Category: 2. Middle East

Donald Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to London said Tuesday he would ask Britain to reverse a partial suspension of arms exports to Israel, a decision taken over rights concerns.

Warren Stephens, an Arkansas-based investment banker and political donor to Trump named for the coveted diplomatic posting, said he was “a little perplexed” by the decision of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

“What I’ve read about that, with the UK halting some of their shipments to Israel, is certainly concerning,”…

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration further ratcheted up sanctions on Iran Tuesday, targeting an alleged weapons procurement network and unveiling criminal charges against a pair of Iranian nationals accused of involvement. 

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on six entities and two individuals based in Iran, the United Arab Emirates and China that it said were responsible for acquiring drone components used by a leading manufacturer in…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Tuesday he had reversed a decision to appoint former navy commander Vice Admiral Eli Sharvit as security agency chief following criticism, including from a key US senator.

Netanyahu had announced Sharvit’s appointment on Monday, pushing back against a supreme court decision to freeze his government’s move to dismiss incumbent director Ronen Bar.

It later emerged that the former naval chief had publicly opposed key policies of the…

An Israeli strike on south Beirut killed at least three people on Tuesday, Lebanon said after Israel announced its second strike on the country’s capital in a fragile four-month truce.

The attack that came without warning at around 3:30 am (0030 GMT) during the Eid al-Fitr Muslim holiday. It came after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs, a bastion of Hezbollah support, on Friday after issuing an evacuation warning.

The Israeli military said “the strike targeted a Hezbollah terrorist who…

An Israeli strike Tuesday killed three people, Lebanon said, as a source close to Hezbollah said one of the group’s officials was targeted in the second such strike on south Beirut during a fragile four-month ceasefire.

The attack came without warning at around 3:30 am (0030 GMT) during the Eid al-Fitr Muslim holiday marking the end of the Ramadan fasting period.

It struck after Israel also raided Beirut’s southern suburbs — a bastion of support for Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah armed group…

A Hezbollah official handling Palestinian affairs was among four people killed in an Israeli strike on south Beirut on Tuesday, Israel and a Hezbollah source said, the second such raid on the capital during a four-month ceasefire.

Lebanon’s leaders condemned the attack, which came without warning at around 3:30 am (0030 GMT) during the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Israel previously struck the capital on Friday, hitting the south Beirut stronghold…

An Israeli strike on Beirut killed at least three people on Tuesday, Lebanon’s health ministry said after Israel announced its second strike on the country’s capital in a fragile four-month truce.

Israel’s military said it “targeted a Hezbollah terrorist” just days after striking the city in response to rocket fire from Lebanon which it blamed on the militant group.

The raid in Hezbollah’s Dahieh stronghold left “three martyrs and seven wounded” according to a Lebanese health ministry toll,…

Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said Monday a new transitional government would aim for consensus in rebuilding the war-torn country but acknowledged it would be unable to satisfy everyone.

The transitional 23-member cabinet — without a prime minister — was announced Saturday, more than three months after Sharaa’s Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led an offensive that toppled longtime president Bashar al-Assad.

Sharaa said the new government’s goal was rebuilding the…