Air strikes in eastern Syria killed 26 Iraqi fighters from an Iran-backed paramilitary force after a deadly attack on US-led coalition forces in Iraq, a monitoring group has said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Popular Mobilisation camps near the border town of Albu Kamal were hit. It was not clear who carried out […]

MONTREAL (AFP) – Iran pledged on Wednesday (March 12) at a meeting of UN civil aviation agency to hand over black boxes from downed Flight 752 to Ukraine or France for analysis – a move welcomed by Canada and Ukraine. Iran’s representative at the International Civil Aviation Organisation in Montreal, Farhad Parvaresh, said the devices […]

JERUSALEM (REUTERS) – Israel will require anyone arriving from overseas to self-quarantine for 14 days as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday (March 9). With 42 confirmed cases of the virus, Israel has already taken some tough counter-measures, forcing visitors from many countries in Asia and Europe […]

TEHERAN (AFP) – Iran on Monday (March 9) reported 43 new deaths from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall toll to 237 dead. “Our colleagues have confirmed 595 new cases across the country,” Kianoush Jahanpour, the health ministry’s spokesman, said in a televised conference. “This brings the overall number of confirmed […]

DUBAI (REUTERS) – Saudi Arabia imposed a temporary lockdown on Sunday (March 8) on the eastern oil-producing province of Qatif, home to all 11 people in the kingdom who have tested positive for the coronavirus, and suspended all schools and universities nationwide. The interior ministry announced the lockdown in Qatif, which has a large Shi’ite […]

Three senior members of Saudi Arabia’s royal family, including the king’s brother, have been arrested for unexplained reasons, US media report. Two of the men were among the kingdom’s most influential figures. The detentions have been linked to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In 2017 dozens of Saudi royal figures, ministers and businessmen were confined […]

CAIRO (AFP) – Egypt detected 12 new cases on Friday (March 6) of the novel coronavirus among workers aboard a Nile cruise boat heading from Aswan to Luxor, a Health Ministry statement said. “Twelve new cases tested positive for the coronavirus among Egyptian staff on the cruise boat without showing any symptoms,” the joint statement […]

TUNIS (REUTERS) – Two militants on a motorbike blew themselves up outside the US embassy in Tunisia on Friday (March 6), killing a policeman and injuring several others in the country’s most serious attack in months. The explosion took place near the embassy’s main gate, where a Reuters journalist saw a scorched, damaged motorbike and […]

DUBAI (REUTERS) – The United Arab Emirates is urging citizens and other residents to avoid travelling abroad because of concerns over the coronavirus outbreak, state news agency WAM said on Thursday (March 5). The authorities in the Gulf state may order medical checks on returning travellers and ask them to stay in isolation at home, […]

SULAIMANIYAH/WARSAW (AFP/REUTERS) – Iraq on Wednesday (March 4) confirmed the first death from the coronavirus in the country, as Poland recorded its first Covid-19 infection.  In Iraq, where a total of at least 31 cases have been reported, the man who died was a 70-year-old religious preacher had been quarantined in the north-eastern city of […]