Category: 2. Middle East

United Airlines said Tuesday it would resume service between Tel Aviv and its Newark/New York hub on July 21, 10 days earlier than previously planned.

The carrier joined a large group of international airlines that suspended service to Israel on June 13 as fighting between Israel and Iran closed off airspaces in the region.

United subsequently said it would pause service with Tel Aviv through at least July 31.

The restoration of service reflects the improved flying environment following a…

Five Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in the Gaza Strip, the military said Tuesday, in one of the deadliest days for Israeli forces in the Palestinian territory this year.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lamented a “difficult morning” as he visited Washington for talks with US President Donald Trump, who is pressing for a ceasefire in the more than 21-month war.

“All of Israel bows its head and mourns the fall of our heroic soldiers, who risked their lives in the battle to defeat Hamas…

Lebanon said three people were killed Tuesday in a strike near Tripoli that the Israeli military said targeted a Hamas militant, the first on the north since a November ceasefire with Hezbollah.

The strike came amid ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Qatar and as five Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in the Gaza Strip, one of the deadliest days for Israeli forces in the Palestinian territory this year.

Israel has kept up its strikes on Lebanon despite the November truce,…

ANKARA — A digital clock appeared on Turkey’s pro-opposition Sozcu TV, counting down the hours — 12 and ticking — toward going off the air. The channel faces a possible 10-day blackout widely viewed as a fresh front in the country’s intensifying crackdown on dissent.

“When the clock strikes 12 [5:00 p.m. ET], Sozcu TV will go off the air,” Serap Belovacikli, an anchorwoman at the channel, told her viewers earlier Tuesday. “But will we give up? No! We will not stop being your…

ANKARA — Turkey’s pro-opposition Sozcu TV went off the air for 10 days at midnight on Wednesday, local time, marking what many view as a fresh front in the country’s intensifying crackdown on dissent.

“When the clock strikes 12 [5:00 p.m. ET], Sozcu TV will go off the air,” Serap Belovacikli, an anchorwoman at the channel, told her viewers earlier Tuesday. “But will we give up? No! We will not stop being your voice.”

The silencing comes amid a widening crackdown on the main…

BEIRUT — Syria’s authorities appealed Tuesday to the European Union for support in battling massive wildfires that have been engulfing the country’s northwestern coastal region for the sixth consecutive day.

Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed Saleh wrote in a post on X that authorities reached out to the EU for assistance as Syrian civil defense teams continue to extinguish the fires in Latakia province.

On July 3, a series of devastating wildfires spread across forests…

Brushing aside increasingly urgent official warnings to stay clear of Iran, some European tourists still head to the Islamic Republic, which is accused by Western governments of practicing “hostage diplomacy”.

Lennart Monterlos, an 18-year-old French-German national who disappeared while biking across the country on a tour from Europe to Asia last month, is the latest possible target of unwarranted Iranian arrests.

The French foreign ministry called the case “worrying”, and government minister…

The Tony Blair Institute (TBI) has been implicated in what many believe to be a blueprint for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, following revelations that the institution founded by the former UK Prime Minister participated in a controversial postwar planning project proposing the mass displacement of Palestinians. 

Details of TBI’s involvement was uncovered in a Financial Times investigation. It revealed that the scheme, developed by Israeli businessmen and…

At least four people were killed and 27 injured in a fire at a major telecomms centre in Egypt’s capital that caused widespread disruptions, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

Internet and phone connections were still heavily disrupted in Cairo on Tuesday, with the Egyptian stock exchange suspending operations.

Flights into and out of the capital had also been affected by the fire, which began on Monday evening, although by the following morning the civil aviation ministry said all flights…

US President Donald Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday, Anadolu reports.

Trump is hosting Netanyahu for dinner, where they will discuss developments in the Middle East, including a Gaza ceasefire deal.

In his third visit to the US within six months, Netanyahu earlier met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Blair House, the president’s official guest house in Washington, DC.

He also met with Trump’s special…