Category: 2. Middle East

Spain will contribute an additional €500,000 (over $560,000) to support UN investigations into human rights violations and possible war crimes committed in Gaza, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares announced Monday, Anadolu reports.

“With the aim of ending these violations of international law and with the desire to ensure accountability, I announce that we will support the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in increasing its investigative…

Israel’s Security Cabinet unanimously approved a plan early Monday to expand its ongoing military onslaught on the Gaza Strip and occupy territories inside the enclave, Anadolu reports.

In a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the Cabinet approved “the operational plan” submitted by army chief Eyal Zamir to “defeat Hamas” and return Israeli captives held in Gaza.

According to the statement, the plan requires the army “to…

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday urged India and Pakistan to de-escalate tensions during a visit to Islamabad, where he also sought to deepen political and economic ties with Pakistan amid growing regional instability.

Araghchi arrived in Islamabad on Sunday to a state welcome and met with his Pakistani counterpart, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, the following day. According to the official Islamic Republic News Agency, the talks focused on strengthening political, economic and cultural…

Swedish Television announced on Sunday a humanitarian initiative to convert the late Pope Francis’s car—used during his 2014 visit to Bethlehem—into a mobile clinic for children in the Gaza Strip, fulfilling his final wish.

The initiative is being carried out in coordination between Peter Brune, Secretary General of Caritas Sweden, and Anton Safar from Jerusalem. The project had received Pope Francis’s personal approval before his passing. According to…

Each player on the Saudi football club Al-Ahli is set to receive a SR1 million ($266,000) reward following their historic victory in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League, a Saudi newspaper reported on Sunday.

According to Arriyadiyah, the “extraordinary” bonus will be jointly covered by the club’s management and the Ministry of Sports, with SR700,000 provided by Al-Ahli, which is owned by the Public Investment Fund, and SR300,000 by the…

The Druze are a prominent religious community of more than a million people spread mainly across Syria, Lebanon and Israel, who for centuries have sought to preserve a distinct identity.

In Syria, Druze fighters recently clashed with forces loyal to the country’s new Islamist rulers, highlighting the struggles they and other minority groups have faced with shifts in regional power dynamics.

“The Druze are a kind of an ultra-tribe which transcends space and geography,” said Makram Rabah,…

The top United Nations court on Monday threw out Sudan’s case against the United Arab Emirates over alleged complicity in genocide during the brutal Sudanese civil war.

Sudan had taken the UAE to the International Court of Justice, saying its alleged support for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) was contributing to a genocide — accusations strongly denied by the Emiratis.

But the ICJ said it “manifestly lacked” jurisdiction to rule on the case and threw out it out.

A UAE official…

Iraq’s prison system is under severe strain, operating at more than double its capacity, as a newly enacted general amnesty law results in the release of thousands of inmates, Justice Minister Khaled Shwani has said.

The country’s 30 official prisons, excluding those in the Kurdistan Region, currently house around 67,000 detainees despite being built to accommodate just half that number. Thousands more remain in the custody of security agencies awaiting…

An Azerbaijani delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Samir Sharifov visited Syria yesterday under the instruction of President Ilham Aliyev, aiming to strengthen bilateral cooperation with the country’s interim leadership and support Syria’s reconstruction efforts.

The delegation was received by Syria’s transitional President Ahmad Al-Sharaa in Damascus, where both sides discussed opportunities for collaboration in key areas including the economy, energy,…