Category: 2. Middle East

ANKARA — Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan dropped a bombshell on Friday, revealing publicly that he survived an assassination attempt during his tenure as the country’s intelligence chief. 

“We were physically subjected to an assassination attempt, as well we were poisoned and also received treatment,” Fidan told Turkey’s 24 TV during an exclusive interview, referring to himself in the plural in a rhetorical manner.

“Beyond that, we have been constantly facing character…

Former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Friday sharply criticized the EU for failing to act over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, stating that “half of the bombs falling on Gaza are supplied by us,” Anadolu reports.

Speaking after receiving the Carlos V European Award at the Yuste Monastery in Spain, Borrell said Europe is witnessing “the biggest ethnic cleansing operation since World War II,” aimed at creating a “holiday resort” after…

Israel would not be involved in food distribution under a US-led plan for the Gaza Strip but would provide “necessary military security”, Washington’s ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said on Friday.

Despite imposing a now two-month-long blockade of aid on Gaza, which it says is aimed at putting pressure on Palestinian militants Hamas, Israel has asserted there is no humanitarian crisis in the territory.

“The Israelis are going to be involved in providing necessary military security,…

The UN said Friday that 70% of the Gaza Strip is either within Israeli militarized zones, under displacement orders, or in areas where the two overlap, Anadolu reports.

Emphasizing continued obstruction of aid efforts due to Israeli restrictions, UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said at a news conference that UN’s “partners working to support telecommunications in Gaza tell us that the fiber optic cable has been damaged for more than six weeks, while Israeli…

The United States and Iran will hold a new round of nuclear talks Sunday in Oman ahead of a visit to the region by Donald Trump, whose key negotiator staked out an increasingly hard line on the issue of uranium enrichment.

Trump, who will visit three other Gulf Arab monarchies next week, has voiced hope for reaching a deal with Tehran to avert an Israeli military strike on Iran’s nuclear program that could ignite a wider war.

Three previous rounds of talks in Oman and Rome ended with notes of…

The United States and Iran will hold a new round of nuclear talks Sunday in Oman, officials said, just ahead of a visit to the region by President Donald Trump.

Trump, who will visit three other Gulf Arab monarchies next week, has voiced hope for reaching a deal with Tehran to avert an Israeli military strike on Iran’s nuclear program that could ignite a wider war.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Oman, which has been mediating, had proposed Sunday as the date and both sides…

Israel’s stated commitment to defending the Syrian Druze is, by the admission of some of its leaders, consistent with a long-term strategic goal — the weakening of Syria.

Israel, which has occupied part of Syrian territory since 1967, claimed to be protecting the Druze minority to justify several strikes following recent, bloody inter-communal clashes in Syria.

In the aftermath of one strike near the Presidential Palace in Damascus on May 3, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the…

Germans have an increasingly negative view of Israel 60 years after the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations, said a new survey released by the Bertelsmann Foundation on Friday, Anadolu reports.

The report pointed to a significant change in the mood of Germans towards Israel over the past four years.

Back in 2021, 46% of German citizens surveyed had a positive attitude towards Israel. Meanwhile, only 36% have a positive opinion of Israel, while 38%…