Within the small community of minority Arabs where he lived in southwest Iran , Hashem Shaabani was known as a teacher, an advocate for civil rights and a poet. But to the Islamic Republic he was seen as a threat. Shaabani, 32, was arrested in February 2011 and accused of...

A surprise decision by the Palestinian leadership to sign more than a dozen international conventions giving it greater leverage against Israel left the United States struggling to put peace talks back on track. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry canceled a visit to the de...

Kim Kardashian has waded into Syria's conflict, calling on fans through Twitter to save the ancient Armenian Christian village of Kassab, whose residents fled as rebels seized control of the hamlet in late March. She appeared to have bolstered false claims by loyalists of Syrian...

U.S. President Barack Obama should have used military force in Syria, said Keith Ellison, the first U.S. Muslim Congressman, in an interview with Al Arabiya News Channel. “Obama should have used military force to destroy the airports and to degrade Assad’s ability to fly and to harm...

Vladimir Putin is the world leader who is most admired by the head of Britain's anti-European Union party because of the Russian president's "brilliant" handling of the Syria crisis, Nigel Farage said in an interview published on Monday. When asked which leader he had most esteem...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has selected a new ambassador to represent Tehran at the United Nations, Hamid Abutalebi, a veteran diplomat who has held key European postings in the past, Iranian sources said. Abutalebi, who has served as Iran's ambassador to  Italy ,...

The emir of Qatar, a key backer of Sudan's Islamist regime, is to visit cash-strapped Khartoum for talks on bolstering ties, days after the  UN and African Union raised an alarm  over the upsurge in violence in Darfur. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani's one-day trip on...

A suicide car bomber exploded his vehicle at an army checkpoint in eastern Lebanon near the border with Syria on Saturday, killing at least one soldier, a security official said. "A suicide bomber detonated his car in front of a Lebanese army checkpoint at Aqabet al-Jurd in the Arsal...

Turkey has started an espionage investigation after a recorded discussion between top officials on potential military action in Syria was leaked on YouTube, heralding a possible government crackdown on its political opponents after elections on Sunday. The  recording of the...

President  Barack Obama , making his first visit to Saudi Arabia since 2009, met King Abdullah on Friday for two hours of talks that aides said would focus on Middle East peace, Iran and ways to strengthen moderate Syrian rebels. The elderly king, accompanied by a number of...

A Lebanese army officer was shot dead in the country’s second city of Tripoli during fighting between rival sects on Thursday, a security source and state media said. Lebanon’s National News Agency said masked men on a motorcycle had opened fire on the officer, Fadi...

Israeli forces shot three Palestinian militants dead on Saturday in a raid on a home in the occupied West Bank to capture a wanted Hamas Islamist militant, Israeli military and Palestinian officials said. The Palestinian Authority denounced the violence that it said threatened...

U.S. lawmakers lashed out at the Obama administration's handling of Syria's civil war on Wednesday, demanding a stronger American response to the conflict and better communication from the White House about its plans. Senator Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign...

Prince Bandar bin Sultan is on his way back to Riyadh where he will resume his tasks as head of Saudi Intelligence, an informed source tells Al Arabiya News.  “This is without doubt bad news for Tehran, Damascus and Hezbollah, particularly that anti-Saudi media has been propagating...

 Suspected militants killed 20 members of Yemen's security forces in a dawn raid on a checkpoint on Monday, state news agency Saba said, in an attack officials said bore the hallmarks of the local branch of al Qaeda. Yemen is dogged by internal conflicts and chronic poverty...

Tens of thousands of Palestinians rallied in Gaza on Sunday to show support for their Islamist Hamas government, which has long been at loggerheads with  Israel  but is now shunned by  Egypt  as well. The military-backed government that toppled the Muslim...

Hours-long clashes overnight in a Beirut neighborhood between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad killed one person, prompting Lebanese troops to deploy in the area on Sunday to calm tensions. The gunmen — from rival Sunni groups — exchanged gunfire and...

Two Shi'ite Muslim Houthi tribal fighters and a soldier were killed in Yemen on Saturday in renewed clashes in the northern province of Amran, local officials told Reuters. Elsewhere disgruntled tribesmen bombed Yemen's main crude export pipeline, forcing oil flows to be stopped....

Israeli forces shot and killed four Palestinians on Saturday during a raid on a home in the occupied West Bank to capture a wanted Hamas Islamist militant, the Israeli military said. Hamas supporters carried three bodies through the streets of the West Bank city of Jenin, shouting...

Gun battles have erupted again in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, with gunmen firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. At least three people were killed in clashes overnight linked to the civil war in neighbouring Syria, Lebanese police sources said. Two gunmen...