Hezbollah fighters captured more territory in Syria’s Qalamoun mountains Monday, three weeks into an offensive to oust jihadis from the rugged border region, Al-Manar said. The report said Hezbollah fighters captured several highlands northeast of the outskirts of Nahleh along Lebanon’s eastern mountain range shortly before midday. The Hezbollah-run Al-Manar said the advancing fighters destroyed a military vehicle belonging to ...

Islamic State poured more fighters into Ramadi as security forces and Shi’ite paramilitaries prepared to try to retake the Iraqi city, while Washington scrambled to reassure Baghdad after a U.S. official’s sharp criticism of Iraqi forces. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke to Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi after Defense Secretary Ash Carter questioned Iraqi troops’ will to fight when ...

South Sudan troops and rebels are fighting heavy battles close to vital oil production zones in the northeastern battleground state of Upper Nile, the United Nations said Wednesday. Two mortar bombs hit the UN base in Melut, killing four civilians including a child, who were among more than 1,500 people sheltering there, the UN said. Eight others were wounded. Melut ...

The Saudi king’s absence from a regional summit to be hosted by President Barack Obama shows how Gulf states, displeased by what they see as U.S. indifference to Iranian meddling in the Arab world, may hesitate to bless any nuclear deal with Tehran. Analysts and diplomats in the Middle East described King Salman’s decision to skip the meeting at Camp ...

Iran said on Sunday that its first flight had landed in the Yemeni capital only a day after the two countries signed a landmark aviation deal. Iran’s news agency reported that a plane from Iranian airliner Mahan Air had taken a cargo of humanitarian aid – mostly medicine – for Yemen.  The cargo was contributed by the Red Crescent of ...

The BBC Newsnight team investigating the 1.5 million migrants employed in Qatar on building World Cup 2022 infrastructure were hustled out of the squalid workers’ accommodation outside Doha by angry security men in the time-honoured fashion in December. But not before they had made some disturbing connections between the dreadful conditions workers had to live in and one big British ...

Palestinian officials say the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority is planning to lodge its first case with the International Criminal Court (ICC) later this year against the Tel Aviv regime’s crimes. “One of the first important steps will be filing a complaint against Israel at the ICC on April 1 over the (2014) Gaza war and settlement activity,” Mohammed Shtayyeh, a member ...

Oman plans to make its first sovereign issue of Islamic bonds, a 200 million rial ($520 million) issue, by mid-2015 to help finance a budget deficit caused by the plunge of oil prices, the head of its central bank said on Sunday. “The issue will be through the central bank for the local market,” central bank executive president Hamood Sangour ...

Fans have been banned from attending Lebanese Basketball League games, the country’s sports minister said Monday after a series of brawls erupted Sunday between rival teams and their supporters. But the final decision over the matter is expected to be issued later Monday after the league is set to meet. “I have decided, after consultations with Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Interior ...

ISIS has released 19 of its Assyrian hostages, according to the human rights group A Demand for Action. The 17 men and two women are from Tal Goran, Syria; it is unclear why they were released on Sunday. Last week, ISIS took hundreds of Assyrian villagers hostage in the Tell Tamer region of Syria. Although the exact number of captives is unknown, ...