Middle East

Hezbollah Declares Open-Ended Battle with Israel

Hezbollah has said it has entered an “open-ended battle of reckoning” with Israel after launching a series of rocket attacks on the north of the country as world powers implored…

Read More Here

Exploding pager operation ‘planned for at least 15 years’

The operation to manufacture the pagers that exploded in Lebanon earlier this week, targeting Hezbollah members, had reportedly been planned for at least 15 years. Planning the attack involved shell…

Read More Here

UPDATED:150 rockets fired from Lebanon into Israel

Israeli public broadcaster Kan said on Friday around 150 rockets were fired from Lebanon across the border. Israeli ambulance service said there were no immediate reports of casualties. Lebanon's Hezbollah…

Read More Here

Israel unleashes heavy strikes on Lebanon, Hezbollah leader defiant

Israeli warplanes carried out late on Thursday their most intense strikes on southern Lebanon in nearly a year of war, heightening the conflict between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah…

Read More Here

World reacts to UN vote calling on Israel to end Palestinian occupation

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) overwhelmingly adopted a resolution calling for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories within a year and the imposition of sanctions for…

Read More Here

Israeli strikes hit multiple targets in Lebanon

Israeli jets and artillery hit multiple targets in southern Lebanon overnight, Israel's military said on Thursday, amid spiralling tensions following the mass attack on Hezbollah communications devices this week. The…

Read More Here

Hezbollah devices explode again in Lebanon, raising fears of wider Israel conflict

Hand-held radios used by armed group Hezbollah detonated on Wednesday across Lebanon's south in the country's deadliest day since cross-border fighting erupted between the militants and Israel nearly a year…

Read More Here

Kremlin warns Lebanon pager attack is a possible trigger for wider M. East conflict

The Kremlin warned on Wednesday that an attack on Lebanese group Hezbollah and others using exploding pagers could become a trigger for a wider regional conflict and called for its…

Read More Here

Gold Apollo says Budapest-based BAC produces model of pagers used in Lebanon blasts

The model of pagers used in detonations in Lebanon were made by Budapest-based BAC Consulting, Taiwanese pager firm Gold Apollo said on Wednesday, adding it had only licensed out its…

Read More Here

Israel main suspect behind explosives in 5,000 Hezbollah’s pagers

Israel's Mossad spy agency planted explosives inside 5,000 pagers imported by Lebanese group Hezbollah months before Tuesday's detonations, a senior Lebanese security source and another source told Reuters. The operation…

Read More Here

Israeli minister says time running out for diplomatic solution with Hezbollah in Lebanon

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday that the window was closing for a diplomatic solution to the standoff with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement…

Read More Here

Netanyahu vows ‘heavy price’ for Houthis after missile hits central Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Yemen's Houthi rebels will pay a “heavy price” after a missile fired by the group landed in central Israel early Sunday. The Israeli…

Read More Here

New Israeli poll shows Netanyahu’s party advancing

An opinion poll on Friday showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party would form the largest single party in parliament if an election were held now, underlining a…

Read More Here

Israeli special forces ‘raid missile site in Syria’

Details are emerging of an apparent raid by Israeli special forces on a "Hezbollah missile production facility" in Syria. Israel's government has said nothing about the operation which, according to…

Read More Here

Hamas says ready to implement ceasefire without new conditions

The Palestinian Hamas group said that its negotiators reiterated its readiness to implement an "immediate" ceasefire with Israel in Gaza based on a previous U.S. proposal without new conditions from…

Read More Here

US nuclear-powered submarine is now in Middle East waters

The nuclear-powered submarine USS Georgia is now in the US Central Command area of operation, US defense officials said, adding to an array of military assets rushed to the region…

Read More Here

Israel shares video of cramped, bloody tunnel where hostages were held and killed

Blood on the ground of a dark, cramped tunnel sealed by an iron door, bullets and a chess set are seen in a video released by the Israeli military of…

Read More Here

Dozens killed, wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza tent camp

Israeli airstrikes on a tent camp for displaced Palestinians killed and wounded 65 people in southern Gaza, the enclave's civil emergency service said early on Tuesday, as the Israeli military…

Read More Here

UPDATED: Several killed in Israeli strikes on Syria

Multiple Israeli strikes on Syria's Hama countryside late on Sunday killed at several civilians, Syrian state media reported, with sources saying the attacks targeted a major military research center. Since…

Read More Here

UPDATED: Israeli forces withdraw from Jenin

Israeli forces pulled out of the Palestinian city of Jenin on Friday, leaving a mass of damaged buildings and infrastructure, following one of the biggest security operations in the occupied…

Read More Here

US negotiators racing to present new Gaza ceasefire proposal

The White House is scrambling to put forward a new proposal for a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages by Hamas in the coming days, two U.S. officials, two…

Read More Here

US charges Hamas leaders over Oct. 7 attack on Israel

The United States announced criminal charges against Hamas' top leaders over their roles in planning, supporting and perpetrating the deadly Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel. The charges against Yahya…

Read More Here

Biden says Netanyahu not doing enough to secure hostage deal

President Joe Biden said on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not doing enough to secure a deal for the release of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas…

Read More Here

Israel’s recovery of six hostage bodies in Gaza puts pressure on Netanyahu

Israel announced it had recovered the bodies of six hostages from a tunnel in Gaza, where they were apparently killed shortly before Israeli forces reached them. This has sparked protests…

Read More Here

Israeli forces launch strikes across Gaza, push tanks into central Khan Younis

Israeli forces sent tanks deeper into Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip and launched strikes across the enclave as they battled Hamas-led militants, killing at least 34 Palestinians on…

Read More Here

UPDATED: Israeli military rescues Gaza hostage

Israeli troops have rescued a hostage in the southern Gaza Strip, the military said on Tuesday. It said Qaid Farhan Alkadi was recovered in “a complex rescue operation” and said…

Read More Here

Israel and Hezbollah exchange messages calling for de-escalation

Israel and Hezbollah have reportedly exchanged messages via intermediaries aimed at preventing further escalation after both sides traded heavy fire on Sunday. The development comes hours after Israeli Prime Minister…

Read More Here

Israel launches strikes in Lebanon and Hezbollah fires hundreds of rockets

Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel early on Sunday, as Israel's military said it struck Lebanon with around 100 jets to thwart a bigger attack, in one…

Read More Here

Baby paralysed in first polio case in Gaza in 25 years

Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, is reporting that a 10-month-old baby in Gaza was paralysed by polio. The polio virus was…

Read More Here

Bullets found in bodies of Israeli hostages retrieved from Gaza

Bullets were found in the bodies of the six Israeli hostages retrieved from Gaza this week, the Israeli military and the Hostage Families Forum campaign group said. The military told…

Read More Here

Blinken wraps up Mideast trip with Gaza deal still elusive

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought during a whirlwind trip to the Middle East to inject urgency into efforts to broker a Gaza ceasefire deal, but departed the region…

Read More Here

UPDATED: Bodies of six hostages recovered in Gaza after overnight operation

Israel retrieved the bodies of six hostages from the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza overnight, according to statements from the military and the prime minister's office on Tuesday. The…

Read More Here

Blinken says Israel accepts Gaza proposal, urges Hamas to do same

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had accepted a "bridging proposal" presented by Washington to tackle disagreements blocking a ceasefire deal in Gaza, and…

Read More Here

Gaza ceasefire talks: The main sticking points

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel stepping up diplomatic pressure in a last-ditch attempt to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and a hostage release deal. The marathon…

Read More Here

UPDATED: Blinken warns Israel, Hamas of last chance to end Gaza war

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Monday that the latest push for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal was probably the best and possibly last opportunity, urging…

Read More Here

Earthquake of magnitude 4.8 strikes Jordan-Syria border

A magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck the Jordan-Syria border on Friday, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) said. The quake was at a depth of 10 km (6 miles), it…

Read More Here

Gaza ceasefire negotiations extend to another day as death toll exceeds 40,000

Negotiators were to meet in the Qatari capital Doha again on Friday in an effort to hammer out a Gaza ceasefire agreement as Israel continued to slam targets in the…

Read More Here

US prepared for possible significant attacks in Middle East by Iran

The U.S. has prepared for what could be significant attacks by Iran or its proxies in the Middle East as soon as this week, White House national security spokesperson John…

Read More Here

Hamas armed wing says one Israeli hostage killed, two women captives ‘seriously wounded’

One Israeli male hostage was killed by his guard and two women captives were seriously wounded in two separate incidents in Gaza, the spokesperson for Hamas' armed al-Qassam Brigades, Abu…

Read More Here

Earthquake of magnitude 4.8 strikes Jordan-Syria region

A 4.8 magnitude earthquake struck Jordan and Syria late on Monday, according to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), with residents across both countries and in Lebanon feeling its…

Read More Here

Hamas casts doubt on participation in ceasefire talks

The Palestinian militant group Hamas has requested that mediators present a plan based on previous discussions rather than initiating new negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire, raising doubts about its participation…

Read More Here

UK, Egypt issue alerts for Iran, Lebanon airspace as risks of military conflict rise

Britain and Egypt asked their airlines to avoid Iranian and Lebanese airspace amid growing fears of a possible broader conflict in the region after the killing of senior members of…

Read More Here

Hamas names Oct 7 mastermind Sinwar as new leader instead of Haniyeh

Hamas named its Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar as successor to former political chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran last week, the group said on Tuesday, in a move…

Read More Here

UN staff fired over possible links to 7 October attack

Nine staff members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNWRA) may have been involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, and have…

Read More Here

UPDATED: Lebanon’s Hezbollah says it launched drones at Israel, retaliation yet to come

Lebanon's armed group Hezbollah said it launched a swarm of attack drones against military targets in northern Israel on Tuesday. A source within the group told Reuters it was not…

Read More Here

Foreign nationals leave Lebanon as Iran prepares retaliation against Israel

Urgent calls grew for foreign nationals to leave Lebanon, which would be on the front line of a regional war, as Iran and its allies ready their response to high-profile…

Read More Here

Which Hamas leaders have been targeted in assassination attempts?

Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Iran, the Palestinian militant group said. The head of Hamas' military wing, Mohammed Deif, was killed in an…

Read More Here

US military prepares for all scenarios in the Middle East

US official tells international Arabic news television channel Al Arabiya English that there are at least 12 American warships in the region, including the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier and…

Read More Here

Hamas calls for day of ‘overwhelming anger’ over Haniyeh killing

Hamas has called on the Arab world to unleash a day of "overwhelming anger" in response to the death of its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh. A Hamas statement asked that…

Read More Here

Funeral for slain Hamas leader Haniyeh to be held in Qatar

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh will be buried in Qatar on Friday following his assassination in the Iranian capital Tehran, one in a series of killings of senior figures in the…

Read More Here

Israel warns citizens to exercise caution abroad, Lufthansa, Swiss cancel flights to and from Tel Aviv

Israel's national security council warned Israelis to exercise extra caution when travelling abroad and said Iran or its allies Hamas and Hezbollah could target Israeli or Jewish institutions outside the…

Read More Here

What to know about top Hezbollah commander targeted by Israel in Beirut

Fuad Shukr, a top Hezbollah commander whom Israel said it killed in an airstrike in Beirut on Tuesday, has been one of the group's leading military figures since it was…

Read More Here

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh killed in Tehran – what we know so far

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated early on Wednesday morning in Iran, the Palestinian militant group and Tehran said. This is what we know about the killing of Haniyeh, one…

Read More Here

Russia says the Middle East is teetering on the brink of war

Russia said on Wednesday that the Middle East was teetering the brink of a major war and that key players were continuing to raise the stakes. "The region is currently…

Read More Here

UPDATED: Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh killed in Iran

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran on Wednesday, the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards said in separate statements. The Islamist faction mourned the death…

Read More Here

Israel claims to kill Hezbollah senior commander in Beirut strike

Israel's military claimed it killed Hezbollah's most senior commander in an airstrike on Beirut on Tuesday, in retaliation for a cross-border rocket attack that killed 12 youngsters three days ago…

Read More Here

Polio cases ‘very likely’ in Gaza population, WHO says

It is very likely that polio has infected people in the Gaza Strip, in what would be a setback for global efforts to eradicate the disease, a World Health Organization…

Read More Here