Exchanges of fire triggered by Israel's targeted killing of a top militant in Gaza raged for a second day Wednesday and showed little sign of easing, with 22 Palestinians killed. Fresh rocket barrages were fired at Israel, which responded with strikes on what it said were Islamic Jihad...

An activist was killed Tuesday in the capital Beirut when soldiers attempted to drive down a road closed by protesters. The soldiers fired on the crowd, which were preventing their vehicle from passing, hitting activist Ala Abu Fahr. He was taken to a nearby hospital but died despite...

President Donald Trump will leap from the frying pan of impeachment into the fire of foreign policy controversy when he hosts his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House on Wednesday. On the day that the impeachment process shifts to the dramatic phase of public hearings...

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the United States knows the location of the third in command to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed last month in a U.S.-led raid. “We have our eye on his third,” Trump said during the question and answer session following a...

The Saudi cabinet Tuesday condemned what it called its rival Iran's "deception" over its nuclear program, after Tehran's decision to re-start atomic activities at one of its key sites. A cabinet session chaired by King Salman expressed its "denunciation of Iran's continued deception and...

Banks and schools in Lebanon were closed on Tuesday as protesters tried to prevent employees from clocking in at state institutions nearly one month into an anti-graft street movement. Unprecedented protests erupted across Lebanon on October 17, demanding the ouster of a generation of...

Sirens wailed, residents ran to bomb shelters and both sides feared yet another war as an Israeli targeted strike killing an Islamic Jihad commander in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday sparked exchanges of fire. The escalation sent shock waves through the coastal strip and into the heartland of...

Iran accused European nations of hypocrisy on Tuesday for criticising its latest step back from a nuclear deal while failing to fulfil their commitments of relief from US sanctions. But President Hassan Rouhani made no mention of a new report from the UN nuclear watchdog that reveals that...

Food products from Israeli-occupied territories must be clearly labeled as such to avoid misleading consumers, the EU's top court ruled Tuesday, in particular if they come from settlements there. The European Court of Justice said that, under EU rules on food labeling, it must be clear...

Most schools in southern Iraq were closed on Tuesday, after teachers announced a general strike in an attempt to boost the protest movement that has rocked the country since October 1. In recent days, security forces have sought to crack down on rallies, but protesters have kept up the...

US President Donald Trump placed the Islamic State group's new chief in the crosshairs Monday as he marked Veterans' Day by celebrating the killing of the jihadists' former leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. While US presidents traditionally mark the day by laying a wreath at a vast military...

Germany, Britain and France should be ready to consider starting moves to reinstate international sanctions on Iran over breaches of its 2015 nuclear deal, Germany’s foreign minister said on Monday. Europe’s position is vital as the United States has withdrawn from the deal and the other...

The United Nations' nuclear watchdog said it had detected uranium particles at an undeclared site in Iran in its latest report on the country's nuclear program issued Monday. The report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), seen by AFP, says: "The agency detected natural...

Clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli forces Monday during demonstrations marking the 15th anniversary of the death of Yasser Arafat in the occupied West Bank, leaving a Palestinian shot dead, medics and Palestinian officials said. Demonstrations were held in Ramallah and the...

A Lebanese flag flutters in the protest-hit Iraqi capital. More than 900 kilometres (500 miles) away, a revolutionary Iraqi chant rings out from a bustling protest square in Beirut. "Don't trust the rumours, they're a group of thieves," sings a group of Lebanese musicians in Iraqi dialect,...

Lebanon's central bank on Monday said it would strive to maintain the local currency's peg to the US dollar and ease access to the greenback after weeks of mass protests. For two decades, the Lebanese pound has been pegged to the greenback at around 1,500 pounds to the dollar, with both...

The United Nations' top official in Iraq and the country's most senior cleric urged authorities on Monday to get "serious" about reforms after anti-government demonstrations that have left hundreds dead. Mass rallies calling for an overhaul of the ruling system have rocked the capital...

The United States has called on Iraq's government to stop using violence against protesters, reform its electoral system and hold early elections, the White House press secretary said in a statement. "The United States joins the UN Assistance Mission to Iraq in calling on the Iraqi...

Security forces fired tear gas at anti-government protesters in Baghdad Sunday injuring at least 22 people, police and medical sources said, a day after they pushed demonstrations back towards one main square in the Iraqi capital. One person died in hospital of wounds sustained in clashes...

Tehran and Moscow inaugurated on Sunday a new phase of construction for a second reactor at Iran's sole nuclear power plant in Bushehr on the Gulf coast. Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), and deputy chief of Russia's nuclear agency Rosatom, Alexander...