Mena Today

Cyprus has dispatched 1,200 metric tons of humanitarian aid for Gaza by sea via Ashdod in Israel, its foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

A veteran of Turkey's decades-long conflict with Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) insurgents told lawmakers on Tuesday that national unity and legal accountability were required as part of a peace process with the militant group.

Israel is studying Hamas' response to a Gaza ceasefire proposal for a 60-day truce and the release of half the hostages still held in the enclave, two Israeli officials said on Tuesday, although one source reiterated that all Israeli captives must be freed for the war to end.

Iran will continue talks with the U.N. nuclear watchdog and the two sides will probably have another round of negotiations in the coming days, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told state media on Monday.

France’s latest provocation came not in Paris but in Jerusalem. After moving toward recognition of a Palestinian state, Paris dispatched its consul in the city to hand-deliver a formal letter of recognition to Mahmoud Abbas. 

Top U.S. envoy Thomas Barrack said on Monday Israel should comply with a plan under which Lebanese militant group Hezbollah would be disarmed by the end of the year in exchange for a halt to Israel's military operations in Lebanon.

Thousands of Israelis took part in a nationwide strike on Sunday in support of families of hostages held in Gaza, calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach an agreement with Hamas to end the war and release the remaining captives.

Syrian interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa met on Saturday in Damascus with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, John X Yazigi, according to a statement posted by the presidency on Telegram.

The Israeli military said it had targeted an energy infrastructure site that was used by the Iran-aligned Houthis south of the Yemeni capital Sanaa early on Sunday, with Israeli media saying the Haziz power station had been hit.

Turkish police detained 40 people, including the mayor of Istanbul’s central Beyoglu district, as part of a sweeping corruption investigation, state broadcaster TRT Haber reported.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held calls on Saturday with his Turkish and Hungarian counterparts, the Russian foreign ministry said, hours after a summit between the U.S. and Russian presidents yielded no deal on ending the war in Ukraine. 

Oman’s ports posted solid growth in ship traffic, container handling, and cargo volume during the first half of 2025, according to figures released by the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, cited by Oman Observer.