Category: 2. Middle East

At a currency exchange in Damascus, Anas al-Shammaa is one of many Syrians hopeful that promised relief from Western sanctions will help revive their country’s economy after years of war and isolation.

“We were totally cut off from the world,” said Shammaa, 45, who has been running the exchange shop since 2008.

With the lifting of sanctions, “we hope that the Syrian economy will start to recover both gradually and quickly”, he told AFP.

Syria’s economy plunged into crisis during the years of…

The Israeli army issued an evacuation warning on Thursday for 14 neighbourhoods of northern Gaza, as it pressed a renewed offensive that has drawn international condemnation.

The warning came hours after the United Nations said it had collected and begun distributing around 90 truckloads of aid in Gaza, the first such delivery since Israel imposed a total blockade on the territory on March 2.

Under global pressure for an end to the blockade and the violence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin…

Amal Jadou Shakaa, the Palestinian envoy to the EU, Belgium, and Luxembourg, on Tuesday presented her letter of mission to European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, marking the first time a Palestinian representative has taken office through this procedure.

This step was made possible by a political decision and initiative led by Costa, according to an EU official.

As stated in the EU Council’s press…

Israeli attacks killed at least 98 Palestinians in Gaza in the last 24 hours, a Health Ministry official said today.

“Many women and children were among the victims,” the ministry’s Director-General, Munir Al-Bursh, told Anadolu.

Witnesses reported deadly Israeli strikes on several homes and tents sheltering displaced civilians across the war-torn enclave in the last hours.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the army has pursued a brutal…

The Israeli occupation army and illegal settlers stepped up their attacks against Palestinians across the occupied West Bank today.

According to witnesses, army forces raided Baqa Al-Hatab village in eastern Qalqilya city and demolished a Palestinian family home.

Meanwhile, a group of illegal settlers set fire to a Palestinian-owned vehicle and tried to set a mosque ablaze near the towns of Osarin and Aqraba near Nablus city.

Local sources said illegal settlers…

A French opposition lawmaker yesterday called on his government to expel Israel’s ambassador and close the Israeli embassy in Paris after Israeli occupation forces opened fire near foreign diplomats at the entrance to a West Bank refugee camp earlier in the day.

Thomas Porte, a member of the left-wing La France Insoumise party, wrote on X, “Israeli war criminals shoot diplomats, including a Frenchman… and France summons the Israeli ambassador,”…

Denmark yesterday called on the international community to collectively exert pressure on Israel to lift restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza, reported the state news media outlet DR.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, addressing parliament, said: “Blocking humanitarian aid is and will remain wrong. Therefore, we must apply greater pressure on Israel. We have been discussing this within the EU over the past few days.”

She added: “The humanitarian…

China today called for a “full investigation” into shots fired by Israeli occupation soldiers at a delegation of diplomats visiting the occupied West Bank, urging Tel Aviv against any “escalatory move”.

“We are closely following the incident. China firmly opposes any move that threatens the safety and security of the diplomatic personnel,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a live-streamed news conference in Beijing.

Beijing “calls for full…

Irish rappers Kneecap on Thursday denied supporting a proscribed group and vowed to defend themselves after a singer was charged with a “terror” offence for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag at a London concert.

The Iran-backed Lebanese force Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas are banned in the UK and it is an offence to support them.

“We deny this ‘offence’ and will vehemently defend ourselves. This is political policing. This is a carnival of distraction,” the band said…

The Israeli occupation army claimed to have intercepted a missile from Yemen today, as tension continues to escalate over Tel Aviv’s deadly war on the Gaza Strip.

Army spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X that the missile triggered air-raid sirens in some areas in central Israel.

No injuries were reported.

There was no immediate confirmation from Yemen’s Houthi group of the Israeli claim.

In recent weeks, the Houthis have stepped up its missile and drone…