The ruins of the Al-Quds hospital in Eastern Aleppo had that special smell you can find in places where disasters have happened. It was a mixture of charred, wet wood, of rot and rubble and concrete dust. The corridors were cold. It was January 2017 and outside winter was in charge of the wilderness of […]

A United States Navy veteran held in Iran since July while visiting an Iranian girlfriend has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges that he insulted the country’s top leader and posted a private photograph on social media, his family’s lawyer said Friday. The lawyer, Mark Zaid, said the family had been informed […]

US says there is no deal over city in Syria’s north, where Turkish army seeks to enter and US forces are present. The United States has denied Turkish claims that the two sides reached a deal over the city of Manbij in northern Syria, where US troops are present. Turkey seeks to expand its operation […]

World Food Programme warehouses full of cooking fuel and food supplies burned in rebel-held port. A “huge” fire has broken out in Yemen’s rebel-held Hudaida port, destroying large quantities of aid supply.  The blaze on Saturday engulfed warehouses full of cooking fuel and food supplies belonging to the United Nation’s World Food Programme (WFP), the Houthi-run Saba […]

‘Scorched earth’ policy by Syrian troops forces rebels to regroup as civilians run for their lives in Eastern Ghouta. Thousands of Syrians are fleeing a government-led offensive on the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta enclave near Damascus as President Bashar al-Assad vowed the fight would continue until the “embrace of terrorism” was eradicated. Syrian government forces have […]

Conditions in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta continue to deteriorate, but with the government’s lack of security guarantees and ongoing bombardment, many residents feel evacuation is not an option. Saturday marks the fifth day of a Russian-led partial ceasefire in Eastern Ghouta. It has once again failed to produce aid deliveries or evacuations of the critically ill. […]

Israeli forces also confiscate three fishing boats off Gaza coast. Israeli naval forces arrested 10 Palestinian fishermen off the coast of the Gaza Strip on Monday, according to a Palestinian spokesman. “The fishermen were detained while fishing south of the Gaza Strip,” Nizar Ayyash, head of Gaza’s Fishermen’s Union, told Anadolu news agency. He said […]

UN Human Rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein says the Syrian government’s offensive in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta cannot be justified. UN Human Rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein says the Syrian government’s offensive in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta cannot be justified. He says civilians are facing a catastrophe as government forces target a few hundred fighters. Monitors are […]

Iran will not ask for permission from Washington to be active in the Middle East, Ayatollah Khamenei says. Iran will not negotiate with the West over its presence in the Middle East, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, days after France’s visiting foreign minister raised Tehran’s role in regional conflicts. “European countries come [to Tehran] […]

Daughter of Turkish billionaire Huseyin Basaran among those killed when private jet crashes in central Iran. A Turkish private jet carrying 11 people crashed in Iran’s Zagros mountainous region killing all passengers on-board.  The plane, which was flying from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to Istanbul, Turkey, crashed in a mountainous area on Sunday […]