Mena Today

The United States on Friday issued sanctions aimed at a Hamas spokesperson and leaders of the group's drone unit, the Treasury Department said.

 Soaring prices have helped fuel a food crisis in West and Central Africa, where nearly 55 million people will struggle to feed themselves in the coming months, U.N. humanitarian agencies warned on Friday.

France has warned its citizens to “imperatively refrain from travel in the coming days to Iran, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories,” French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne’s entourage tells AFP.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that the crisis in Sudan could worsen in the coming months as the distribution of humanitarian aid and medical supplies remains restricted.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday said there were "clear signs" in Europe that countries in the region were prepared to recognise a Palestinian state.

The General Secretariat of Catholic Schools in Lebanon has declared the closure of all its educational institutions this Friday, announcing it as a "day of prayer for the salvation of Lebanon."

Israel was on Friday bracing for an attack launched by Iran in the coming 24 to 48 hours.

A conflict in Sudan that erupted a year ago has wreaked havoc across swathes of the country, unleashed waves of ethnic violence in Darfur, driven millions into extreme hunger and created the world's largest displacement crisis.

Iran has signalled to Washington that it will respond to Israel's attack on its Syrian embassy in a way that aims to avoid major escalation and it will not act hastily, as Tehran presses demands including a Gaza truce, Iranian sources said.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Thursday that Israel would respond directly to any attack by Iran.

Russian military instructors arrived in Niger on Wednesday in a plane loaded with military equipment, Niger state television RTN said on Thursday, citing an agreement between the junta and Russian President Vladimir Putin to boost cooperation.

Iran is operating a clandestine smuggling route across the Middle East, employing intelligence operatives, militants and criminal gangs, to deliver weapons to Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to officials from the United States, Israel and Iran.