Air strikes have killed more than two dozen civilians including 11 children in rebel-held northwestern Syria in the last two days in an escalation of a Russian-backed offensive, a war monitor and local activists said yesterday.

A female Hajj pilgrim is killed and 17 others are injured as a bus carrying Bangladeshi Hajj pilgrims is involved in a tragic road accident in Saudi Arabia.

Palestinian-American lawmaker Rashida Tlaib yesterday turned down Israel’s offer to let her visit her grandmother in the occupied West Bank, owing to restrictions she termed oppressive.

An Iranian tanker seized by Gibraltar last month is preparing to set sail after being released, a senior Iranian shipping official said yesterday.

A deal between the Taliban and the United States for US forces to withdraw from their longest-ever war in Afghanistan could drive some diehard Taliban fighters into the arms of the Islamic State militant group, Afghan officials and militants say.

Iran’s top diplomat said a US attempt at “piracy” had failed after a Gibraltar court yesterday ordered the release of a tanker carrying Iranian oil despite a US detention request.

A former Blackwater private security guard was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison after a retrial on murder charges for his role in the

Syrian regime forces captured a string of insurgent-held villages in northwest Syria yesterday, inching closer to a key jihadist-run town in the Idlib region, a war monitor said.

Israel would “show great weakness” if it allows a visit by two Muslim members of the US Congress who support a boycott of the Jewish state, US President Donald Trump said yesterday.

The United States applies to seize an Iranian tanker in Gibraltar, halting its expected release at the last minute and preventing a possible swap for British-flagged tanker held by Iran.

The United Nations yesterday said it was gravely concerned about reports indicating 11 civilians had been killed in an Afghan security force operation in an eastern province near the border with Pakistan. The government’s main security agency, the National Directorate of

Clashes between regime loyalists and insurgents in rebel-held northwest Syria killed 59 combatants on Tuesday, a war monitor said. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a jihadist group led by Syria’s former al-Qaeda affiliate, has since January controlled most of Idlib province

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has held talks with a senior Yemeni rebel official just days after the long-running

The Israeli army said its troops shot dead four heavily armed Palestinians on the Gaza border early yesterday, alleging one of them had managed to cross and throw a grenade at soldiers.

The Taliban warned Afghans to keep away from election rallies and ordered its fighters to “stand against” the planned September vote.

President Hassan Rouhani yesterday said that Iran favours talks with the US if it lifts sanctions against the Islamic republic, despite his

The Philippines yesterday stood firm on its ban on the world’s first dengue vaccine while declaring a nationwide epidemic from the

The US is acting alone against Tehran and its allies are too “ashamed” to join its forces in the Gulf, Iran’s top diplomat said yesterday,

Saudi air defences intercepted Yemeni rebel drones targeting civilian airports yesterday, a Riyadh-led military coalition said, as the

A new locally-developed app helps Palestinian drivers in the occupied West Bank negotiate traffic at Israeli military checkpoints and