Category: 2. Middle East

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Friday warned the Lebanese group Hezbollah against joining the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran, Anadolu reports.

“The secretary-general of Hezbollah does not learn from the lessons of his predecessors and threatens to act against Israel according to the orders” from Iran, Katz said.

“I suggest to the Lebanese proxy to be careful,” he added.

On Thursday, Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem…

Iranian forces shot down two Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over Tehran, the country’s capital, Iranian media reported on Friday.

A kamikaze drone was destroyed in the Shahr-e Rey district, south of Tehran, and a mini drone was brought down near the Tehran Oil Refinery, the local Mehr News Agency reported, citing an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) statement.

Hostilities broke out last Friday when Israel launched airstrikes on several sites…

Gaza’s civil defence agency said 31 Palestinian aid seekers were among at least 60 people killed Friday by Israeli forces, the latest in a string of deadly incidents near aid distribution sites.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five people were killed while waiting for aid in the southern Gaza Strip and 26 others near a central area known as the Netzarim corridor, an Israeli-controlled strip of land that bisects the Palestinian territory.

Thousands of Palestinians have…

Thousands of people rallied in Tehran, Baghdad and Beirut on Friday after weekly prayers to protest Israel’s strikes on Iran, chanting slogans against Israel and its main backer, the United States.

Images on Iran’s state television showed protesters in Tehran holding up photographs of commanders killed since the start of the war, while others waved the flags of Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

“This is the Friday of the Iranian nation’s solidarity and resistance across the…

We are honoured to announce the 21 longlisted titles for the Palestine Book Awards 2025. This year marks a horrifying time for the people of Palestine — a year scarred by ongoing war and genocide.

Yet, in the face of unimaginable suffering, Palestinian writers and scholars — alongside global voices in solidarity — continue to rise. Through literature, research, and storytelling, they affirm an enduring truth: we are here, and we are here to stay.

This…

The UN has once again included the Israeli armed and security forces among “parties that commit grave violations affecting children in situations of armed conflict,” according to a report.

Seen by Anadolu on Thursday, the yet-to-be-released report, which contains data for the year 2024, said: “In 2024, violence against children in armed conflict reached unprecedented levels, with a staggering 25% surge in the number of grave violations in comparison with…

Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem said Thursday that the Lebanese-based group “is not neutral and stands alongside Iran,” Anadolu reports.

“Hezbollah and the Islamic Resistance are not neutral between Iran’s legitimate rights and independence, and the falsehood of America, its aggression, along with the cancerous tumor Israel and the arrogant powers,” Qassem said in a statement on Telegram.

“We stand with Iran in facing this global injustice…

ANKARA — Turkey’s main opposition parties and legal groups condemned the arrest of Mehmet Pehlivan, lawyer for Istanbul’s imprisoned mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, calling it part of a crackdown aimed at silencing political dissent and intimidating lawyers.

Late on Thursday, an Istanbul court jailed Pehlivan on charges including membership in a criminal organization, a move the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Turkish Bar Association along with rights activists slammed as a politically…

Since launching air strikes on Iran last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been working to pull President Donald Trump into the war, and sway a sceptical American public.

In his daily calls and public statements, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister has mixed praise and deference for the US leader, while also arguing that the strikes on Iran benefit Americans.

“Do you want these people to have nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them to you?” he asked during an…