After years of political deadlock, Lebanon finally has a new government. Now it needs a new economy. Battered by war in neighboring Syria, neglected by wrangling politicians and caught in rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the pillars of the economy - remittances from overseas workers,...

Iraqi forces have "fully liberated" eastern Mosul from the Daesh terrorist group, Iraq’s army-affiliated counter-terrorism forces announced Wednesday. "Our forces have established total control over eastern Mosul," Lieutenant-General Talib Shaghati, a top commander of the army’s...

The attacks in Turkey came in rapid succession: twin bombs at a stadium, a Russian diplomat’s murder and then, just a few days later, a mass shooting at an Istanbul nightclub on New Year’s Eve. The assaults, carried out over a three-week period beginning in December, were a stark...

Iran and Saudi Arabia should be able to work together to help end conflicts in Syria and Yemen, after successfully cooperating over Lebanon last year, Iran's foreign minister said. "I do not see any reason why Iran and Saudi Arabia should have hostile policies towards each other. We can in...

Iraqi forces have fully retaken east Mosul from the Islamic State group, a top commander said on Wednesday, three months after a huge offensive against the jihadist bastion was launched. Elite forces have in recent days entered the last neighbourhoods on the eastern side of Mosul, on the...

A senior Turkish official says two-thirds of a border wall to prevent infiltration from Syria has been completed, and that authorities had prevented a few attempts to dig tunnels underneath the wall. Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak said Wednesday the entire project would be finished in...

Iran will build a mobile phone network and petrol terminal in Syria under deals signed in Tehran Tuesday during a visit by Prime Minister Imad Khamis, Iranian media reported. The five deals include a “license for a mobile phone operator, the transfer of 5,000 hectares for the creation of a...

 Turkish prosecutors are demanding up to 142 years in prison for pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-leader Selahattin Demirtas on charges of links to Kurdish militants, state media said on Tuesday. The charismatic Demirtas was detained in November along with another nine HDP...

 Iraqi special forces pushed into a pocket of ISIS-held territory in eastern Mosul Tuesday, the military said, seeking to recapture the remaining districts under the group's control east of the Tigris river. The militants have been driven out of most eastern districts in their Iraqi...

(BBC)- At least 10,000 people have been killed in the war in Yemen between Houthi rebels and the Saudi-led coalition supporting the government, the UN says. The organisation said the death toll "underscores the need to resolve the situation" that has lasted for more than 21 months. The...

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Monday he was positive about the way the incoming U.S. administration wanted to restore American influence in the world, contain Iran and fight Islamic State. "We are optimistic about the incoming administration and look forward to working with...

Bahrain's foreign ministry summoned Iraq's ambassador in Manama to protest against remarks by Iraqi officials denouncing the execution of men convicted of a 2014 bomb attack, state news agency BNA said Monday. The execution on Sunday of three men, whose attack killed three policemen, has...

An explosion in Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakir wounded three people on Monday, security sources said, although it was not immediately clear what caused the blast. The sources said the explosion happened near a university in the city, the biggest in the mainly Kurdish southeast....

A Palestinian lawmaker was among at least 13 activists arrested by Israeli forces on Monday in an operation targeting resistance movement Hamas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. In a statement, the Israeli army said the operation was aimed at breaking up a Hamas "cell" that had been...

Shelling from Yemen has killed a Saudi soldier on the kingdom's southern border, the interior ministry said Sunday. A Border Guards post in Najran region came under attack from "intensive shelling" at 5:00 pm (1400 GMT) Saturday, killing a corporal, the ministry said. Army troops...

Twenty years after Princess Diana's iconic visit to a minefield in Angola, the world faces a new landmine crisis in Syria and Iraq on a scale not seen for decades, campaigners said Sunday. The Mines Advisory Group said it had cleared and destroyed more than 9,000 newly laid landmines in both...

Civilians and soldiers wounded as Iraqi forces attempt to retake Mosul from Islamic State are receiving treatment in a high-tech field hospital about 20 km from the frontlines. Treating shrapnel, bullet and bomb wounds, the facility - complete with emergency rooms, intensive care units and a...

The Vatican stressed the sacred nature of Jerusalem on Saturday as the Palestinian leader warned that peace could suffer if the incoming Trump administration goes ahead with plans to move the U.S. embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The developments came as Palestinian President...

At least 26 Yemeni fighters died in fresh clashes and an airstrike as government forces advanced against Shiite Huthi rebels near a key shipping strait, medics and officials said Saturday. A week-long assault by government forces and their allies aims to expel the Iran-backed Huthis from...

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday that if U.S. president-elect Donald Trump goes through with plans to transfer Washington's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem it will hurt the peace process. "We are waiting to see if it happens. If it does it will not help peace and we hope...