Category: 2. Middle East

Senior Lebanese officials said Saturday’s talks with visiting US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus were positive, focusing on south Lebanon amid a fragile truce between Israel and Hezbollah.

President Joseph Aoun and Ortagus discussed “south Lebanon, the work of the international monitoring committee and the Israeli withdrawal” from Lebanese territory, a statement from the presidency said, characterising the talks as constructive.

The United States chairs a committee,…

A video recovered from the cellphone of an aid worker killed in Gaza alongside other rescuers shows their final moments, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, with clearly marked ambulances and emergency lights flashing as heavy gunfire erupts.

The aid worker was among 15 humanitarian personnel killed on March 23 in an attack by Israeli forces, according to the United Nations and the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The Israeli military has said its soldiers “did not randomly attack” any…

A video recovered from the cellphone of an aid worker killed in Gaza alongside other rescuers shows their final moments, according to the Palestine Red Crescent, with clearly marked ambulances and emergency lights flashing as heavy gunfire erupts.

The aid worker was among 15 humanitarian personnel who were killed on March 23 in an attack by Israeli forces, according to the United Nations and the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

The Israeli military has said its soldiers “did not randomly…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came under fire again on Friday over his decision to dismiss internal security chief Ronen Bar, with the attorney general accusing him of a “conflict of interest”.

In a statement, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said the government’s “decision to terminate the tenure of the head of the Shin Bet is fundamentally flawed, tainted by a personal conflict of interest on the part of the Prime Minister due to the criminal investigations involving his…

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The governor of Lebanon’s central bank, Karim Souaid, took office on Friday, pledging to advance key reforms demanded by international creditors to unlock bailout funds as the country reels from a years-long financial crisis.

Souaid, an asset manager who had worked at major banks and was appointed to the top role on March 27, replaced an interim governor who had taken over from embattled three-decade chief Riad Salameh nearly two years ago.

Speaking at a press conference on his first day on…

ANKARA — Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Friday that Turkey does not want a confrontation with Israel over Syria, marking the first attempt to de-escalate tensions between the two regional powers after a recent flare-up.

“We don’t want to see any confrontation with Israel in Syria because Syria belongs to Syrians,” Fidan told Reuters in an exclusive interview. “Syria doesn’t belong to Turkey and Syria doesn’t belong to Israel. We cannot talk on behalf of the Syrians.”

What…