Mena Today

A number of drones were seen flying from the direction of Iran over Iraq's Sulaymaniya province, three security sources told Reuters on Saturday.

Iran launched dozens of drones at Israel on Saturday but they will take hours to reach their targets, Israel's military said, an attack that may trigger a major escalation between the regional archenemies, with the U.S. pledging to back Israel.

Yossi Levi is a member of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, whose exemption from compulsory military service is dividing Israel and threatens to topple its government. He is also a major in the infantry reserves of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).

One person was killed and 10 others injured in the southern Turkish province of Antalya when a cable car cabin collided with a broken pole, prompting a massive operation that rescued a further 174 passengers, Turkish officials said on Saturday.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized an Israeli-linked cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, days after Tehran said it could close the crucial shipping route and warned it would retaliate for an Israeli strike on its Syria consulate.

Australia's Qantas Airways said on Saturday it had temporarily rerouted flights between Perth and London on concerns about the Middle East, as expectations rose of an attack by Iran on Israel.

Iran has developed a range of ballistic missiles and drones in a programme that has long worried the West. The missiles are an important part of the arsenal at Tehran's disposal as it threatens to retaliate against Israel for a strike on its Syrian embassy.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel "sooner, rather than later" and warned Tehran not to proceed.

The European Union announced on Friday new sanctions against several Palestinian militant groups, citing "widespread sexual violence" during the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

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.