Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday praised Iran’s support as a “key pillar” in his fight against rebels, as a third Iranian official visited Damascus in less than a week. The visits come after several military losses for the Syrian government and as Tehran negotiates a key nuclear deal with the United States, which backs the rebels fighting Assad. “The ...

The Islamic State jihadist group has made several high-profile advances in recent days, despite a US-led air campaign against the movement in Syria and Iraq. Here are answers to some key questions about the group’s progress and the international effort to stop them: A: On Sunday, Islamic State group fighters seized Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s largest province of Anbar, ...

An Egyptian civilian court on Tuesday resumed the trial of 213 alleged members of the Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis (ABM) militant group, in the absence of six of the defendants, executed two days earlier in a different case. During Tuesday’s session, the judge received a note from the prison authorities, officially informing the court of the execution. Tuesday’s case is related ...

Egyptian justice ministry strongly rejects foreign comments concerning the court verdict issued for ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and 105 others Egypt’s justice ministry strongly rejected comments made by foreign governments that criticised the court decision to sentence ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and 105 other defendants to death, a statement released by the ministry read on Tuesday. “The ministry ...

A bipartisan deal on a pared-back renewable energy target has been struck after the Abbott government ditched plans for two-yearly reviews. The government on Monday backed down on plans to impose the reviews that had threatened to derail an in-principle agreement to slash the 2020 target from 41,000 gigawatt hours to 33,000GWh. The government-funded Clean Energy Regulator will monitor progress ...

Egypt has executed six men convicted of carrying out an attack on a checkpoint in the Sinai that killed several soldiers, despite evidence at least three of the accused were already in detention at the time of the assault. Human rights groups called for a retrial for the six men after the death sentence was upheld on March 24, describing ...

The Lebanese Army pounded militant positions on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal Sunday, killing and wounding a number of them, security sources said. A security source said the Army shelled the militants’ positions in Al-Masyada and Dahr al-Jabar on Arsal’s outskirts with artillery and rockets, killing and wounding of a number of militants. The casualties were taken ...

ISIS fighters seized control of the Iraqi city of Ramadi Sunday, sending government forces racing out of the city in a major loss despite the support of U.S.-led airstrikes targeting the extremists. Online video showed Humvees, trucks and other equipment purportedly speeding out of Ramadi, with some soldiers gripping onto their sides. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered security forces not ...

Newspapers which once showered Sisi with praise have started complaining about man whose grand ambitions span the eradication of militant Islam, and the turning of Egypt into an economic powerhouse. CAIRO – Unprecedented media criticism of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi suggests he may no longer enjoy unquestioning support from the diverse groups that helped him to stage an army ...

An Iranian naval patrol boat fired on a Singapore-flagged commercial ship in the Persian Gulf on Thursday in an apparent attempt to disable it over a financial dispute over damage to an Iranian oil platform, a U.S. official said. The Iranians initially fired warning shots after the MT Alpine Eternity refused to move into Iranian waters. The incident took place ...