Category: 2. Middle East

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday that the death toll from recent violence in Syria’s southern Sweida province has risen to 360.

The announcement came as Syrian authorities and Sheikh Youssef Jarboua, the spiritual leader of the Druze community, said they had reached a new ceasefire agreement. However, doubts remain over its durability after a local Druze commander rejected the deal.

According to media reports, the government in…

(Reuters) -A new U.S. assessment has found that American strikes in June destroyed only one of three Iranian nuclear sites, NBC News reported on Thursday, citing current and former U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

President Donald Trump rejected a military plan for further comprehensive strikes on Iran’s nuclear program, which would have lasted several weeks, the report added.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

(Reporting by Surbhi Misra in BengaluruEditing by Bernadette…

GAZA CITY (Reuters) -Two women were killed and several people were injured following a strike which hit the Catholic parish in the Gaza Strip, doctors at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City said on Thursday.

The strike damaged the Holy Family Church, the only Catholic Church inside the Palestinian enclave.

The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Israeli Defense Forces said it was looking into the matter.

Italy’s ANSA news agency said six people were seriously…

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has instructed Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty to launch intensive diplomatic talks with international and regional officials in an effort to de-escalate tensions in the region. 

According to a statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, Abdelatty held discussions with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, US Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff, and Rafael Grossi, Director-General…

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -A massive fire in a hypermarket in al-Kut city in eastern Iraq has left at least 60 people dead and 11 others missing, the city’s health authorities and two police sources told Reuters on Thursday.

Videos circulating on social media showed flames engulfing a five-storey building in al-Kut overnight as firefighters tried to contain the blaze.

Reuters could not independently verify the videos.

“We have compiled a list of 59 victims whose identities have been confirmed, but…

Filipino seafarer Cocoy was off-duty and resting in his cabin when the captain’s voice boomed over the intercom of the cargo ship: “We are under attack”.

The 38-year-old realised what sounded like a “knock” from inside the vessel was gunfire being exchanged by ship security and Huthi rebels swarming the ship in small boats.

The July 6 assault on the Greek-owned Magic Seas broke a months-long lull in attacks by Yemen’s Huthi rebels on Red Sea shipping, which began after the start of the Gaza…

Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa said early Thursday that Israel had tried to undermine the ceasefire agreement in Sweida Province, but mediation efforts by the US, Arab states, and Turkiye prevented that from happening.

In a speech delivered after the official announcement of the ceasefire, Al-Sharaa accused Israel of seeking to “turn our land into a battleground and dismantle our national unity since the fall of the previous regime.” He added, “There will…

PARIS (Reuters) -A French court on Thursday ruled for the release from prison of Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, after serving almost 40 years in prison for attacks on American and Israeli diplomats in France, BFM TV reported.

The former head of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Brigade (LARB) was sentenced to life in 1987 for his role in the 1982 murders in Paris of U.S. military attache Charles Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov, and the attempted murder of U.S. Consul…

The Syrian government announced Thursday that local leaders would assume control over security in the city of Sweida in an attempt to end violence that has claimed hundreds of lives and prompted Israel’s military intervention in support of the Druze minority.

Syrian forces had deployed to Sweida with the stated aim of overseeing a truce, following days of deadly clashes between Druze fighters and local Bedouin tribes that a war monitor said left more than 350 people dead.

But witnesses said…

Syrian troops pulled out of the Druze heartland province of Sweida Thursday on orders from the Islamist-led government, leaving bodies strewn on the street, AFP journalists reported from the provincial capital.

The southern province has been gripped by deadly sectarian bloodshed since Sunday, with hundreds reportedly killed in clashes pitting Druze fighters against Sunni Bedouin tribes and the army and its allies.

In a televised speech, Islamist interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said community…