Middle East
Latest stories
Belgian mother and son die in Jordan floods

Jordanian rescue teams have recovered the bodies of a Belgian tourist and her young son who went missing during flooding in the south of the kingdom, authorities said Monday.

The rescuers found "the bodies of a woman and her son, both Belgian nationals, who had been missing after flooding in the Shubak region", about 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Amman, the General Security Directorate said in a statement.

W140 Full Story
Houthis say US bombed Yemen after strike on Israel's main airport

Yemen's Houthis on Monday accused the United States of carrying out strikes in and around Sanaa, after the Iran-backed rebels claimed a missile strike on Israel's main airport.

The Houthi-run Saba news agency said the strikes included two on Arbaeen Street in the capital and the airport road, blaming them on "American aggression".

W140 Full Story
Hamas says Israel using Gaza aid delivery as 'blackmail'

Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas said Monday a new Israeli framework for aid delivery in Gaza amounted to "political blackmail" and blamed Israel for the war-ravaged territory's "humanitarian catastrophe".

W140 Full Story
Iran denies aiding Yemen Houthis in Israel airport attack

Iran on Monday denied supporting Yemen's Houthi attack on Israel's main international airport after the rebels claimed a missile strike the day.

W140 Full Story
Israel cabinet approves plan including Gaza 'conquest'

Israel's security cabinet approved the expansion of military operations in Gaza including the "conquest" of the Palestinian territory, an official said Monday, after the army called up tens of thousands of reservists for the offensive.

W140 Full Story
Yemeni missile hits near Tel Aviv airport

Israeli police reported an "impact" near Israel's main international airport, after the army said it had attempted to intercept a missile launched from Yemen on Sunday.

Yair Hezroni, the police's central district chief, said at the scene in a video released by the force that "you can see the area just behind us: a crater was formed here, several dozen meters wide and several dozen meters deep."

W140 Full Story
Israel calls up tens of thousands of reservists for Gaza offensive

Israel was issuing orders to call up tens of thousands of reservists ahead of an expanded offensive in Gaza, Israeli media reported Saturday, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked truce mediator Qatar.

Several news outlets reported the military had begun sending the orders for reservists to replace conscripts and active-duty soldiers in Israel and the occupied West Bank so they can be redeployed to Gaza.

W140 Full Story
Qatar rejects Netanyahu's 'inflammatory' Gaza comments

Gaza mediator Qatar on Sunday rejected comments from Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it needed to "stop playing both sides" in truce negotiations.

W140 Full Story
US gives initial approval for $3.5 billion missile sale to Saudi Arabia before Trump's planned visit

The United States has given initial approval to sell $3.5 billion worth of air-to-air missiles for Saudi Arabia's fighter jets, the latest proposed arms deal for the region ahead of President Donald Trump 's planned trip to the region later this month.

The sale, announced early Saturday, likely will be one of several heralded by Trump on his visit to the kingdom. Saudi Arabia has already said it wants to invest $600 billion in the United States over the next four years, likely as a way to woo Trump to again pick the kingdom for his first formal trip as president. Trump traveled to Italy briefly for Pope Francis' funeral.

W140 Full Story
Over 20 Israeli airstrikes target Syria amid Sunni-Druze tensions

Israel launched more than 20 air strikes inside Syria late Friday, a war monitor said, following up an attack near the presidential palace in Damascus which was condemned as a "dangerous escalation" by the country's Islamist rulers.

The strikes came amid Israeli warnings to the Damascus government not to harm the Druze minority, following recent sectarian clashes.

W140 Full Story