News Archive

Syria's military announced on Saturday a "temporary troop withdrawal" in Aleppo to prepare a counteroffensive against what it called terrorists.

Syrian authorities closed Aleppo airport as well as all roads leading into the city on Saturday, three military sources told Reuters, as rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad said they had reached the heart of Aleppo.

A Hamas delegation will arrive in Cairo on Saturday for talks with Egyptian officials, the group's senior official Basem Naim told Reuters on Friday. 

 The head of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, pledged on Friday to coordinate closely with the Lebanese army to implement a ceasefire deal with Israel, which he said his group had agreed to "with heads held high".

Syrian rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad said on Friday they had reached the heart of the northern city of Aleppo, after a surprise sweep through government-held towns and nearly a decade after having been forced out of the city.

The President of the UAE, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, today welcomed Badruddin Maulana, Ambassador of the Islamic Government of Afghanistan to the UAE, at a meeting following the presentation of the ambassador's credentials.

Fighting in northwestern Syria over the last three days has killed 27 civilians, including eight children, a U.N. official said on Friday, in some of the worst violence in years between Syrian government forces and rebels.

A French plan to significantly reduce its military presence in West and central Africa risks backfiring and further diminishing the former colonial power's influence in the region at a time when Russia is gaining ground.

The risk of Iranian nuclear proliferation is a serious threat in coming months and Britain and France are working out strategies to prepare for such an event, the head of France's foreign intelligence service said on Friday.

The ceasefire deal that ended a relentless barrage of Israeli airstrikes and led Lebanon into a shaky peace took shape over weeks of talks and was uncertain until the final hours.

Prominent Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt praised the role of the Lebanese Army and security forces during the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, which lasted from October 8, 2023, to the November 27, 2024, ceasefire.

European and Iranian diplomats meet on Friday to discuss whether they can engage in serious talks in the coming weeks to defuse tensions in the region, including over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme, before Donald Trump's return to the White House.