At least 11 American troops were injured in an Iranian attack on an Iraqi base where American soldiers were deployed, US Central Command says, although the US military had previously maintained there were no casualties.

Around 350,000 Syrians, mostly women and children, have been displaced by a renewed Russian-backed offensive in the opposition-held Idlib province since early December, and have sought shelter in border areas near Turkey, the United Nations said yesterday.

Pakistan’s foreign minister yesterday said the Taliban has shown “a willingness” to reduce violence in war-torn Afghanistan after more than 18 years fighting the US, sparking speculation that a potential breakthrough in talks with the Americans may be near.

Iran yesterday accused European governments of sacrificing a troubled 2015 nuclear deal to avoid trade reprisals from US President Donald Trump who has spent nearly two years trying to scupper it.

A missile strike on a Syrian airbase that Damascus blamed on Israel killed at least three Iran-backed militiamen, a monitor said yesterday.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani yesterday dismissed a proposal for a new “Trump deal” aimed at resolving a nuclear row, saying it was a “strange” offer and criticising US President Donald Trump for always breaking promises.

New video footage emerges showing two Iranian missiles tearing through the night sky and hitting a Ukrainian passenger plane, sending the aircraft down in flames and killing all 176 passengers and crew on board.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday he would “teach a lesson” to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar if he resumed fighting after abandoning ceasefire talks in Moscow.

Waves of ballistic missiles, soldiers hunkered down in bunkers for hours, intense shock waves -- a top US commander said he reacted to Iran’s unprecedented attack against an Iraqi base with “disbelief”.

Iran said yesterday it had arrested people accused of a role in shooting down a Ukrainian airliner and had also detained 30 people involved in protests that have swept the nation since the military belatedly admitted its error.

Iran "deeply regrets" the accidental shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner earlier this week, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says in a tweet.

A US airstrike killed a Taliban splinter-group commander and several other fighters in the western Afghan province of Herat, Afghan and military sources said Thursday.

Iraq’s caretaker premier Adel Abdel Mahdi has asked the United States to send a delegation to Baghdad to begin preparing for a troop pullout, his office said yesterday.

An air strike in eastern Syria killed eight fighters of Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force overnight, a war monitor says.

Iran's civil aviation chief denies that a missile downed a Ukrainian airliner which crashed killing all 176 on board, dismissing claims of a catastrophic mistake by Tehran's air defences.

It is “highly likely” that Iran shot down the civilian Ukrainian jetliner that crashed near Tehran, killing all 176 people on board, US, Canadian and British officials declare.

China and WHO believe a mysterious pneumonia outbreak that struck 59 people is caused by a new strain of virus from the same family as SARS, which killed hundreds of people more than a decade ago.

Iranian missiles damaged or destroyed seven buildings in the part of Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq that houses US military personnel, satellite photographs appear to show.

The Philippines will no longer require its citizens to leave Iran and Lebanon as worries of a broader conflict in the Middle East eased, but the mandatory evacuation order for workers in Iraq remains in force, officials said yesterday.

Lebanon banned former auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn from travelling yesterday after questioning him over an Interpol “red notice” of charges of financial misconduct in Japan, judicial sources said.