The Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets towards Israeli forces on Friday, drawing retaliatory fire from Israel into south Lebanon, in a third day of cross-border salvoes amid wider regional tensions with Iran. 

Leaders of five Central Asian countries sounded the alarm over the spiral of war in neighbouring Afghanistan at a regional summit yesterday, as US-led forces withdraw from the country and the Taliban advances.

Iran’s new President Ebrahim Raisi yesterday said he will support “any diplomatic plans” to lift US sanctions but that foreign pressure will not make Tehran back down from its “rights”. 

Hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi will be sworn in as Iran's president on Thursday, with the Islamic Republic's clerical rulers face growing crises at home and abroad.

The Israeli air force said it carried out its first air strikes on neighbouring Lebanon in seven years Thursday following a second day of rocket fire across the border.

German police yesterday arrested a Syrian man for war crimes, accusing him of having fired a grenade into a crowd of civilians waiting for food and water from UN relief workers in Damascus in 2014.

The Taliban yesterday claimed responsibility for a huge bomb attack in Kabul targeting the defence minister, as the insurgents fought for control of a string of besieged cities across the country. 

Lebanon marked the first anniversary of the catastrophic Beirut port explosion on Wednesday, with residents expressing anger and sadness in a city where many are still in mourning and demanding justice.

The hijackers who seized a vessel off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman left the targeted ship on Wednesday, the British navy reported, without elaborating.

Residents were urged yesterday to evacuate a besieged Afghan city as the army prepared a major offensive against Taliban insurgents after three days of heavy fighting. 

Saudi Arabia has intensified a crackdown on dissidents and rights activists after a respite that coincided with the country’s G20 presidency last year, Amnesty International said yesterday.

The United States has promised to lead a “collective response” against Iran in retaliation for a deadly attack on an Israeli-linked tanker, as Tehran denied blame and warned against “adventurism.” 

Iranian-backed forces are believed to have seized an oil tanker in the Gulf off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, three maritime security sources said, after Britain's maritime trade agency reported a "potential hijack" in the area on Tuesday.

Iran yesterday vowed to respond to any “adventurism”, its foreign ministry said, after the US and Britain joined Israel in blaming it for a deadly tanker attack, claims Tehran denies.

Amnesty International yesterday accused the Lebanese authorities of relentlessly and shamelessly obstructing the investigation into last year’s deadly Beirut port blast.

Israel’s Supreme Court yesterday delayed a decision in the case of Palestinian families facing expulsion by Israeli settlers in annexed east Jerusalem, an issue that exploded into armed conflict in May.

Firefighters in Turkey battled yesterday to control wildfires still raging in the resort towns of Manavgat and Marmaris, and some tourists were

Iran yesterday rejected Israel’s “baseless accusations” of being behind a deadly tanker attack off Oman, vowing to defend its interests after its arch-foe pushed for UN action against Tehran. 

Israel is pressing for international action against Iran over a deadly attack on a ship managed by an Israeli billionaire, branding Tehran an “exporter of terrorism” after the likely drone strike. 

About 270 Palestinian protesters were injured, mostly by tear gas fire, in clashes with Israeli troops Friday in the West Bank, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.