Iran coronavirus deaths jump to 26 as top officials, including vice president, become infected
The coronavirus epidemic in Iran has cost 26 lives, the health ministry announced Thursday, with a vice president becoming the latest top official to be infected as the spread appeared to accelerate. Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour told a news conference that the tally of ...
'Revenge, revenge': Black-clad Iranians mourn general killed by U.S.
Black-clad mourners packed Iran's second city Mashhad on Sunday as the remains of top Gen. Qassem Soleimani were paraded through the streets after he was killed in a US strike. "Iran's wearing black, revenge, revenge," they chanted as darkness fell and they followed a truck ...
Iraq condemns U.S. airstrikes on Iran-backed militia as unacceptable and dangerous
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi on Monday condemned U.S. airstrikes on bases of Iranian-backed Iraqi militia, a move that could plunge Iraq further into the heart of a proxy conflict between the United States and Iran. The U.S. military carried out airstrikes on Sunday ...
Iraqis step up anti-Iran protests as deadline for new prime minister looms
Thousands took to the streets in Iraq's capital and across the south Sunday to protest Iran's kingmaking influence, as the latest deadline for choosing a new prime minister loomed. Anti-government rallies have rocked Baghdad and the Shiite-majority south since Oct. 1, with demonstrators calling for ...
A senior U.S. military official said on Wednesday attacks by Iranian-backed groups on bases hosting U.S. forces in Iraq were gathering pace and becoming more sophisticated, pushing all sides closer to an uncontrollable escalation. His warning came two days after four Katyusha rockets struck a ...
A prominent civil society activist was shot dead late Sunday in Iraq's shrine city of Karbala while returning home from anti-government protests, a neighbor told AFP. Fahem al-Tai, 53, had been taking part in weeks of rallies denouncing Iraq's entrenched political elite as corrupt, inept ...
Lebanon government in 11th hour reform drive as protests swell
Lebanon's teetering government was expected Monday to approve a belated economic rescue plan as the nation prepared for a fifth day of mass protests against the ruling elite. A proposed tax on mobile messaging applications last week sparked a spontaneous, cross-sectarian mobilization that has brought ...
Netanyahu hints at Israeli involvement in Iraq blasts targeting pro-Iran forces
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted on Thursday of possible Israeli involvement in attacks against Iranian-linked targets in Iraq. A series of blasts in the past few weeks have hit weapons depots and bases belonging to paramilitary groups in Iraq, many of them backed by ...
Roaring along Baghdad's highways, the "Iraq Bikers" are doing more than showing off their love of outsized motorcycles and black leather: They want their shared enthusiasm to help heal Iraq's deep sectarian rifts. Weaving in and out of traffic, only the lucky few ride Harley ...
Thousands of Shiites flee as Taliban attack Afghanistan's 'safe' districts
Thousands of members of Afghanistan's mainly Shiite Hazara ethnic minority have fled their homes in the central province of Ghazni as the Taliban have pressed into two previously safe districts, officials and witnesses said on Wednesday. In heavy fighting over recent days, hundreds of Taliban ...
The leader of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah, a key Damascus ally, said on Wednesday his group would keep its military presence in Syria until further notice, commending a Russian-Turkish deal over Idlib as a step towards a broader political solution. But Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah indicated the ...
Five protesters killed in Basra in second night of clashes with security forces
Five protesters were killed and 16 more were injured during a second day of clashes with security forces in Iraq's main southern city Basra, local health and security sources said. Twenty-two members of the security forces were also wounded, some by a hand grenade, the ...
