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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Two pro-government villages in northwestern Syria were evacuated on Thursday, state television said, in an agreement between the Damascus government and insurgents who had laid siege to them for several years. In exchange, the government was due to release hundreds of prisoners from its jails. ...
U.S. top envoy Rex Tillerson says Hezbollah role poses threat to Lebanon
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned Lebanon on Thursday that the Iran-backed Hezbollah group's growing arsenal and involvement in regional conflicts threatened Lebanon's security. Speaking alongside Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri in a Beirut news conference, Tillerson also said the United States was engaging ...
Israel wary as advancing Syrian army and Iranian proxies demand rebels near border surrender
Syrian rebels pinned down in a strategic area where the Israeli and Lebanese borders meet with Syria were handed an ultimatum by the Syrian army and its Iranian-backed militia allies to either surrender or face certain military defeat, rebels said on Tuesday. The Syrian army ...
Twin suicide bombers kill at least five at Shiite mosque in Kirkuk
Two suicide bombers killed at least five people and wounded more than 20 in an attack on a Shiite mosque in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Sunday, police and medical sources said. It was the first such attack since the central Iraqi government ...
