Tag - middle-east

 
 

MIDDLE EAST

This video grab from AFPTV taken on Sunday shows explosions lighting up the Jerusalem sky during Iranian attack on Israel.
WORLD
Apr 14, 2024
Iran launches unprecedented attack on Israel with drones and missiles
Israel's military spokesperson said Iran launched dozens of ground-to-ground missiles at Israel, most of them intercepted outside Israeli borders.
Missiles are showcased in a parade marking Iran's National Army Day in Tehran on April 18, 2023.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 14, 2024
Japan strongly condemns Iranian attack on Israel as 'escalation'
Japan has traditionally been a friendly nation to Iran, with Prime Minister Kishida meeting Iran' president as recently as September.
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with members of the National Security team regarding the missile attacks on Israel from Iran, in the White House Situation Room on Saturday.
WORLD
Apr 14, 2024
Biden pledges G7 response and U.S. support for Israel after Iran attacks
Iran launched explosive drones and fired missiles at Israel late on Saturday in its first direct attack on Israeli territory.
The Tel Aviv skyline. The Foreign Ministry has called on Japanese nationals in Israel to exercise extreme caution amid growing tensions in the region.
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2024
Caution urged for Japanese in Israel amid growing Mideast tensions
The warning was issued after Iran claimed that an airstrike on its embassy in Syria earlier this month was an act by Israel and hinted at retaliation.
Waters near the Strait of Hormuz, in Oman's Musandam province
WORLD
Apr 13, 2024
Iran seizes cargo ship in Strait of Hormuz, Iranian media says
State-run media reported that an Iran helicopter had boarded and taken into Iranian waters the Portuguese flagged MSC Aries.
A funeral procession in Tehran for seven Iranian military commanders killed by an Israeli airstrike in Syria, on April 5. American intelligence analysts and officials said Friday that they expected Iran to strike multiple targets inside Israel within the next few days in retaliation for an Israeli bombing in the Syrian capital on April 1 that killed several senior Iranian commanders.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 13, 2024
U.S. targets unlikely to be on list in possible Iranian attack, officials say
In anticipation of the strikes, several countries have issued new guidelines to their citizens about travel in Israel and the surrounding region.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in Tehran on Wednesday. He said that Israel "must be punished, and it shall be."
WORLD / Politics
Apr 12, 2024
Iran will not be hasty in response to Israel attack, sources say
Iran is seen as going with a measured response to Israel's April 1 attack on its Syrian embassy.
Hamas' top leader, Ismail Haniyeh, speaks during a news conference in Tehran on March 26.
WORLD
Apr 11, 2024
Three sons of Hamas leader Haniyeh killed in Israeli airstrike
The Israeli military confirmed carrying out the attack, describing the three sons as operatives in Hamas' armed wing.
Iranians burn an Israeli flag in Tehran last week during a rally and a funeral for those who were killed in a suspected Israeli airstrike on the Iranian embassy complex in the Syrian capital Damascus.
WORLD
Apr 11, 2024
U.S. sees missile strike on Israel by Iran or proxies as imminent
Such a strike would mark a significant widening of the 6-month-old conflict, according to people familiar with the intelligence.
Palestinian forensic and civil defense workers recover human remains at the grounds of Shifa hospital, Gaza's largest hospital, which was reduced to rubble by a two-week Israeli raid, on Monday.
WORLD
Apr 10, 2024
Families face 'unbearable' scenes to identify the dead at Shifa hospital
Gaza's largest hospital was reduced to rubble by a two-week Israeli raid. "The stench of death is everywhere," an emergency worker said.
NATO’s Jens Stoltenberg (left) and the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a news conference in Washington on Jan. 29
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2024
World rush to rearm could cost G7 countries $10 trillion over next decade
Security challenges include an aggressive Russia, a volatile Middle East, and the Chinese military tugging U.S. attention toward the Pacific.
Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour speaks with the media, accompanied by Yemen's Ambassador to the United Nations Abdullah Ali Fadhel Al-Saadi and Algeria's Representative to the United Nations Amar Bendjama, at U.N. headquarters in New York on March 25.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 9, 2024
Security Council to decide within April on Palestine's U.N. membership bid
Palestinians have lobbied for years to gain full membership, which would amount to recognition of Palestinian statehood.
During a rally in New York on Nov. 6, protesters call for a cease-fire in Gaza. U.S. President Biden should ensure that Israel abides by a March 25 U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2024
Biden must show Netanyahu that enough is enough
How can the U.S. president take the moral high ground if he allows Netanyahu to continue disregarding civilian life in Gaza, while arming Israeli soldiers?
Palestinians inspect destroyed residential buildings and a mosque in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday.
WORLD
Apr 8, 2024
Netanyahu pulls some troops from Gaza and says victory near
A significant Israel Defense Forces contingent will continue to operate in the enclave even after the troop drawdown in Khan Younis.
Palestinians who had taken refuge in Rafah, leave the city to return to Khan Younis after Israel pulled its ground forces out of the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday, six months into the devastating war sparked by Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks.
WORLD
Apr 8, 2024
Six months into 'long' war, Israel says readying for Rafah
Defense minister says troops left Khan Younis "to prepare for future missions, including ... in Rafah" where most of Gaza's population has taken refuge.
Mourners gather in Tehran on Friday for the funerals of senior Iranian military and intelligence officials killed in Israel's bombing of the Iranian Embassy building in Damascus, Syria.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 6, 2024
Israel and U.S. are on alert for Iran to strike back at Israel
Analysts say Iran is more likely to strike Israel itself than through Hezbollah, its closest militant ally.
Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, meets with the family of one of the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who were killed in the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian embassy complex in the Syrian capital Damascus, during a funeral ceremony in Tehran on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 5, 2024
Iran embassy strike shows Israel's growing reach and disregard for norms
"In my view, it's without precedent," one analyst said, adding that he could not recall any state targeting another's diplomatic presence in this way.
Former Hamas hostage Aviva Siegel poses during an interview with AFP during her visit to the 55th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, on Feb. 28. Nearly six months into the Gaza war, with the families of hostages still held captive by Hamas desperate for their release, many former hostages are finding the words to describe the ordeal of captivity.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 4, 2024
After six months of war, former Hamas hostages speak of ordeals in Gaza
About 130 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, Israel believes, including 34 who are presumed dead.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz walks as families and supporters of hostages kidnapped in the deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas take part in a four-day march from Reim to Jerusalem as they call for the release of hostages, near Beit Shemesh, Israel, on March 1.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 4, 2024
Israel’s Gantz ups ante with Netanyahu by calling for early elections
Gantz has seen his popularity among Israeli voters surge as that of Netanyahu has taken a nosedive.
World Central Kitchen’s damaged vehicle hit by an Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday
WORLD / Politics
Apr 4, 2024
Strikes in Gaza and Iran show limits of Biden’s leverage on Israel
They draw scrutiny to the question of how much leverage the U.S. president has over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and whether he’s willing to exert it.

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals