Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes the southwest Syria ceasefire agreed by Russia and the US since it would enable Iran to solidify its presence there, an official said Monday. The July 9 accord creating a de-escalation zone in the Daraa, Quneitra and Sweida regions includes areas that have seen Israel retaliate over stray fire … Read more
More than 330,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict since it started six years ago, around a third of them civilians, a monitor said on Sunday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it has documented the deaths of 331,765 people across Syria since the conflict erupted in mid-March 2011 with anti-government … Read more
Israel’s main opposition Labour party voted in former businessman Avi Gabbay as its new leader Monday, said the party as it seeks to regain waning influence and win back supporters. Gabbay, who only joined the party in December, took 52 percent of the votes in the runoff against longtime politician and former party leader Amir … Read more
Israel’s main opposition Labour party voted for a new leader Monday as it seeks to regain waning influence and win back supporters who have drifted toward centrist and right-wing candidates. The runoff election sees two candidates with sharply different political backgrounds: Amir Peretz, a longtime politician and former party leader; and Avi Gabbay, an ex-businessman … Read more
Saudi Arabia and three other Arab states have extended the deadline for Qatar to accept a list of demands or face further sanctions by 48 hours. The initial deadline for Qatar to agree to the group’s 13 demands, including the shutting down of the Al Jazeera news network, expired on Sunday. The Gulf state, which … Read more
A deadline was approaching Sunday for Qatar to accept 13 demands by several Arab states in return for lifting a de facto blockade. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain, cut ties with Qatar on June 5 and issued their demands on June 22. The deadline has not been officially confirmed. Here are … Read more
Ehud Olmert was once described as “probably the best” politician Israel ever produced, but the debonair ex-premier who was released from prison on Sunday has seen a humiliating fall from grace. Olmert, 71, became Israel’s first ex-prime minister to serve jail time when he walked into the Maasiyahu prison in the central city of Ramle … Read more
An Israeli warplane struck a Syrian army post on Friday, the Israeli military said, hours after stray fire from Syria’s civil war hit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. “In response to the projectile launched earlier today at Israel from Syria, an Israel Air Force aircraft targeted the Syrian army position that fired the mortar,” the English-language … Read more
Seven Lebanese soldiers were wounded on Friday as five militants blew themselves up and a sixth threw a grenade during raids on two refugee camps near the border with Syria, the army said. The civil war, which has raged in Syria since March 2011, has triggered an exodus of more than 1.1 million refugees into … Read more
Israel hit a Syrian regime position on Wednesday night after stray mortar fire from the war-torn country struck the occupied Golan Heights, in the third such exchange within a week. A military spokeswoman said a mortar round had hit open ground in the Israeli-controlled zone of the plateau and “forces responded and targeted the Syrian … Read more
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Sunday for a “lowering of rhetoric” between Qatar and a four-nation group led by Saudi Arabia after Doha denounced their sweeping list of demands. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt want Qatar to meet their 13-point ultimatum — ostensibly aimed at fighting extremism and terrorism … Read more
Israeli forces fired on Syrian regime positions after projectiles from the war-torn country hit the occupied Golan Heights on Sunday, the army said, in the second such exchange in two days. The military “targeted two artillery positions and an ammunitions truck belonging to the Syrian regime,” a statement read, noting the army had also ordered … Read more
An Israeli aircraft carried out a strike on Syria after 10 projectiles fired from the war-torn country hit the occupied Golan Heights on Saturday, an army spokesman said. The Israeli Air Force also targeted two tanks of the “Syrian regime” in the northern part of the Golan, the spokesman said, adding the projectiles did not … Read more
The head of Lebanese movement Hezbollah on Friday warned Israel against attacking Lebanon or Syria, saying “hundreds of thousands” of Arab and Muslim fighters would be ready to strike back. “The Israeli enemy should know that if it launches an attack on Syria or Lebanon, it’s unknown whether the fighting will stay just between Lebanon … Read more
The United Nations on Friday rejected Israeli claims that Lebanese Hezbollah militants were establishing observation posts along the border under the cover of an environmental NGO. The Israeli military on Thursday published pictures of a building near the Israeli-Lebanese border supposedly controlled by an organisation called Green Without Borders. The UN peacekeeping mission UNIFIL reported … Read more
Qatar-based broadcaster Al-Jazeera said Friday any move to shut it down was an attack on media freedom, following demands by Gulf neighbours for the channel to be taken off air. The closure of the broadcaster is said to be one of 13 wide-ranging demands placed on Doha by Saudi Arabia and its allies as the … Read more
The United Arab Emirates on Friday warned of “divorce” with Qatar unless it takes seriously a list of demands including the closure of Al-Jazeera television, as a diplomatic crisis drags on. Anwar Gargash, the UAE’s state minister for foreign affairs, issued the warning more than two weeks into the oil-rich region’s worst crisis in years. … Read more
Four Arab states have sent Qatar a list of 13 demands it must meet if it wants them to lift their sanctions. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are asking the Gulf state to shut down its broadcaster, Al Jazeera. They are also asking Qatar to reduce ties with Iran and close … Read more
Israel on Thursday accused its Lebanese arch-foe Hezbollah of expanding observation posts along the border under the cover of an environmental NGO, in what it called a “dangerous provocation”. The Israeli military published pictures of a building near the frontier supposedly controlled by an organisation called Green Without Borders. “Hezbollah is thus conducting observation missions … Read more
The head of Israel’s air force said Wednesday that in any future conflict with Lebanon the Jewish state will have “unimaginable” military power at its disposal. Major General Amir Eshel told a security conference that Israel’s armed forces now have far more punch than they did in the 2006 war against Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah. … Read more