Iraq eased its coronavirus lockdown Tuesday by letting some businesses reopen and relaxing a month-long curfew on movement imposed to curb the spread of the disease, the government said. The authorities acted days before the start of the fasting month of Ramadan, the holiest month in the...

 Iran's judiciary said Tuesday that it has temporary released more than 1,000 foreign prisoners due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, following criticism by U.N. human rights experts. "What Iran has done in guaranteeing prisoners' health and granting furlough to them is a significant...

Israel's coalition deal between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz breaks a year-long deadlock but has pitfalls -- from power sharing mechanisms to West Bank policy and the premier's corruption charges. Monday's agreement for a unity government, signed by Netanyahu and...

Lebanon's parliament sat Tuesday in a conference hall to allow for social distancing between lawmakers amid the coronavirus pandemic, while outside anti-government protesters demonstrated in a car convoy. As the country struggles with a battered economy, MPs approved a $120 million loan...

Months after the United States killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad, it has offered millions for any details on the mysterious man filling his boots - Hezbollah power-broker Muhammad Kawtharani. Washington charged last week that Kawtharani had "taken over some of the political...

Iran has increased the range of its naval missiles to 700 kilometers, the head of the Revolutionary Guards navy said Monday, according to the Fars news agency. "There was a time when the longest range of our naval missiles was 45 kilometres and needed to be operated with the help of...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his centrist election rival Benny Gantz have reached an agreement to form a coalition government that would end a year of political deadlock, Israel's Channel 12 News reported Monday. Officials from Netanyahu's Likud party and Gantz's Blue and...

The UN children's agency on Monday appealed for $92.4 million in new funds for the Middle East and North Africa to help combat the effects of coronavirus on already poverty-stricken areas. "The region has the biggest number of children in need in the world due to ongoing conflicts and...

Iran began opening intercity highways and major shopping centers Monday to stimulate its sanctions-choked economy, gambling that it has brought under control its coronavirus outbreak - one of the worst in the world - even as some fear it could lead to a second wave of infections Stores from...

It has been weeks since Iran-backed factions in Iraq traded fire with US forces, but experts warn the rivals could be using the time to prepare for an escalation. After the last Katyusha rockets slammed into American installations in Iraq in March, the United States began planning an...

 Iran Sunday announced 87 new deaths from the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, raising the official toll to 5,118, as it takes steps to reopen the economy. It is the sixth consecutive day that Iran has announced a death toll under 100, though Sunday's toll was 14 higher than the...

 Iran will give a decisive response to any mistake by the United States in the Gulf, the Revolutionary Guards navy said in a statement published on the Guards' news site Sepah News. The U.S. military said on Wednesday that 11 vessels from the Revolutionary Guards navy had come...

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus Monday, Tehran said over the weekend, in what would be their first official meeting in a year. Zarif plans to travel to Damascus for a one-day visit to discuss bilateral relations, regional...

Iran has extended furloughs for prisoners for another month, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday, as the Islamic Republic endeavors to stem the spread of the new coronavirus in its crowded jails. Iran’s reported temporary release of 100,000 prisoners since February - including...

Turkey's confirmed coronavirus cases have risen to 82,329, Health MinisterFahrettin Koca said on Saturday, overtaking neighbouring Iran for the first time to register the highest total in the Middle East.  An increase of 3,783 cases in the last 24 hours also pushed Turkey's confirmed...

Iran on Saturday announced 73 new deaths from the coronavirus, raising the official toll to 5,031 as the government allowed small businesses to reopen in Tehran as they already have in the provinces. It was the seventh day that the number of deaths in the previous 24 hours had fallen....

A five-star hotel in Beirut that once hosted royalty and survived the civil war has been forced to close over Lebanon's economic crisis and coronavirus lockdown, its manager said Saturday. Lebanon is grappling with its worst financial crunch since the 1975-1990 civil war, now compounded...

Iran allowed some businesses in the capital and nearby towns to re-open Saturday after weeks of lockdown aimed at containing the worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East. Iran was slow to respond to the pandemic and held off on imposing widespread restrictions even after other...

Iran’s death toll from the new coronavirus rose by 89 in the past 24 hours to reach 4,958 on Friday, health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said on state TV. The total number of cases of infection reached 79,494, of which 3,563 were in critical condition, he said. A parliamentary...

The World Health Organization is urging Middle East and North African governments to "seize the opportunity" to combat the coronavirus while numbers of cases in the region are still relatively low. "We have to seize the opportunity to act in the region because the rise in cases was not so...