats found to be harassing U.S. ships. A U.S. Navy video last week showed small Iranian fast boats coming close to American warships as they...

 Israel's Shin Bet said Wednesday it had arrested three Palestinians accused of being part of a "Hamas terrorist infrastructure" plotting bomb attacks on Israeli targets in the occupied West Bank. The shadowy security agency said in a statement that a joint operation with army and...

 Iran will not suffer as much as other countries from the oil price drop because it is less reliant than others on crude exports, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday. The United States exited in 2018 Tehran’s nuclear deal with six powers and reimposed sanctions that have...

One of the biggest private employers in the Middle East has no plans to cut salaries or lay off any of its 44,000 workers, but the pandemic is changing its thinking about food security, retail and tourism. Majid Al Futtaim owns and operates hundreds of grocery stores and more than two dozen...

The crippling uncertainty behind bars as a deadly disease rages. A lack of proper sanitary equipment. Riots by desperate detainees that allegedly have left dozens dead. And executions that proceed in spite of the outbreak. There is controversy over the magnitude of the coronavirus outbreak...

Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced they had successfully launched the country's first military satellite on Wednesday, at a time of fresh tensions with US forces in the Gulf. The United States alleges Iran's satellite programme is a cover for its development of missiles, while the...

An attacker was shot dead Wednesday after he hit an Israeli policeman with his van at a West Bank checkpoint and then stabbed him with a pair of scissors, police said. "The terrorist drove his vehicle into the border policeman that was on duty," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said in an...

United Nations rights experts accused Iran of violating international law Tuesday for executing a prisoner who was just 17 years old when he committed a crime. Shayan Saeedpour, alleged to have committed murder in August 2015, was hanged Tuesday, United Nations special rapporteurs Javaid...

A gunman killed at least nine people, including five Syrians, during a shooting spree in Lebanon's mountain town of Baakline on Tuesday, police sources told dpa. The victims include a Syrian couple and their two children, a Syrian man, a Lebanese woman and three Lebanese men....

The coronavirus outbreak in Turkey is starting to reach a plateau and the country aims to return to normal life after the Ramadan, which ends in late May, President Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying by state-owned Anadolu news agency Tuesday. "We aim to achieve maximum observance of...