Middle East
Potential new Hezbollah leader out of contact, Lebanese source says
The potential successor to slain Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has been out of contact since Friday, a Lebanese security source said on Saturday, after an Israeli airstrike reported to have targeted him
Carnage in Gaza / Mothers struggle to care for newborns
Gazan mother Rana Salah cradles her one-month-old daughter Milana in her arms in a sweltering tent for the displaced, and speaks of the guilt she feels for bringing her child into a world of war and suffering.
Israel readying response to Iran’s attack
Israel was preparing a military response to Iran’s missile attack this week that heightened fears of a wider regional war, an Israeli official said yesterday, as fighting raged in Lebanon and Gaza.
Lebanon conflict pushes Gaza truce out of focus
Palestinians fear the crisis in Lebanon is diverting the world’s attention from Gaza, where Israeli strikes killed dozens more people this week, and diminishing already dim prospects for a ceasefire a year into an offensive that has shattered the enclave.
Lebanon invasion / How might Israel strike back against Iran?
Israel has sworn it will retaliate for Iran’s missile barrage on Tuesday, which involved more than 180 ballistic missiles and was largely thwarted by Israel’s air defense systems. Below are some ways Israel, backed by the United States, could strike back.
Iran’s allies will keep fighting Israel
Iran’s supreme leader yesterday vowed in a rare address that his allies around the region would keep fighting Israel, as he defended his country’s missile strike on its arch-foe.
US President Biden does not believe there will be 'all-out-war' in Middle East
U.S. President Joe Biden said he did not believe there is going to be an "all-out war" in the Middle East, as Israel weighs options for retaliation after Tehran's largest ever assault on its arch-enemy.
Israel strikes Beirut, south Lebanon
Israel’s military urged residents of more than 20 towns in south Lebanon to evacuate their homes immediately yesterday as it pressed on with incursions after suffering its worst losses in a year of fighting the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.
Air strikes, artillery fire escalate
Air strikes and artillery fire intensified sharply across Sudan’s capital early yesterday, residents said, as the army sought to defend key bases from paramilitary rivals it has been fighting for more than a month.
Turkey faces election runoff
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday emerged from his toughest election test unbowed and in a strong position to extend two decades of his Islamic-rooted rule by another five years in a historic May 28 runoff.
Turkey Votes: Rivals claim early lead
Turkey appeared headed for a runoff presidential election, with the parties of both Tayyip Erdogan and opposition rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu claiming the lead but sources in both camps admit they may not clear the 50 percent threshold to win outright.
Gaza truce holds
Calm returned to Gaza yesterday as a fragile ceasefire ending five days of fighting held, leaving Palestinians and Israelis to count the cost of cross-border fire which has killed dozens.
Turkey votes today as Erdogan fights for his political life
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday led prayers at Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia mosque before entering the election battle of his political life against a powerful secular rival.
Israel rules out immediate truce
Israel yesterday ruled out an immediate truce in Gaza, saying the onus was on Palestinian militants to stop launching rockets from an arsenal it suggested could be depleted within days, while its aircraft kept up strikes in the enclave.
Fighting flares in Gaza again
Israel and Gaza militants traded heavy fire yesterday as hopes faded of securing a truce to end days of fighting that have killed dozens, all but one of them Palestinian.
Palestine rockets cause first Israel death as Gaza casualties rise to 30
Israel killed the head of Islamic Jihad's rocket force and his deputy, pressing an operation that has cost 30 lives in Gaza including women and children, while Palestinian cross-border rocket salvoes have inflicted the first fatality in Israel.
Death toll rises to 26 as offensive enters 3rd day
Israel and Gaza militants traded more heavy fire yesterday, the third day of the worst escalation of violence in months that has killed 26 people in the blockaded Palestinian enclave.
Syria’s Assad receives Saudi invitation
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad received an invitation to next week’s Arab summit in Saudi Arabia, the presidency said yesterday, the first such invitation since the country’s war began. The pan-Arab body had suspended Damascus in November 2011