Mena Today

Not long ago, Western powers, Arab nations, and even the European Union spoke too soon—and too naively—about a so-called “new Syria.” 

Israel launched powerful airstrikes in Damascus on Wednesday, blowing up part of the defence ministry and hitting near the presidential palace as it vowed to destroy government forces attacking Druze in southern Syria and demanded they withdraw.

An Istanbul court on Wednesday sentenced Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the main rival of Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan, to a fresh prison term, state broadcaster TRT reported, extending a crackdown on the opposition.

At least 20 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday at an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in what the U.S.-backed group said was a crowd surge instigated by armed agitators.

U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani on Wednesday to discuss negotiations over a Gaza ceasefire deal, Axios reporter Barak Ravid posted on X.

Clashes between Syrian government troops and local Druze fighters resumed in the southern Druze city of Sweida early on Wednesday, collapsing a ceasefire announced just hours earlier that aimed to put an end to days of deadly sectarian bloodshed.

Iran's parliament said the country should not resume nuclear negotiations with the United States until preconditions are met, in a statement reported on Wednesday by Iranian state media.

Israel carried out strikes against Syrian government forces in southwestern Syria for a second day on Tuesday, vowing to keep the area demilitarized and to protect the Druze minority as deadly clashes continued in the region at the Israeli frontier.

A leading Druze spiritual leader accused the Syrian leadership in Damascus of bombarding the southern city of Sweida despite having reached an agreement to quell violence, and he called on fighters to confront Syrian troops entering the city.

There have been some good signs of more trucks and supplies getting to Gaza but the European Union needs to see more improvement on the ground, the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Monday, ahead of a meeting with senior Middle Eastern and EU officials in Brussels.

Egypt's foreign minister said on Monday that the flow of aid into Gaza has not increased despite an agreement last week between Israel and the European Union that should have had that result.

The Israeli army announced Monday that it had carried out strikes on several tanks near the southern Syrian city of Sweida, amid ongoing clashes between Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze fighters that have reportedly left dozens dead.