Mena Today

Germany is expected to hold a snap election on Feb. 23 after the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition last month.

France has started the withdrawal of its military from Chad with the departure of two warplanes that were based in the capital N'Djamena, the French army said, two weeks after Chad said it was ending its defence cooperation pact with Paris.

Satellite imagery show that Russian naval ships have left Moscow's base at Tartous on Syria's coast and some have dropped anchor offshore following the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by rebel forces.

Lebanon must not become a safe haven for Syrian officials who are responsible for crimes, a leading Lebanese political party warned on Tuesday, citing reports that leading figures in Bashar al-Assad's ousted regime had fled to neighbouring Lebanon.

Israel denied on Tuesday it had advanced into Syria beyond a buffer zone with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights since the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by rebel forces.

Pope Francis will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday, the Vatican said in a planning note on Tuesday.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi participated in a dinner banquet on Monday with Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and the Norwegian Minister of International Development. 

The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a strong condemnation on Tuesday regarding what it described as Israel's entry into the buffer zone between Israel and Syria and its alleged advancement into Syrian territory. 

Israel pounded Syrian army bases on Tuesday in strikes it says aim to keep weapons from falling into hostile hands, but denied its forces had advanced into Syria beyond a buffer zone at the border.

Just over a year ago, China gave Bashar al-Assad and his wife a warm welcome during their six-day visit to the country, offering the former Syrian leader a rare break from years of international isolation since the start of a civil war in 2011.

The commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic had not been weakened following the fall of its ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Iranian media reported.

Britain and Cyprus pledged on Tuesday to boost ties during a visit by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in an endorsement of the pro-west tilt the Mediterranean island has taken since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.