Hamas has warned that Israeli annexation in the occupied West Bank would be a "declaration of war", but the Islamist group must weigh the cost of a new fight, analysts said. In recent weeks, there have been almost daily protests in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip against US President Donald...

China reinforced its troops near the Indian border with mountain climbers and martial arts fighters shortly before a deadly clash this month, state media reported. Tensions are common between the two nuclear-armed neighbours in the mountainous border terrain, but this month's fighting was...

A group of Rohingya say they were beaten by traffickers and drank their own urine to stay alive on a perilous four-month journey at sea until their dramatic rescue near the Indonesian coast. The bedraggled survivors -- about 100 in all, mostly women and children -- described a high-seas...

Vacant religious sites. Abandoned pilgrim tents. Lifeless hotels. A stunning emptiness -- and fears of economic ruin -- haunt the usually bustling city of Mecca after Saudi authorities curtailed the hajj pilgrimage over coronavirus. Islam's holiest city usually hosts millions of pilgrims...

  Six pro-Iranian fighters were killed late Saturday during alleged Israeli air strikes targeting positions belonging to regime forces and Tehran-backed militias in eastern Deir Ezzor province, a war monitor said. Four Syrian nationals were among those killed in the raids on the...

U.K. counter-terrorism police have charged a 25-year-old man with three counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder for a stabbing attack in an English park that killed three men a week ago. British prosecutors authorized the charges filed Saturday against Khairi Saadallah, of...

Pep Guardiola on Saturday confirmed that his Manchester City side will give new Premier League champions Liverpool a guard of honour when they meet next week. Liverpool's first English league title in 30 years was secured two days ago as second-placed City lost 2-1 at Chelsea....

DR Congo's justice minister was briefly arrested on Saturday, the latest twist in a crisis over proposed judicial reforms that have triggered violent street protests. He was released after being questioned by the police for several hours.  The action against Celestin Tunda Ya...

The EU cannot agree on a list of "safe countries" from where travellers could visit Europe in July, with some member states requiring more time to decide, diplomats said Saturday. After days of talks, EU envoys on Friday agreed to propose a list of 14 countries to their national...

Years of violence in Syria's last major opposition bastion has created a landscape of ruin, eerily lit in the early hours of Saturday by the Milky Way in the night sky. Over the bombed-out town of Ariha in Idlib province, the stars looked like specks of dust shining over the town's...

Mounting concerns that the implementation of the U.S. Caesar  sanctions will negatively affect civilians are somewhat justified.  Loyalists and opposition alike have attacked Caesar sanctions for contributing to the deepening impoverishment of some of the Syrian people and...

The Taliban rejected Saturday a newspaper report claiming their fighters had received rewards from Moscow's spies to kill US troops in Afghanistan. The New York Times reported Friday that bounties offered by a notorious arm of Russia's military intelligence service gave incentives to...

Tunisia reopened its land, sea and air borders for the first time in more than three months on Saturday after it announced it had brought the coronavirus outbreak under control. Some operations restarted at Tunis-Carthage airport, with flights to Rome, Geneva and Paris scheduled to depart....

Hong Kong police banned Saturday a major demonstration against China's planned national security law for the city that critics fear would smother the financial hub's treasured freedoms, organizers said. The Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) said the force had rejected its applications for...

Iran launched a campaign Saturday to motivate a reluctant public to use face masks as the country faces a sharp increase in infections and deaths from the coronavirus. Iran was one of the worst hit countries early in the pandemic, and since restrictions to stem its spread were gradually...

Egypt lifted many restrictions Saturday put in place against the coronavirus pandemic, reopening cafes, clubs, gyms and theaters after more than three months of closure, despite a continued upward trend in new infections. Authorities also allowed the reopening of mosques and churches,...

Iran's supreme leader warned Saturday that the country's economic problems would worsen if the novel coronavirus spreads unchecked, saying the initial momentum to contain it had since "waned". The Islamic republic has struggled to curb the COVID-19 outbreak since it reported its first...

A woman who gave birth at sea was among 93 migrants rescued off Libyan shores as they tried to reach Europe, but six others died along the way, the UN's migration agency said Saturday. The survivors were brought back overnight to the port city of Khoms, 120 kilometres west of the...

Russian and other foreign mercenaries have entered Libya’s largest oil field, the country's National Oil Corporation said Friday, describing the development as an attempt to thwart the resumption of halted oil production in the war-torn country. In divided Libya, Russia is a leading...

Israel’s latest hit TV series takes the viewers straight into the heart of the country’s archenemy Iran. “Tehran” tells the story of Tamar Rabinyan, a young Mossad operative tasked with hacking into and disabling an Iranian nuclear reactor so the Israeli military can carry out an...