Hosting the conversation

Middle East Experience

Latest News

Palestinians say Israel strike kills two children in West Bank

Palestinian officials said two children were among three people killed in an Israeli air strike on the occupied West Bank on Wednesday which the military said targeted militants.Ahmad Asaad, governor of the northern West Bank city of Tubas, told AFP that the strike hit nearby Tammun village, killing a 23-year-old man and two children, aged eight and 10, all from the same family.The Palestinian foreign ministry in Ramallah condemned the deadly strike, accusing Israel of harming civilians "under the pretext" of fighting militants.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Palestinians say Israel strike kills two children in West Bank

Gaza rescuers say 14 killed in Israel strikes

Gaza's civil defence agency said a series of Israeli air strikes killed at least 14 people on Wednesday, in the latest violence to ravage the already devastated Palestinian territory.Five people were killed and several wounded in an air strike on the house of the Barghout family in the Zeitun neighbourhood of Gaza City, the agency said.Three people were killed in another strike targeting the house of the Al-Banna family in the central city of Deir el-Balah.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Gaza rescuers say 14 killed in Israel strikes

Safe from looting, Damascus museum reopens a month after Assad's fall

Syrians returned on Wednesday to the national museum in Damascus, reopened for the first time since Islamist-led forces seized the capital and ousted president Bashar al-Assad.The antiquities museum closed its doors on December 7, a day before Damascus was taken by rebel forces, over fears of looting."We firmly shut the museum's iron doors after we saw the situation was unstable," said Mohamed Nair Awad, head of the national antiquities authority.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Safe from looting, Damascus museum reopens a month after Assad's fall

UN peacekeepers patrol in Lebanon as truce deadline nears

UN peacekeepers in Lebanon patrol through rocky hills and olive groves near the border with Israel, ahead of a deadline for a truce in the war with Hezbollah that some residents fear will not hold.The situation is "still very fragile", said Indian peacekeeper Gurpyar Sharma from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) amid the wreckage of several destroyed buildings near the town of Marjayoun."We are carrying out these kind of patrols" to help prevent any "further escalation of the violence", he said as AFP accompanied peacekeepers on a tour of the area.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: UN peacekeepers patrol in Lebanon as truce deadline nears

Blinken seeks to avert Syria turmoil with Europeans on final trip

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Rome Thursday for talks with European counterparts on bringing stability to Syria in the face of Turkish threats against Kurdish forces there.It is the final stage in what is likely his last tour in the role before US President Joe Biden makes way for President-elect Donald Trump later this month.Blinken, on a trip that has taken him to South Korea, Japan and France, will dine in Rome with counterparts from Britain, France, Germany and Italy.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Blinken seeks to avert Syria turmoil with Europeans on final trip

37 killed in north Syria clashes between pro-Turkey, Kurdish forces: monitor

Battles between Turkish-backed groups, supported by air strikes, and Kurdish-led forces killed 37 people on Thursday in Syria's northern Manbij region, a war monitor said.The latest reported fighting comes despite the United States saying Wednesday that it was working to address Turkey's concerns in Syria to dissuade the NATO ally from escalating an offensive against Kurdish fighters.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: 37 killed in north Syria clashes between pro-Turkey, Kurdish forces: monitor

Polish president says don't arrest Netanyahu at Auschwitz ceremony

Poland's president has urged the government not to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should he attend the Auschwitz liberation anniversary event later this month, his office said Thursday.The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in November over the Gaza war, prompting outrage from Israel and its allies.Poland, as a party to the ICC, would be required to arrest Netanyahu if he attended the ceremony marking 80 years since the Red Army liberated the Nazi German death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Polish president says don't arrest Netanyahu at Auschwitz ceremony