Category: 2. Middle East

Iran’s foreign ministry said Sunday that talks with the United States slated for next weekend will remain “indirect” with Omani mediation, and focused solely on the nuclear issue and lifting of sanctions.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff held talks Saturday in Muscat, marking the highest-level Iran-US nuclear negotiations since the collapse of a 2015 accord.

They agreed to meet again in seven days.

“Negotiations will continue to be indirect. Oman…

An Israeli air strike Sunday hit one of Gaza’s few functioning hospitals, killing a child according to the World Health Organization, as Israel warned it would expand its offensive if Hamas does not release hostages.

Since the outbreak of war, tens of thousands of Gazans have sought refuge in hospitals, many of which have suffered severe damage in the ongoing hostilities.

“A child died due to disruption of care” at the Al-Ahli Hospital in northern Gaza after a strike, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom…

An Israeli air strike Sunday hit one of Gaza’s few functioning hospitals, resulting in the death of a child according to the World Health Organization, as Israel warned it would expand its offensive if Hamas does not release hostages.

Since the outbreak of war, tens of thousands of Gazans have sought refuge in hospitals, many of which have suffered severe damage in the ongoing hostilities.

“A child died due to disruption of care” at the Al-Ahli Hospital in northern Gaza after a strike, WHO…

An Israeli air strike early Sunday heavily damaged one of the few functioning hospitals in Gaza, as the Israeli military said it targeted a Hamas “command and control centre” operating from within the facility.

Since the outbreak of war, tens of thousands of Gazans have sought refuge in hospitals across the territory, many of which have suffered severe damage in ongoing hostilities.

The strike on Al-Ahli Hospital in northern Gaza —- also known as the Baptist or Ahli Arab Hospital —- caused…

Alhurra, the Arabic-language network created by the US government after the Iraq invasion, said Saturday it would cease broadcasts and lay off most staff after President Donald Trump’s administration shut off funds.

The network went on air in 2004, when US officials were complaining about coverage of the Iraq war from Qatar-backed Al-Jazeera — which two decades later maintains a dominant role in Arabic-langauge media.

“Media in the Middle East thrive on a diet of anti-Americanism,” said…

Hamas’s armed wing released a video on Saturday showing an Israeli-American hostage alive, in which he criticises the Israeli government for failing to secure his release.

Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum identified him as Edan Alexander, a soldier in an elite infantry unit on the Gaza border when he was abducted by Palestinian militants during their October 7 attack on Israel.

AFP was unable to determine when the video was filmed.

Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine…

Security forces from the new Islamist government in Damascus deployed Saturday around a strategic dam in northern Syria, under a deal with the autonomous Kurdish administration, state media reported.

Under the agreement, Kurdish-led fighters of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) will pull back from the dam which they captured from the Islamic State group in late 2015.

The Tishrin dam near Manbij in Aleppo province is one of several on the Euphrates and its tributaries in Syria that…

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, on Saturday opposed a South American request to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams, saying such increases in numbers would lead to “chaos”.

The centenary edition, hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco with three matches also being staged in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay, is already set to welcome 48 teams – a far cry from the 13 in the inaugural event in Uruguay in 1930.

“Personally, I don’t agree,” the…