Mena Today

Besiktas have appointed former Portugal coach Fernando Santos as their new manager, the Turkish Super Lig club announced on Monday.

Major stock markets in the Gulf edged higher in early trade on Monday as investors awaited more clues on global monetary policy trajectory after mixed U.S. economic data last week.

The Pentagon said on Monday it was not currently planning to withdraw its roughly 2,500 troops from Iraq, despite Baghdad's announcement last week it would begin the process of removing the U.S.-led military coalition from the country.

Israeli forces located what they said was the largest weapons production site so far found in Gaza, with underground workshops they said were used to produce long-range missiles capable of hitting targets in northern Israel.

Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Monday it was unacceptable that the international community should allow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to drag the Middle East into a wider regional war.

Pressure grew on Israel on Monday from its staunch ally the United States and from Middle East powers to ease its assault on Gaza as its forces said they engaged in "tough battles" against Hamas militants in central and southern parts of the enclave.

A delay in the inspection of grounded Boeing jets ended on Monday after U.S. officials retrieved a panel that blew off an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 airliner and shares in the planemaker sagged on concerns over the troubled jet program.

U.N. experts on Monday demanded accountability for sexual violence against Israeli civilians during the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, saying that mounting evidence of rapes and genital mutilation point to possible crimes against humanity.

In a significant policy shift, the German government, under Chancellor Olaf Scholz, is defending its proposal to lift a long-standing veto on Eurofighter aircraft sales to Saudi Arabia. This move comes as Germany emphasizes that Riyadh has adopted a "constructive approach" amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Jordan's King Abdullah said on Monday that Israel had created a whole generation of orphans with its "brutal" war in Gaza, where he said over 30,000 people, mostly women and children, had been killed or were missing as a result of the conflict.

Pope Francis, tackling conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine in his yearly address to diplomats, said on Monday that "indiscriminately striking" civilians is a war crime because it violates international humanitarian law.

An Israeli strike on south Lebanon on Monday killed a senior commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan force, three security sources told Reuters.