Lebanese President Michel Aoun called for formal consultations on Monday with lawmakers to designate a new prime minister, a statement from the presidency said on Wednesday. Aoun is required to designate the candidate with the greatest support among Lebanon’s 128 lawmakers. The prime...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called on Wednesday for the release of any unarmed and innocent people detained during two weeks of sometimes violent protests against gasoline price hikes. The unrest, which began on Nov. 15 after the government abruptly raised fuel prices by as much as...

The death toll from anti-government protests in Iraq rose to 460 and at least 17,000 others injured during the last two months, according to Iraq's Independent High Commission for Human Rights. "At least 460 protesters were killed in October and November in various central and southern...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travelled to Portugal Wednesday to meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and call for increased pressure on the "tottering" Iranian government. The two men will meet on Wednesday night in Lisbon, the US State Department announced. Speaking...

Iraq, a major Middle East grain importer, said Wednesday it planned to purchase 750,000 tonnes of wheat from abroad in 2020 and said nationwide protests that have extended to a key port were not disrupting shipments so far. Iraq needs between 4.5 million and 5 million tonnes of wheat a year...

Israeli forces have detained fifteen Palestinians in overnight raids carried out across the occupied West Bank, according to the Israeli army. In a statement released on Wednesday, the Israeli military said the people were detained for “suspected involvement in popular terror activities",...

Iran is willing to return to the negotiating table if the United States first drops sanctions, President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday, after a fuel price hike sparked deadly violence ahead of elections. European countries have been pushing for talks with Iran to salvage a 2015 nuclear deal...

Chants demanding complete regime change have echoed across Iraq for weeks, but what first brought demonstrators onto the street was the profound poverty of one of the world's most oil-rich countries. And that is what has kept them there, with protesters brushing off the resignation of Prime...

Lebanese politicians signaled progress on Tuesday towards agreeing a new government to tackle the country’s worst economic crisis in decades, though a deal had yet to be done. Talks between the main feuding parties have been deadlocked since Saad al-Hariri resigned as prime minister in late...

A UN envoy warned Tuesday that the continued use of violence against civilians in Iraq is "intolerable" and called on Iraqi leaders to respond with urgency to the Iraqi people's aspirations for change. "Political leaders do not have the luxury of time and must rise to the moment," Jeanine...

A U.S. charity building a tent hospital in the Gaza Strip is causing Palestinian unease by offering foreign medical volunteers the opportunity of weekend tourism in Israel, just across the volatile border. The facility, to be operated by the U.S. evangelical Christian group FriendShips, had...

Five rockets landed on Tuesday on Ain al-Asad airbase, which hosts U.S. forces in Anbar province in western Iraq, an Iraqi military statement said. No casualties were reported, it added, giving no further details.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Iran was killing thousands of people for protesting and urged the world to take more notice. Disturbances in Iran began in mid-November over gasoline price hikes but quickly turned political, with demonstrators demanding the removal of the...

French President Emmanuel Macron accused Turkey of working with Islamic State proxies and said Ankara needed to clarify those ambiguities during meetings this week. “The common enemy today is the terrorist groups. I’m sorry to say, we don’t have the same definition of terrorism around the...

Lebanese politicians must agree a new government that can stabilize the economy and attract international support if the country is to stave off even deeper economic crisis. Assuming such a government can be formed, there is still no easy way forward for a country driven toward economic...

A secular state, early elections, solving poverty. Every evening, Sarah al-Ghur joins other residents of Lebanon's second city Tripoli to debate how to fix her protest-gripped country. "I'd rather take part in the discussions than applaud or shout out slogans," says the 32-year-old in the...

Leaders of a group planning unrest at universities in Tehran this weekend have been arrested, Iranian authorities said on Tuesday, adding that many of the 2,021 people detained in the area around the capital in unrest last month were released. The Intelligence Ministry said the leading...

Iran on Tuesday rejected as "utter lies" unofficial casualty figures given for street violence that erupted last month during demonstrations against a shock decision to hike fuel prices. Protests erupted in Iran on November 15 after the announcement that petrol prices were going up by as...

Turkey will oppose NATO’s plan for the defense of Baltic countries if the alliance does not recognize groups that Turkey is fighting as terrorists, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday, ahead of a NATO alliance summit in London. Speaking in Ankara, Erdogan also said Turkey...

A large number of protesters in southern Iraq tried to enter the provincial assembly building, causing injuries, a security source said early Tuesday. Lt. Hani al-Haydari from the Karbala police told Anadolu Agency that the demonstrators attempted to enter the assembly building for the...