Spotlight
The Syrian army activated its air defenses late Monday against "hostile targets" near the capital Damascus, the official news agency SANA reported.

Jihadists and allied rebels in northwestern Syria Monday killed at least 12 pro-regime fighters, thwarting their advance, a Britain-based war monitoring group said.
Another 17 pro-regime fighters were wounded while on the jihadist-led side six fighters died, said the Britain-based group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Israeli army said Monday it had killed four men laying explosives at a security fence along the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan Heights, adjacent to Syrian-controlled territory.

Israeli fighter jets carried out strikes on Hamas facilities in the Gaza Strip after a "rocket" was fired from the Hamas-controlled enclave towards the Jewish state, its military said Monday.

A court ordered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son on Sunday to refrain from harassing several individuals helping lead protests against his father, after he tweeted their personal addresses.

Social media has become a new and dangerous battleground for women's rights in Egypt after young TikTok influencers were jailed while a resurgent #MeToo movement decried male sexual violence.

Iraqi midwife Umm Mariam used to help bring three babies into the world per day. But with mothers-to-be avoiding pandemic-hit hospitals, she now delivers twice that number in her makeshift home clinic.

Thousands protested against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu across Israel on Saturday night, demanding he resign over corruption and a resurgence of coronavirus cases.

The United Arab Emirates' Barakah nuclear power plant, a first for the Arab world, successfully started up Saturday in a region grappling with conflicts.

A United Arab Emirates official on Saturday urged Turkey to stop interfering in Arab affairs, mockingly referring to the Ottoman empire which collapsed a century ago.
