Middle East
Latest stories
Hundreds protest new proposed election law in Baghdad

Hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets in Baghdad to denounce a draft elections law that would increase the size of the country's electoral districts, potentially undermining independent candidates.

The current legislation, under which the 2021 election was held, breaks up each of the country's 18 provinces into several electoral districts. The law, which was a key demand of mass anti-government protests that kicked off in late 2019, was seen as giving independent candidates a better chance at winning.

W140 Full Story
Islamic State land mines in central Syria kill 10 workers

Land mines left behind by the Islamic State group in central Syria went off in two different locations on Monday, killing 10 workers as they were collecting truffles in the countryside and wounding 12, state media reported.

According to Syria's state news agency SANA, the two mines exploded east of the central town of Salamiyeh. All the casualties were taken to a hospital in the town, the report added. It wasn't immediately clear what had triggered the explosions.

W140 Full Story
UN seeks $4.3 billion to cover Yemen 2023 humanitarian needs

The United Nations is seeking $4.3 billion at a pledging conference Monday to alleviate the suffering of millions of people in Yemen, where an eight-year civil war has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

More than 21 million people in Yemen, or two-thirds of the country's population, need help and protection, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, which says the humanitarian needs in Yemen are "shocking." Among those in need, more than 17 million are considered particularly vulnerable.

W140 Full Story
Turkish drone kills 3 PKK-affiliated fighters in Iraq

A Turkish drone attack Monday in northern Iraq killed at least three fighters from the minority Yazidi community affiliated with the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Iraqi Kurdish officials said.

"A drone from the Turkish army targeted a vehicle" in the region, killing an officer and two combatants from the Yazidi Sinjar Resistance Units, a statement from the Kurdistan region's anti-terrorist squad said.

W140 Full Story
Iraqi president says country now peaceful, life is returning

Nearly 20 years after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein by U.S.-led forces, Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid wants the world to know his country now is at peace, democratic and intent on rebuilding economic life while maintaining a government that serves the whole country and the region.

Rashid told The Associated Press on Sunday that after overcoming the hardships of the past two decades, Iraq is ready to focus on improving everyday life for its people. Those hardships included years of resistance to foreign troops, violence between Sunnis and Shiites, and attacks by Islamic State group extremists who once controlled large areas, including Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul.

W140 Full Story
Israel beefs up troops after unprecedented settler rampage

Israel sent hundreds more troops to the occupied West Bank on Monday, a day after a Palestinian gunman killed two Israelis and settlers rampaged through a Palestinian town, torching homes and vehicles in the worst such violence in decades.

The responses to the rampage laid bare some rifts in Israel's new right-wing government, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealing for calm while a member of his ruling coalition praised the rampage as deterrence against Palestinian attacks.

W140 Full Story
Egypt top diplomat visits Syria for first time in decade

Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry arrived Monday in Damascus, the latest example of Arab outreach to Syria's internationally isolated government since it and Turkey were hit by a devastating earthquake.

Shoukry's trip shows "solidarity with Syria in the face of the consequences of the earthquake", said the official news agency SANA, adding he was welcomed at Damascus airport by his counterpart Faisal Mekdad.

W140 Full Story
Jordan to host Israeli-Palestinian talks as violence spirals

Jordan is to host a "political-security" meeting between Israel and the Palestinians on Sunday to try to restore calm in the occupied territories after deadly violence, a government official said.

W140 Full Story
4 Yemeni troops killed in 'surprise attack' by Huthis

At least four Yemeni soldiers have been killed in clashes with Iran-backed Huthi rebels in the war-torn country's north, an army official said Sunday.

W140 Full Story
Report: Istanbul bomb suspect killed in operation in Syria

Turkish forces have killed the alleged mastermind behind a deadly Istanbul street bombing in an operation in northern Syria, Turkey's state-run news agency reported on Friday.

The man, identified as Halil Menci, was "neutralized" on Wednesday in an operation by the Turkish intelligence agency near the northern town of Qamishli, the Anadolu Agency reported.

W140 Full Story