Mena Today

Greek and Turkish Cypriots marked on Sunday the 51st anniversary of Turkey's 1974 invasion of Cyprus, an event that split the island and remains a source of tension between NATO partners Greece and Turkey.

Sectarian clashes escalated in Syria's predominantly Druze region of Sweida on Saturday, with machinegun fire and mortar shelling ringing out after days of bloodshed as the Islamist-led government struggled to implement a ceasefire.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar delivered a scathing rebuke on Saturday of Syrian President Ahmed al-Shaara, accusing him of openly supporting jihadist militias responsible for the massacre of 700 Druze civilians and fostering a climate of impunity and ethnic persecution.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan urged the United States to help bring an immediate end to the Syrian conflict during a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to a source in the Turkish foreign ministry on Saturday.

Democratic Republic of Congo and the M23 rebel group pledged to sign a peace agreement by August 18, at a ceremony in Doha on Saturday, a sign of progress even as outstanding details need to be negotiated.

Syria's Islamist-led government said its internal security forces began deploying in Sweida on Saturday as the presidency called on all parties to respect a ceasefire following bloodshed in the predominantly Druze area that has left hundreds dead.

German authorities have arrested a Libyan war crimes suspect accused of being a senior official at a notorious prison where inmates were routinely tortured and sometimes sexually abused, the International Criminal Court said on Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday repeated his threat to slap a 10% tariff on imports from members of the BRICS group of developing nations and said the group would end very quickly if they ever formed in a meaningful way.

One elderly man had been shot in the head in his living room. Another in his bedroom. The body of a woman lay in the street. 

Israel has agreed to allow limited access by Syrian forces into the Sweida area of southern Syria for the next two days, an Israeli official said on Friday, after days of bloodshed in the predominantly Druze area that has killed over 300 people.

The European Union has eased rules for Turks to use its open-border Schengen area, the bloc's ambassador to Ankara said on Friday, calling for the urgent revival of negotiations on visa-free travel for Turks.

Russian courts sentenced 135 people to lengthy prison sentences in connection with a mass anti-Israel protest in October 2023 at an airport in the predominantly Muslim Dagestan region, the country's Investigative Committee said on Friday.