Israel’s governing Likud party was holding primaries Thursday, in the first serious internal challenge to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his more than a decade in power. Veteran politician Gideon Saar hopes to unseat Netanyahu, arguing that he will be better placed to form a...

Israel carried out air strikes against the Gaza Strip overnight in response to a rocket fired from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian enclave, the army said Thursday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was at campaign event in Ashkelon north of Gaza on Wednesday evening when what the army...

An Iranian MiG-29 fighter jet crashed in the northwest of the country on Wednesday, prompting a rescue operation for the pilot, state media quoted Iran’s armed forces as saying. The military said in a statement that rescue teams were sent to the remote mountainous area but that they faced...

A wave of internet outages was imposed in Iran Wednesday, ILNA news agency reported, a day before commemorations called for on social media for those killed in unrest last month. The cut came on the orders of security bodies, the news agency said, citing what it called an informed source at...

Israel will not allow Iran to entrench in Iraq, Israeli army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi said on Wednesday. Speaking at a conference in Herzliya, Kochavi accused Iran's Quds Force of moving weapons into Iraq on a monthly basis, according to Yedioth Aharonoth newspaper....

Outgoing Education Minister Qusay al-Suhail on Wednesday turned down nomination to be Iraq's new prime minister.  In a letter to his al-Bina coalition, al-Suhail said conditions "were not favorable" for his nomination to the post. The coalition, which is close to Iran, has...

Palestinian group Hamas has called on the Palestinian Authority and rival Fatah movement to "impose" election in the occupied city of Jerusalem without Israel's approval.  "We don't accept to take permission from the [Israeli] occupation to hold election," Hamas leader Salah...

An Iranian military fighter jet crashed on Wednesday near a dormant volcano in the northwest of the country, official media reported. State news agency IRNA said the jet went down at 9:00 am (0530 GMT) near Mount Sabalan, in the Lesser Caucasus range, and was a MiG-29 on a test flight after...

Hundreds of anti-government protesters marched Wednesday in southern Iraq to mourn a dead activist after a night during which the headquarters of two pro-Iran militias were set on fire, an AFP correspondent reported. The demonstrators oppose the political class that has run the oil-rich yet...

Iraq’s parliament approved on Tuesday a new electoral law, a key demand of protesters to make elections fairer, but political deadlock is still holding up the selection of an interim prime minister, threatening renewed unrest. Mass protests have gripped Iraq since Oct. 1 and protesters,...

Lebanon's caretaker finance minister accused the country's banks on Tuesday of "trapping" civil servants' salaries with withdrawal limits that have fuelled public anger in the crisis-stricken country. "What is happening in some Lebanese banks is unacceptable," Ali Hassan Khalil wrote on...

Anger over Iran's stranglehold on Baghdad's political system has helped propel an unprecedented protest movement -- and now Iraqi activists are hitting the Islamic Republic where it hurts, with a goods boycott. Tehran has held enormous sway over its neighbour since dictator Saddam Hussein...

Iraqi protesters stepped up their demonstrations Tuesday with the authorities in Baghdad increasingly paralysed as they seek a way out of a political impasse. Once again the capital's iconic Tahrir Square began filling early in the day, with protesters making clear their opposition to names...

After days of protests across Iran last month, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appeared impatient. Gathering his top security and government officials together, he issued an order: Do whatever it takes to stop them. That order, confirmed by three sources close to the supreme leader’s...

Israel opposes an accord signed last month between Libya and Turkey mapping out maritime boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean, but the deal was unlikely to lead to a conflict with Turkey, Israel’s foreign minister said on Monday. The deal between Ankara and Tripoli carves out a corridor...

Thousands of protesters blocked roads and bridges across southern Iraq on Monday, condemning Iranian influence and political leaders who missed another deadline to agree on a new prime minister. Anti-government demonstrators burned tyres in major cities across the south, forcing the closure...

Iran said it would unveil a redevelopment of part of its Arak heavy water reactor Monday - a move that will not breach international restrictions on its nuclear work but show it is developing the sector in the face of U.S pressure. Tehran said it would switch on a secondary circuit at Arak,...

Schools in Iran's Tehran province have been ordered shut until Friday due to severe air pollution, authorities announced, extending their closure to a full week. Tehran city was cloaked by thick toxic smog for a third successive day on Monday that blanketed out landmarks like Milad Tower...

A parked car exploded in Iraq’s western province of Anbar early on Monday, killing two soldiers and wounding an officer close to an area that was once Islamic State’s last stronghold in the country, the military said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Islamic State...

The secondary circuit of Iran’s Arak heavy water nuclear reactor will become operational on Monday, the country’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported. The starting of the secondary circuit will not violate restrictions placed on Iran’s nuclear program under a 2015 deal with world...