Middle East
Latest stories
War-torn Yemen battered by mental health crisis

Depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychosis: Yemen's seven years of brutal civil war have caused an explosion of mental illness overwhelming the basic health care services.

"We try to provide treatment, but we cannot treat everyone", said Adel Melhi, director of a psychiatric hospital in the rebel-blockaded city of Taez, one of the places hardest hit by the conflict.

W140 Full Story
Oil rift only latest 'crack' in time-worn US-Saudi bond

Saudi Arabia's push for oil production cuts has placed new strain on its stormy relationship with the United States, though analysts say any predictions of an all-out break are premature.

The move last week by OPEC+ -- composed of the Riyadh-led OPEC cartel and an additional group of 10 exporters headed by Russia -- would reduce global output by up to two million barrels per day from November.

W140 Full Story
UN chief urges Yemen's warring parties to extend truce

The U.N. special envoy for Yemen has blamed Houthi rebels for the failure to renew a six-month-long truce and called on the warring parties to demonstrate "leadership, compromise and flexibility."

Hans Grundberg urged them to quickly renew and expand the truce deal that brought the longest period of calm to Yemen since its devastating civil war began in 2014.

W140 Full Story
Israeli settlers rampage in Palestinian town in West Bank

A group of Jewish settlers has rampaged through a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank, attacking shops and residents with stones and iron bars, according to Palestinian reports and amateur video from the scene. Over 40 Palestinians were reported wounded.

It was the latest violence in the northern West Bank, where the Israeli military has been conducting nightly arrest raids against suspected Palestinian militants.

W140 Full Story
Palestinian doctor among two killed in Israeli West Bank raid

Two Palestinians including a doctor were killed Friday in an Israeli raid in the flashpoint city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Dr Abdullah al-Ahmad "succumbed to a bullet wound that pierced his head, fired by the occupation (Israeli) soldiers", the ministry said in a statement.

W140 Full Story
Fresh clues found in Syria on missing IS hostages

New details on the Islamic State group's former detention centers for foreign hostages in Syria and on grave sites offer clues on where victims may be buried, a rights group said Thursday. 

W140 Full Story
Saudis say US sought 1 month delay of OPEC+ production cuts

Saudi Arabia said Thursday that the U.S. had urged the kingdom to postpone a decision by OPEC and its allies — including Russia — to cut oil production by a month. Such a delay could have helped reduce the risk of a spike in gas prices ahead of the U.S. midterm elections next month.

A statement issued by the Saudi Foreign Ministry didn't specifically mention the Nov. 8 elections in which U.S. President Joe Biden is trying to maintain his narrow Democratic majority in Congress. However, it stated that the U.S. "suggested" the cuts be delayed by a month. In the end, OPEC announced the cuts at its Oct. 5 meeting in Vienna.

W140 Full Story
Unrest widespread in Jerusalem over latest Israeli clampdown

Israeli police fired live rounds, tear gas and stun grenades in widespread Jerusalem street confrontations with Palestinians who threw stones, firecrackers and firebombs. It was the fiercest unrest in the contested city in months.

Tensions in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem have been soaring since a suspected Palestinian assailant shot and killed an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint at the entrance to the Shuafat refugee camp earlier this week. Movement in and out of Shuafat, a neglected Jerusalem slum, has been restricted as troops search for the shooter.

W140 Full Story
Rockets fired as Iraq MPs bid to elect president, end deadlock

Rocket fire targeting Baghdad's Green Zone wounded 10 people Thursday, as Iraqi lawmakers gathered for their fourth attempt to elect a president and break political gridlock that has sparked protests and deadly violence.

The latest unrest follows warnings this week by the United Nations mission, which said that "the protracted crisis is breeding further instability" in the war-scarred country, and that the divisive politics are "generating bitter public disillusion".

W140 Full Story
Syria army bus bombing kills 18 troops near Damascus

A bomb attack on a Syrian army bus near Damascus Thursday killed at least 18 soldiers and wounded 27 others, state media said, in one of the deadliest such operations. 

W140 Full Story