The Palestinian Authority told Israel Thursday it will no longer pay for the electricity Israel supplies to Gaza, Israeli officials said, a move that could lead to a complete power shutdown in the territory whose two million people already endure blackouts for much of the day. The decision...

Syrian Kurdish forces called on Wednesday for a no-fly zone across the country's north in response to deadly Turkish air strikes the previous day. "Only (by) declaring north Syria as a no-fly zone can YPG defend the country unhindered. Turkey must adhere to no-fly zone," wrote the Kurdish...

Turkish warplanes hit Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq on Wednesday and killed six militants, the military said, in a second day of cross-border raids. A military statement said the air strikes targeted the Zap region, the Turkish name for a river which flows across the...

 Iraqi pro-government forces have recaptured the ancient city of Hatra city from ISIS, they said Wednesday. "Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization) forces liberated the ancient city of Hatra... after fierce clashes with the enemy," said the Shiite-dominated paramilitary group....

 Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir discussed Syria's future with his Russian counterpart in Moscow Wednesday after which he said Riyadh still believed there was no political future for President Bashar Assad. Al-Jubeir, after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, also...

( The Guardian )- The UN has been promised half the amount requested for its humanitarian appeal for Yemen, secretary general António Guterres has said, as activists on the ground said relief was being prevented from reaching its recipients. Donors at a fundraising conference in Geneva...

President Tayyip Erdogan told Reuters on Tuesday that Turkey would reconsider its position on joining the European Union if it was kept waiting much longer and if the current hostile mentality of some member states persists. Erdogan said a decision on Tuesday by the Parliamentary Assembly of...

Iraq is holding hundreds of millions of dollars Qatari negotiators had brought to Baghdad as ransom money for the release of kidnapped hunters, the prime minister said Tuesday. A hunting party consisting of 24 Qataris and two Saudis kidnapped in southern Iraq in December 2015 was released...

President Tayyip Erdogan insisted there could be no solution to Syria's conflict while President Bashar al-Assad remains in power, and said Russian President Vladimir Putin told him he was not personally committed to the Syrian leader. "Assad is not the address for a prospective solution in...

Militants from ISIS posing as liberating security forces killed at least 15 civilians who welcomed them in central Mosul, officials said on Tuesday. Wearing police uniforms, they entered parts of the Old City on Monday to trick residents into showing their support for the federal forces, the...

 Palestinian leaders Tuesday said Britain had rejected their request for an apology for a 1917 declaration that helped pave the way to the state of Israel, adding that they would pursue international court action unless London backtracked. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for...

 Iraq has launched the third and final phase of work to expand its southern Halfaya oil field, aiming to double its output capacity in 2018 to 400,000 barrels per day, a state-run oil company said. Additional facilities to separate crude oil from associated natural gas will be set up as...

The United Nations secretary-general and high-ranking government officials from dozens of countries were meeting Tuesday in Geneva to drum up funds for war-torn Yemen, considered one of the world's greatest humanitarian crises. Antonio Guterres and top diplomats from Switzerland and Sweden...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to cancel talks set for Tuesday with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel over the visiting diplomat's plan to also meet rights groups critical of Israel's government. An Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed...

The Turkish military has carried out air strikes against Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) militants near Iraq's Sinjar mountains and northeastern Syria to prevent the group from sending weapons and explosives for attacks inside Turkey, it said on Tuesday. The two regions have become "terror...

( The Guardian )- An Israeli teenager arrested for allegedly making bomb threats against Jewish centres in the US is facing charges relating to an online crime spree including thousands of hoax calls worldwide, according to an indictment filed to a Tel Aviv court. The 18-year-old, identified...

An Emirati previously convicted of being a member of the extremist ISIS group has had his sentence increased from one year in prison to a 10-year sentence. The state-run WAM news agency reported Monday the Emirati, whom it only identified by initials K.A.M., was previously sentenced by the...

Militants in Iraq ambushed a convoy of off-duty soldiers near a town in the country's sprawling western desert, killing at least 10 and wounding 20, officials said on Monday. Iraqi Maj. Emad al-Dulaimi said the attack took place the night before near the town of Rutba. The militants were...

( The Guardian )- Saudi Arabia reinstated financial allowances for civil servants and military personnel on Saturday after better-than-expected budget figures, ending unpopular cuts to a key perk triggered by low oil prices and cheering the stock market. King Salman issued a royal decree...

( The New Arab )- As a boy, Palestinian Abdullah Abu Massoud fled the war over the birth of Israel in 1948 and sought refuge in the nearby Gaza Strip. As an adult, Abu Massoud was displaced again when Israeli forces captured Gaza, along with the West Bank and east Jerusalem, in 1967. He...