Mena Today

In a significant move towards loosening internet restrictions, Iran's Supreme Council of Cyberspace voted on Tuesday to lift the ban on the WhatsApp messaging app, which had been in place for over two years. 

Israel has instructed its diplomatic missions in Europe to try to get the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen designated as a terrorist organisation.

Al Jazeera television has clashed with the Palestinian Authority over its coverage of the weeks-long standoff between Palestinian security forces and militant fighters in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

Morocco aims to grant women more rights over child custody and guardianship as well as a veto over polygamous marriage, in the first review of its family code in 20 years, the justice and Islamic affairs ministers said on Tuesday.

The actions of the Israeli military had a "circumstantial influence" on a decision by Hamas militants to kill six hostages in Gaza in August, according to a military investigation published on Tuesday.

Syria's newly appointed foreign minister, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, told Iran on Tuesday not to spread chaos in Syria but to respect the Syrian people's will and the country's sovereignty.

Syrian Christians attended Christmas Eve services on Tuesday for the first time since the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad in early December, in an early test of the new Islamist rulers' pledges to protect the rights of the country's religious minorities.

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa reached an agreement on Tuesday with former rebel faction chiefs to dissolve all groups and consolidate them under the defence ministry, according to a statement from the new administration.

Saudi Arabia executed 330 people this year, the highest number in decades, despite de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman's 2022 assertion that the death penalty had been eliminated except for murder cases under his vision for a new open kingdom.

The U.S. military said on Monday it conducted an airstrike in Syria that killed two Islamic State operatives and wounded one.

A blast ripped through an explosives factory in northwest Turkey on Tuesday, killing 12 people and injuring four, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said, adding that an investigation had been launched.

Turkey is in close dialogue with Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday, adding visits to Syria will increase from now on.