Israel's ex-military chief Benny Gantz was nominated Monday to try to form a government but further talks were expected with his bitter rival, premier Benjamin Netanyahu, on an emergency alliance to fight coronavirus. 

A Bahraini woman has died from the novel coronavirus, the health ministry announced on Monday, marking the first death from the disease among Gulf Co-operation Council states. 

Syria's brutal conflict entered its 10th year Sunday with President Bashar al-Assad's regime consolidating its hold over a war-wracked country where foreign powers are flexing their muscle.

When Syrian anti-government demonstrators first took to the streets on March 15, 2011, they could scarcely have imagined their protests would turn into a complex war entangling rebels, jihadists and outside forces.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial has been postponed until May 24 due to concerns about coronavirus, Jerusalem's District Court said Sunday. 

A fresh spate of rockets targeted an Iraqi base north of Baghdad on Saturday where foreign troops are deployed, Iraqi and US security sources told AFP, in a rare daytime attack.

Saudi Arabia said Saturday it would suspend international flights for two weeks in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Iran on Friday warned US President Donald Trump against taking "dangerous actions" after American forces launched air strikes on neighbouring Iraq.

At the heart of Syria's latest humanitarian crisis, locals call Idlib "the forgotten city", still paying the price for one day in the 1970s when the former president was pelted with tomatoes.

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper warned Thursday that "all options are on the table" after three U.S.-led coalition members, including two American soldiers, were killed in a rocket attack in Iraq.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday called for the "immediate" formation of a national unity government to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, and ordered schools closed.