Middle East

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad in the Kremlin on Wednesday evening.

Canberra imposed sanctions and travel bans on Israeli settlers it accuses of violent crimes against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli army has claimed to have retrieved the bodies of five Hamas-held Israeli hostages from Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian movement Hamas has termed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ideas about a “future” for the Gaza Strip that excludes the group from the territory’s rule as mere “delusions".

The Israeli army has killed at least 589 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since October 7, the Palestinian Health Ministry announced Wednesday.

The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah has broadcast a drone video that it claimed showed air defence facilities, planes and fuel storage units at Israel’s Ramat David airbase.

A new report based on open source evidence backs up figures released by the Palestinian health ministry on the number of people killed in the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip since 7 October, despite claims by the US and Israel that the death toll cannot be trusted.

The Palestinian Government Media Office in Gaza reported that Israel has killed at least 16,000 children in the besieged enclave since October last year when the war broke out.

The United Nations envoy for Yemen has warned that recent developments in the Red Sea, Israel and inside the country “show the real danger of a devastating region-wide escalation”.

A group of major labor unions has sent a letter to US President Joe Biden, urging him to stop military aid to Israel as its genocidal war continues in the Gaza Strip.

Spokesman for the US State Department Matthew Miller has responded to a Beijing-brokered “national unity” agreement signed between Hamas, Fatah and other Palestinian groups, ruling out any role for the Palestinian group Hamas in running the enclave after the war ends.

The Palestinian Authority’s budget deficit is projected to surge by 172 percent in 2024 compared to 2023, according to a statement from the PA cabinet.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold separate meetings with US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump this week.

Washington is set to weigh in on the International Criminal Court’s intention to seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu along with Hamas and other Israeli officials over the war in the besieged Gaza Strip, according to the court documents.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned of the spread of polio across the besieged Gaza Strip and possibly beyond the region as a result of collapsing sanitation in the Palestinian enclave.

The US, Israel and the UAE have met in Abu Dhabi to discuss post-war plans for the Gaza Strip, a day after a senior Emirati diplomat signaled that the Arab country was prepared to send peacekeeping forces to the besieged enclave.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has slammed an Israeli bill to designate the United Nations refugee agency (UNRWA) as a “terrorist organization".

The Iraqi government has issued a directive for state institutions to refer to the Kurdistan Workers' Party as a "banned organization" in official correspondence.

Kurdish-led authorities in Syria’s northeastern   province of Hasakah have released 180 prisoners held on terrorism charges including links to Daesh terror group.

Tokyo has imposed asset-freeze sanctions on four individual Israeli settlers for violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, the government's top spokesperson announced on Tuesday.

14 Palestinian groups, including Hamas and Fatah, have agreed in the Chinese capital of Beijing to achieve "a comprehensive national unity" under the umbrella of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

The United Arab Emirates has imprisoned dozens of Bangladeshis, three of them given life sentences, for protesting against the government of their home country.

Democratic politicians and commentators in the United States have heaped praise on President Joe Biden since he dropped out of the 2024 presidential race on Sunday. But critics say the American leader will be remembered for his support for Israeli crimes against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military has confirmed that two more captives held in the Gaza Strip died months ago, adding that the possibility that they were killed by Israeli fire in southern Khan Younis is being investigated.

The Israeli army killed several more Palestinians in attacks in the Gaza Strip, taking the overall death toll to 39,006 since last Oct. 7, the Health Ministry in the enclave reported on Monday.