Mena Today

An Israeli government minister criticised Pope Francis on Friday for suggesting the international community should study whether Israel's military offensive in Gaza constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people.

The leaders of Turkey and Iran called for unity in Syria on Thursday, while Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas urged the international community to hold Israel accountable, as the heads of eight Muslim-majority countries gathered in Cairo for the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation Summit.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday had a blunt message for countries providing military support to Sudan's warring parties or profiting from the conflict: "Enough."

The Pentagon on Thursday said it has 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria, more than twice the 900 it has previously said it has, and that the additional troops are considered temporary forces that were sent to support the mission against Islamic State militants.

Fahad Al Masri, a long-time opponent of Bashar al-Assad and former spokesperson for the Free Syrian Army, is preparing to return to Syria following the fall of the Assad regime. 

President Joe Biden's administration will provide U.S. lawmakers an assessment by Jan. 17 on the credibility of assurances by the United Arab Emirates that it is not providing - and will not provide - weapons to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Thursday.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday criticized Israeli airstrikes in Syria, calling them violations of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and demanded that they "must stop." 

U.S. and Arab mediators are working round-the-clock to hammer out a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, sources close to the talks said, while in the Gaza Strip medics said Israeli strikes had killed 41 Palestinians on Thursday.

Kurdish fighters who came to Syria from around the Middle East to support Syrian Kurdish forces will leave if a ceasefire is reached in the conflict with Turkey in northern Syria, the commander of Syrian Kurdish-led forces told Reuters on Thursday.

The International Monetary Fund stands ready to assist Syria's reconstruction alongside the international community, but the situation on the ground remains fluid, IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack said on Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he was ready to compromise over Ukraine in possible talks with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on ending the war and had no conditions for starting talks with the Ukrainian authorities.

Delegations from rival Libyan legislative bodies agreed at talks in Morocco on Thursday to work together with a United Nations mission to pave the way for elections to end years of political deadlock.