Firebrand Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s parliamentary bloc has reiterated rejection of the presence of U.S. troops in Iraqi capital Baghdad. On Saturday, images of Brig. Gen. Austin Renforth, Director of Joint Operations-Iraq for the Combined Joint Task Force, while touring the...

A Palestinian youth was seriously injured in an Israeli raid in the West Bank city of Al-Bireh on Sunday, according to the Health Ministry. Israeli forces raided the city and searched a number of houses and shops, triggering clashes with local residents. Witnesses said Israeli...

Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip arrested five men Saturday over a raid at the Palestinian Authority's media headquarters, in which valuable equipment was destroyed. Five armed men attacked the offices of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation in Gaza City Friday, trashing...

All countries that were granted waivers from the United States to continue buying a certain amount of Iranian oil imports are complying with U.S. sanctions, a senior Iranian energy official said, noting that Tehran was hopeful to find new buyers. The United States withdrew from a...

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will seek an update to Saudi Arabia's investigation into the October killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi when he visits Riyadh during a trip to the Middle East next week, the State Department said Friday. Pompeo will also visit Jordan, Egypt,...

Armed men raided the headquarters of Palestinian Authority media in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip Friday, station staff said, causing damage to equipment. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident, though the staff and a PA official said they held Hamas responsible....

 The Iranian navy will deploy warships to the western Atlantic Ocean from March, a top commander said Friday, as the Islamic Republic seeks to increase the operating range of its naval forces to the backyard of the United States, its arch foe. The presence of U.S. aircraft carriers...

Turkish police on Friday launched nationwide raids to detain nearly 150 people, including military personnel, suspected of ties to the group blamed for the 2016 attempted coup, local media reported. Prosecutors in Istanbul, Konya and Ankara issued arrest warrants for 137 people as part...

 Dark skies were threatening rain over an Iraqi Kurdistan village, but one woman refused to budge from outside a house where two girls were at risk of female genital mutilation. “I know you’re home! I just want to talk,” Kurdistan Rasul, 35, called out, a pink headscarf forming a sort of...

Turkey's state-run news agency says police have detained 12 suspected Daesh (ISIS) militants, including two women who are wanted in France. Anadolu Agency reported Wednesday that the suspects were detained during police raids in the northwestern province of Bursa earlier this week. The...

The Iraqi Defense Ministry has appointed a new security chief for the northern Kirkuk province, a ministry official said Tuesday.  Speaking to Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity, the official said that Haidar al-Obeidi, a brigadier-general in Iraq’s elite anti-terrorism...

Israel has officially withdrawn from UN heritage agency UNESCO.   In October 2017, Israel said it will quit the UN agency, citing what it described as UNESCO’s “bias” toward the Palestinians.   The withdrawal decision went into effect on Tuesday.   "UNESCO...

Israel's centre-left opposition dramatically split on Tuesday ahead of an April 9 election, with leader Avi Gabbay announcing he would no longer partner with veteran politician Tzipi Livni as she sat stone-faced next to him. The announcement means the end of their Zionist Union...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday he would not resign if prosecutors moved to indict him on corruption charges, as authorities probe several cases involving him ahead of April polls. Netanyahu said he would not step down in the event of being summoned for a hearing...

 A Palestinian court sentenced an American-Palestinian Monday to life imprisonment for violating a ban on selling land to Israelis, judiciary officials said. The U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, called in November for dual national Issam Akel to be released, saying his...

 Security forces clashed with students in Iran Monday in the third day of protests over a deadly bus crash, online videos showed, adding to officials' fears that rising public unrest could threaten national security. President Hassan Rouhani has ordered an investigation into the...

Iran's intelligence ministry said Monday it had arrested 11 "economic disruptors" who misappropriated some $400 million earmarked for essential goods and smuggled the money out of the country. Authorities have been cracking down on those seeking to exploit the collapsing rial, which has...

An Israeli court sentenced a Palestinian to 18 years imprisonment Monday for stabbing to death a British woman in occupied Jerusalem last year, under a plea bargain acknowledging he is mentally ill. Jamil Tamimi, 59, killed 21-year-old exchange student Hannah Bladon on a tram as she was...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Brazil's President-elect Jair Bolsonaro told him that it was a matter of "when, not if" he moves his country's embassy in Israel to occupied Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. The far-right Bolsonaro, who takes office Tuesday and is...

Syrian regime's tate news agency says President Bashar Assad has authorized Iraqi forces to attack Daesh (ISIS) inside Syria without waiting for permission from authorities in Damascus. Sunday's announcement highlights the close relations between the two neighboring Arab countries. On...