U.S.-backed Iraqi forces pressed an advance on neighborhoods under ISIS control in Mosul Monday as they seek to dislodge fighters entrenched in a central mosque before the holy month of Ramadan. Seven months into the campaign to recapture Mosul, militants are besieged in its northwestern...

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas began a three-day visit to India Monday with a tour of an IT facility that is helping Ramallah build a high-end tech hub. Abbas, who arrived late Sunday, will hold talks on the Middle East peace process, among other issues, with Prime Minister Narendra...

Iranian opposition figure Mehdi Karoubi, under house arrest since 2011, announced his support for President Hassan Rouhani who is seeking a second term in Friday's election. Karoubi asked all Iranians to participate in the election and to protect the democratic process by choosing their...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday challenged US concerns over moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, in what Haaretz newspaper called his "first public dispute" with the Trump administration. US President Donald Trump had promised during his campaign to move the American...

A senior Palestinian official says he "hopes" Israel will halt settlement construction if U.S.-led peace talks resume, but stopped short of making it a condition. Saeb Erekat spoke Sunday in Jordan after meeting with the foreign ministers of Jordan and Egypt, ahead of a Mideast trip next...

Iran's reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami on Sunday endorsed President Hassan Rouhani in a video message, calling on voters to give him another term in this week's election. "Mr Rouhani's government has been a successful one, despite all the limitations, problems and the great...

A cholera outbreak in war-torn Yemen has killed 115 people and left 8,500 ill as hospitals struggle to cope with an influx of patients, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Sunday. "We now are facing a serious outbreak of cholera," said ICRC director of operations Dominik...

Judges from one of the Egyptian judiciary's three main branches have voted to defy a newly adopted and widely disputed law giving the president a degree of control over the judiciary. State Council judges, who rule on disputes with the government, voted overwhelmingly Saturday to put forward...

A senior military commander says government forces have launched a new push to drive ISIS militants from four neighborhoods in west Mosul. In a statement Sunday, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Rasheed Yar Allah says Iraqi special forces are moving to the al-Eraibi and al-Rifaie neighborhoods, while...

( The New Arab )- Bana al-Abed, the 8 year-old girl, who captured the world's attention last year with her vivid portrayals of Syria's war on Twitter during the siege of east Aleppo has been granted Turkish citizenship. Al-Abed along with the other four members of her family were presented...

A Jordanian citizen stabbed and wounded an Israeli police officer who then shot him dead in Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday, Israeli police said, the latest in a string of street attacks. Police spokeswoman Luba Simri said the officer was walking down a street when he was attacked by a...

Iraq's joint operations command says an Iraqi air force helicopter has been downed west of Mosul after coming under fire from ISIS. Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, the command's spokesman, says the helicopter was hit Saturday afternoon while supporting Iraq's mostly Shiite militia forces in an...

Egyptian archaeologists have discovered 17 mummies in catacombs in Minya province, south of Cairo, the antiquities ministry announced Saturday. "We found catacombs containing a number of mummies," said Salah al-Kholi, a Cairo University professor of Egyptology who headed the mission that...

Palestinians held municipal elections on Saturday in the occupied West Bank, a first democratic exercise in years, but one that has also raised tensions between the rival Fatah and Hamas movements. With no legislative or presidential elections in sight, the municipal ballot is seen as a...

Iran's presidential election may turn on turnout. Historically, the more Iranians who cast ballots, the greater the chance a reformist or a moderate like incumbent President Hassan Rouhani will be elected. However, Rouhani's bid for another four-year term comes amid apathy and grumbling...

( The Guardian )- The Turkish president will seek to persuade Donald Trump to reverse his “mistaken and shortsighted” plan to arm Kurdish forces in Syria, announced as part of an American attempt to crush Islamic State’s final stronghold in Raqqa. US officials this week announced a deal to...

 Iran's six presidential candidates exchanged barbs in their final debate on Friday, accusing each other of corruption and economic mismanagement a week ahead of the election. Seeking a second four-year term, moderate President Hassan Rouhani has been on the offensive all week, framing...

 A Palestinian youth was shot dead during clashes with Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Friday, the Palestinian health ministry said. The man was shot during the protests which are held weekly near the village of Nabi Saleh, north of Ramallah, and later died in a nearby...

Iraq's Shi'ite paramilitaries launched an offensive on Friday to drive Islamic State from a desert region near the border with Syria as security forces fought the militants in the city of Mosul. Spokesman Karim al-Nouri said the target of the operation was the Qairawan and Baaj areas about...

( The New Arab )- The UAE said a ban on the import of some vegetables from Jordan, Egypt, Oman, Lebanon and Yemen will stay despite regional media reports that it might ease restrictions.  Abu Dhabi's ministry of climate change and environment ordered the ban after UAE labs found high...