BEIRUT: Lebanese authorities said Israeli strikes killed 12 people on Tuesday in the Bekaa Valley in the country’s east, where the Israeli military claimed attacks on militant group Hezbollah. Israel’s military said it struck targets belonging to Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force, in its latest attack on Lebanon despite a ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed […]
RIYADH: In Saudi Arabia’s increasingly globalized society, especially among young people in major cities, there is an easy blending of languages, often switching between Arabic and English in the same conversation. This phenomenon, known as code-switching, has become a linguistic norm that reflects shifting social dynamics, culture and identity. A 2024 study conducted by Kais […]
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday ending most US economic sanctions on Syria, following through on a promise he made to the country’s new interim leader. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the move was designed to “promote and support the country’s path to stability and peace.” The executive order […]
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has received written messages from the presidents of Vietnam and Angola, Saudi Press Agency reported on Monday. The message from President Luong Cuong related to Saudi-Vietnamese relations and ways to support and strengthen them in all fields. The message was received by the Deputy Minister for International Multilateral Affairs and […]
DUBAI: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed victory over Israel and said his country had “delivered a hand slap to America’s face” on Thursday, in his first public comments since a ceasefire was declared in the war between the two countries. Khamenei spoke in a video broadcast on Iranian state television, his first appearance […]
THE HAGUE/TEL AVIV/ISTANBUL: US President Donald Trump reveled in the swift end to war between Iran and Israel, saying he now expected a relationship with Tehran that would preclude rebuilding its nuclear program despite uncertainty over damage inflicted by US strikes. As exhausted and anxious Iranians and Israelis both sought to resume normal life after […]
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a “historic victory” against Iran despite a US intelligence report concluding that American strikes set back Tehran’s nuclear program by just a few months. Iran and Israel agreed a ceasefire on Tuesday ending 12 days of tit-for-tat strikes, after US President Donald Trump joined the conflict with bunker-busting […]
WASHINGTON: In a 48-hour whirlwind, President Donald Trump veered from elated to indignant to triumphant as his fragile Israel-Iran ceasefire agreement came together, teetered toward collapse and ultimately coalesced. Trump, as he worked to seal the deal, publicly harangued the Israelis and Iranians with a level of pique that’s notable even for a commander in […]
The Israeli military reported two missiles fired from Iran mid-morning on Tuesday, leading sirens to blare in the north several hours after US President Trump announced a ceasefire plan. “Two missiles were launched from Iran and they were intercepted,” a military official told AFP on condition of anonymity, with the army saying people could leave […]
Tehran: Tehran threatened on Monday to inflict “serious” damage in retaliation for US strikes on the Islamic republic’s nuclear facilities, as the Iran-Israel war entered its 11th day despite calls for de-escalation. Aerial assaults meanwhile raged on, with air raid sirens sounding across Israel and AFP journalists reporting several blasts were heard over Jerusalem. The […]
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia expressed on Sunday its “great concern” following US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, according to a statement by the foreign ministry on X. The Saudi ministry statement “affirmed its condemnation and denunciation of violating the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, expressing the need to exert all efforts to exercise restraint, […]
TEL AVIV/DUBAI/WASHINGTON: Israel and Iran’s air war entered a second week on Friday and European officials sought to draw Tehran back to the negotiating table after President Donald Trump said any decision on potential US involvement would be made within two weeks. Israel began attacking Iran last Friday, saying it aimed to prevent its longtime […]
GENEVA: Iran’s foreign minister plans to meet in Geneva on Friday with leading European counterparts, who hope to open a window for a diplomatic solution to the weekold war that has seen Israeli airstrikes target Iranian nuclear and military sites and Tehran firing back. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, however, said his country is not […]
WASHINGTON/DUBAI/JERUSALEM: President Donald Trump kept the world guessing about whether the United States will join Israel’s bombardment of Iranian nuclear sites as the Israel-Iran conflict entered its seventh day on Thursday. Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump declined to say if he had made any decision on whether to join Israel’s campaign. “I […]
WASHINGTON: The US military has moved some aircraft and ships from bases in the Middle East that may be vulnerable to any potential Iranian attack, two US officials said on Wednesday. The moves come as President Donald Trump kept the world guessing whether the United States would join Israel’s bombardment of Iran’s nuclear and missile […]
RIYADH: Saudia has confirmed that all passengers and crew are safe after a flight from Jeddah to Jakarta made an emergency landing at another airport in Indonesia, Al Arabiya News Channel reported on Tuesday. The flight was forced to divert after an email threat claimed there was a bomb on board, a Saudia spokesperson said. […]
SOUTH SUDAN: Swooping low over the banks of a Nile River tributary, an aid flight run by retired American military officers released a stream of food-stuffed sacks over a town emptied by fighting in South Sudan, a country wracked by conflict. Last week’s air drop was the latest in a controversial development: private contracting firms […]
JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON/DUBAI: Iran and Israel launched new missile strikes at each other on Wednesday as the air war between the two longtime enemies entered a sixth day despite a call from US President Donald Trump for Iran’s unconditional surrender. The Israeli military said two barrages of Iranian missiles were launched toward Israel in the first two […]
DUBAI/JERUSALEM: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement read by a television presenter on Wednesday that his country will not accept US President Donald Trump’s call for an unconditional surrender. In his first remarks since Friday, when he delivered a speech broadcast on state media after Israel began bombarding Iran, Khamenei said […]
LONDON: As military exchanges between Israel and Iran continued on Tuesday for a fifth consecutive day, the UAE’s minister of foreign affairs, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, warned of the wider threat posed by the continuing conflict and called for an immediate ceasefire. “There is no alternative to political and diplomatic solutions,” he said, calling […]
RIYADH: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke on the phone on Sunday with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to discuss the escalating situation between Israel and Iran, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The two leaders reviewed the latest developments in the region, with particular focus on the repercussions of Israeli military operations targeting Iran. They stressed the […]
LONDON: Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has warned that military action by Israel alone will not be enough to significantly delay Iran’s nuclear ambitions, describing the Islamic republic as a “threshold nuclear power.” Speaking to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Barak said that Israel’s ability to hold back Tehran’s program was limited. “In my judgment, it’s […]
CAIRO: A unit of Gaza’s Hamas-run police force said it killed 12 members of an Israeli-backed militia after detaining them early Thursday. Hours earlier, an Israel-supported aid group said Hamas attacked a bus carrying its Palestinian workers, killing at least five of them. The militia, led by Yasser Abu Shabab, said its fighters had attacked […]
GENEVA: The number of people forcibly displaced from their homes worldwide has dropped slightly from a record high but remains “untenably high,” the United Nations said Thursday. A record 123.2 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced from their homes at the end of 2024, said UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. But that figure dropped to […]
AHMEDABAD, India: An Air India passenger plane bound for London with more than 240 people on board crashed Thursday in India’s northwestern city of Ahmedabad, the airline said. Visuals on local television channels showed smoke billowing from the crash site in what appeared to be a populated area near the airport in Ahmedabad, a city […]
RIYADH: Saudi interior minister conducted a field tour on Wednesday to inspect the readiness of the Al-Mashaaer Al-Mugaddassah (Holy Sites) Metro Line as pilgrims move to the holy site of Arafat. Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud, who also heads the Supreme Hajj Committee, was briefed on the mechanisms of dispatching and scheduling train trips, in full […]
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump signed a new travel ban Wednesday targeting 12 countries including Afghanistan, Iran and Yemen, reviving one of the most controversial measures from his first term. Trump said the measure was spurred by a makeshift flamethrower attack on a Jewish protest in Colorado that US authorities blamed on a man they […]
CAIRO: Israel has carried out its first airstrikes in Syria in nearly a month, saying it hit weapons belonging to the government in retaliation for the firing of two projectiles toward Israel and holding interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa responsible. Damascus said Israeli strikes caused “heavy human and material losses,” reiterating that Syria does not pose […]
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: A US and Israeli-backed group operating aid sites in the Gaza Strip announced the temporary closure of the facilities on Wednesday, with the Israeli army warning that roads leading to distribution centers were “considered combat zones.” The announcement by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) follows a string of deadly incidents near […]
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Health Minister Fahad Abdulrahman AlJalajel recently visited a Hajj pilgrim who had received emergency cardiac surgery at East Arafat Hospital. The minister, who is also chairman of the Health Holding Co., made the visit during an inspection tour of healthcare facilities before the pilgrimage begins later this week, the Saudi Press Agency […]
Written by Dimitra Staikou
