Category: 2. Middle East

China hosted defence ministers from Iran and Russia for a meeting in its eastern seaside city of Qingdao on Thursday against the backdrop of war in the Middle East and a summit of NATO countries in Europe that agreed to boost military spending.

Beijing has long sought to present the 10-member Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as a counterweight to Western-led power blocs and has pushed to strengthen collaboration between its member countries in politics, security, trade and science.

The…

Iran executed three men on Wednesday, after they were convicted of collaborating with Israel’s Mossad spy agency and smuggling equipment used in an assassination, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported.

The equipment they smuggled was used in the assassination of one unnamed personality, Mizan reported without giving further details.

Iranian media said the execution took place in Urmia, East Azerbaijan Province.

The three men; Edris Aali, Azad Shojaee,…

The Higher Commission for Tribal Affairs in the Gaza Strip, headed by Sheikh Abu Salman Al-Mughni, praised on Wednesday the role played by tribesmen in facilitating the safe and dignified delivery of aid to those who deserve it. 

The Commission said in a statement that the tribesmen have acted as a shield of safety that protects people and places in times of hardship.

The Commission emphasised that these efforts are not merely field work, but rather historic…

Palestinians receive aid supplies after aid trucks sent by the United Nations under Israeli attacks enter the Zakim border crossing under the protection of Palestinians and reached the warehouses in the north of in Gaza City, Gaza, on June 25, 2025. [Ali Jadallah – Anadolu Agency]

At a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, hundreds of people gathered recently for a weeknight charity fundraiser hosted by a celebrity guest.

The venue was not announced in advance due to security concerns, and attendance cost at least $60 a pop — with some spending $1,000 to get a photo with the host.

Yet, the event was not a gala hosted by a movie star or famed politician, but by a photojournalist: Gaza native Motaz Azaiza, whose images of the Israeli assault following the October 7, 2023…

China hosted defence ministers from Iran and Russia for a meeting in its eastern seaside city of Qingdao on Thursday against the backdrop of war in the Middle East and a summit of NATO countries in Europe that agreed to boost military spending.

Beijing has long sought to present the 10-member Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as a counterweight to Western-led power blocs and has pushed to strengthen collaboration between its member countries in politics, security, trade and science.

The…

Syrian architect Abdel Aziz al-Mohammed could barely recognise his war-ravaged village when he returned after years away. Now, his meticulous documentation of the damage using a drone helps to rebuild it.

“When I first came back, I was shocked by the extent of the destruction,” said Mohammed, 34.

Walking through his devastated village of Tal Mardikh, in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, he said he could not recognise “anything, I couldn’t even find my parents’ home”.

Nearly half of Tal…

The bedroom of 74-year-old Cherifa Attia smells like burnt rubber. The vast phosphate processing plant beside her home has been belching out toxic fumes into the atmosphere, blighting this Tunisian city.

“This is killing us,” said Cherifa as the foul air permeated her home. “That’s all we breathe. Day and night.”

Residents of Gabes, a city of around 400,000 people, have been campaigning for decades against the pollution from the plant, finally winning a promise from the government in 2017 to…

More than 200 illegal Israeli settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem under the protection of Israeli police, authorities said Wednesday, Anadolu reports.

Anonymous sources from the Islamic Endowment Department said 217 illegal Israeli settlers raided the holy site.

The Wadi Hilweh Information Center, a local rights group, said 124 settlers stormed the mosque in the morning, and 93 broke into the site later in the day.

The settlers performed Talmudic…