Middle East
Latest stories
Al-Sisi heads to Qatar on 1st visit as rift healed

Egypt's president traveled on Tuesday to Qatar on his first visit to the gas-rich nation amid warming ties after years of frayed relations following the Egyptian military's overthrow of an Islamist president backed by Doha.

The two-day trip comes amid a rapid rapprochement between Egypt and Qatar after the end in 2021 of a yearslong boycott of Doha by four Arab states, including Egypt. Qatar's state-run news agency said Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was to hold talks with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

W140 Full Story
Saudi Arabia arrests man over pilgrimage for Queen Elizabeth

Saudi police arrested a Yemeni man this week after he advertised on social media his pilgrimage to Mecca, where he paid tribute to the memory of Queen Elizabeth II.

The pilgrim, who was not identified by name, had posted footage earlier this week that showed him holding a banner honoring the late queen from inside the courtyard of Mecca's Grand Mosque.

W140 Full Story
Middle East heating nearly twice as fast as global average

The Middle East is heating at nearly twice the global average, threatening potentially devastating impacts on its people and economies, a new climate study shows.

W140 Full Story
Syria cholera outbreak at risk of spreading

The World Health Organization warned Tuesday of a "very high" risk of cholera spreading across Syria after the country recorded its first cases since 2009.

W140 Full Story
Israeli envoy to Morocco blasts 'smear campaign' after recall

Israel's ambassador to Morocco, who was recalled last week amid an investigation that media linked to alleged sexual misconduct, has dismissed the accusations against him as "a smear campaign."

W140 Full Story
Rights group: Egypt stifles environmental work ahead of COP

An international human rights group called Monday on the United Nations to ensure that countries hosting its climate conference commit to meeting human rights standards after it documented instances of repression against environmental groups in Egypt, the host of COP27 later this year.

Human Rights Watch said in a report based on interviews with more than a dozen academics, scientists and activists that government restrictions amount to a violation of basic human rights and throw into question the Egyptian government's ability to meet basic climate commitments.

W140 Full Story
In Berlin, Lapid says 'time to move past failed negotiations with Iran'

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid visited Germany Monday in his latest diplomatic effort to persuade Western powers to ditch the agreement with Israel’s arch nemesis Tehran.

Israel has long opposed a revival of the 2015 accord, which has been moribund since then U.S. president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2018 and reimposed biting sanctions on Tehran.

W140 Full Story
Syria reports 2 dozen cases, 3 deaths of cholera

Hospitals in the Syrian capital have been put on alert after more than two dozen cases of cholera and at least three deaths were reported in the war-torn country, health officials said Monday.

The main cause of the spread appears to be people drinking polluted water as well as watering plants in some areas with unclean water.

W140 Full Story
IS militants kill 6 US-backed fighters in eastern Syria

The Islamic State group killed six U.S.-backed Syrian fighters in eastern Syria saying on Monday that the killing was in retaliation for an ongoing operation inside a sprawling camp housing tens of thousands of family members of the extremist group.

The IS-linked Aamaq news agency released a video showing the shooting of the six members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces near the eastern village of Ruwaished where they were captured alive and later shot dead late Sunday.

W140 Full Story
Toxin-spewing generators keep lights on in Lebanon, Mideast

They literally run the country.

In parking lots, on flatbed trucks, hospital courtyards and rooftops, private generators are ubiquitous in parts of the Middle East, spewing hazardous fumes into homes and businesses 24 hours a day.

W140 Full Story