Thousands of civil servants loyal to firebrand Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr went on strike on Sunday in the latest sign of escalation against the Iraqi government.  On Friday, the Shia cleric urged employees -- except for security forces -- to stage a two-day strike on Sunday to pressure...

Turkish warplanes hit 10 Kurdish militant targets in Turkey's southeast and east overnight, the state-run Anadolu Agency said Sunday, citing security sources. The airstrikes capped one of the most violent single days of fighting in the largely Kurdish southeast in recent years. The military...

The EU failed to show Turkey the support it needed during the July 15 defeated coup, a senior Turkish official said Saturday.  “Stronger support should have been given,” Turkish EU minister and Chief Negotiator Omer Celik said in Bratislava, Slovakia, during a news conference following...

Iraq’s firebrand Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has called on civil servants to go on strike in a new escalation against the Iraqi government. In a statement on Friday, al-Sadr urged employees -- except for security forces -- to stage a strike on Sunday and Monday to pressure Prime...

Turkish tanks crossed into northern Syria from Kilis province on Saturday and howitzers pounded Islamic State positions in the area, Dogan news agency said, marking Turkey's second incursion in an operation aimed at sweeping militants from its borders. The tanks crossed the frontier near the...

Iraq’s former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi believes that the Iraqi parliament is incapable of playing its regulatory and legislative roles. In an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency, Allawi said recent graft accusations against the parliament speaker and withdrawal of confidence from the...

Turkey's European Union Affairs Minister Omer Celik said on Saturday his meeting with the bloc's 28 foreign ministers had resulted in a "very strong consensus" that they should work more closely after ties soured over a failed coup in Ankara. Celik, speaking via translation, expressed...

Turkey and China signed three agreements covering nuclear security, energy and agricultural health certification Saturday during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit ahead of the G20 summit in the coastal Chinese city of Hangzhou. Erdogan and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping held...

Eight members of Turkey's security forces and 11 militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were killed in clashes overnight in southeast Turkey, security sources said Saturday. The fighting, in Van province near the border with Iran, followed a day of violence across the...

BAGHDAD (AA) – At least 24 Iraqi people were killed and dozens more injured in clashes with members of the Daesh terrorist group in Iraq’s northern Saladin province, local officials said. Saladin police chief Ghazwan al-Jubouri said the clashes took place early Friday morning and at least 24...

Lebanon indicted two Syrian intelligence officers on Friday in connection with twin bombings at mosques in Tripoli in 2013, state media said, the deadliest attack in the city since the end of Lebanon's civil war in 1990. The two blasts, at the Sunni Muslim Taqwa and al-Salam mosques in the...

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has described the first 100 days of Turkey’s 65th government -- which included an attempted coup and military operation in Syria -- as “eventful”. Speaking to reporters in Ankara, Yildirim outlined policy decisions made by his Justice and Development (AK) Party...

European Union foreign ministers toned down their sometimes harsh views on Turkey as they gathered in Slovakia on Friday, although concerns about a crackdown following a failed coup were still running high. Turkey has accused the EU of being slow and half-hearted in its condemnation of the...

The United States and its negotiating partners agreed "in secret" to allow Iran to evade some restrictions in last year's landmark nuclear agreement in order to meet the deadline for it to start getting relief from economic sanctions, according to a report reviewed by Reuters. The report is to...

Israel approved on Wednesday 284 new housing units in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, drawing a U.S. accusation that its policies could expand settlements in a "potentially unlimited way." U.S. officials said the criticism from the U.S. State Department marked the first time it...

The intelligence wing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard arrested an Iranian-American dual national in late July on charges of plotting against national security and working with hostile governments, the news site of the Iranian judiciary said. Mizan Online said on Wednesday the person was arrested...

Iran has arrested a member of the negotiating team that reached a landmark nuclear deal with world powers on suspicion of spying, a judiciary spokesman said on Sunday. The suspect was released on bail after a few days in jail but is still under investigation, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said at...

Two separate blasts in the Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast killed one Turkish soldier and wounded eight others, and Kurdish militants launched a rocket-propelled grenade at a civilian airport, officials and the state-run news agency said. One soldier was killed and three were wounded...

 The last time U.S. Vice President Joe Biden flew to Turkey, in January, he had a stern message for President Tayyip Erdogan: his model of Islamic democracy was setting a bad example by intimidating media and threatening academics. But his tone was markedly different when he arrived in...

 A U.S. Navy ship fired warning shots toward an Iranian fast-attack craft that approached two U.S. ships, a Pentagon spokesman said on Thursday, in the most serious of a number of incidents in the Gulf area this week. "They did feel compelled ultimately to fire three warning shots and the...