Tag: Region Middle East

CAIRO, February 15. /TASS/. Hostages held by Palestinian radicals in the Gaza Strip, including Russian Alexander Trufanov, have been handed over to the staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Egypt’s Al-Qahira Al-Ekhbariya TV channel reported on Saturday. According to the footage provided by the Egyptian TV broadcaster, doctors and representatives of the radical party signed the relevant documents approving the transfer of hostages. The ICRC vehicles, carrying the released people, left the town of Khan Yunis…

ANKARA, February 14. /TASS/. A new round of aggression by Israel supported by the US would lead to even greater casualties among the Israelis, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters from his pool upon returning from Asia. “We can clearly see that Hamas is honoring its promises under the ceasefire agreement. As usual, it is the Israeli administration that is the party whose word cannot be trusted. It is evident that the Israeli administration is not seeking to make…

NOVO-OGARYOVO, February 12. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa have exchanged views on the situation in the country, the Kremlin press service reported, citing the content of the telephone conversation between the heads of state. “The sides held a substantive exchange of views on the current situation in Syria,” the statement said. “The Russian side stressed its principled position in support of the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian state,” the press service…

The Pentagon will deploy roughly 1,500 more active-duty soldiers to the southern border to support President Donald Trump’s expanding crackdown on immigration, a U.S. official said Friday. That would eventually bring the total to about 3,600 active-duty troops at the border. The order has been approved, the official said, to send a logistics brigade from the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Liberty in North Carolina. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deployment has not yet been publicly…

MANILA, Philippines — U.S. and Philippine fighter aircraft staged a joint patrol and training Tuesday over a disputed South China Sea shoal where Chinese fighter jets fired flares last year to drive away a Philippine aircraft, Philippine officials said. The joint patrol and air-intercept drills over the hotly disputed Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines were the first by the longtime treaty allies since U.S. President Donald Trump took office again. Trump’s “America First” foreign policy thrust has sparked concerns…

Israeli forces shot a two-year-old girl in the head in her West Bank home on Saturday while she was eating dinner with her family, according to health officials and family members. The Palestinian Health Ministry says Laila Muhammad Al-Khatib was shot dead during an Israeli military raid on the village of Ash-Shuhada, just south of Jenin. “They started to shoot at us through the windows without any warning,” Ghada Asous, the toddler’s grandmother, said. “All of a sudden, the special forces raided…

While fighting in the air may have stopped in Gaza, danger remains for Palestinians returning to parts of the war-torn territory due to unexploded bombs on the ground. They blend in with the mounds of rubble and destruction. Efforts are underway in Gaza to locate and remove these bombs, starting in the southern Gaza city of Rafah — which saw some of the heaviest combat in the 15-month-long long war between Israel and Hamas. But mines advisory groups say in order…

WASHINGTON – Two U.S. lawmakers will keep trying to block arms sales to the United Arab Emirates, having determined that the UAE is providing weapons to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan’s civil war, they said on Friday. A UAE official denied this. The Sudanese army and the RSF together led a coup in 2021 removing Sudan’s civilian leadership, but fell out less than two years later over plans to integrate their forces. The war that broke out…

The latest disintegration of a SpaceX test flight was a spectacular sight, as broken-up rocket parts streaked like jellyfish tendrils across the Caribbean sky Thursday evening. But some experts say focusing on that dazzling light show, as many people and media outlets did, highlights a lack of understanding of the environmental aftermath of these spacecraft failures. Moriba Jah, professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Texas Austin, compares it to marvelling at the beauty of a nuclear bomb’s mushroom cloud. “Being mesmerized by…

As Israel marks Hanukkah, ceasefire talks with militants in Gaza remain stalled as Israel continues to pound targets in the territory. Among the latest reported victims of the war, a displaced child who froze to death overnight while sheltering in a tent.

NATO calls for full investigation of Azerbaijan Airlines crash BRUSSELS (Reuters) – NATO on Thursday called for a full investigation into the cause of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that killed 38 people. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and victims of Azerbaijan Airlines flight J28243,” NATO spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah said in a post on the platform X. “We wish those injured in the crash a speedy recovery and call for a full investigation.” Kazakhstan’s senate chairman said…

CHICAGO (AP) — Hours of secretly recorded videos and phone calls have offered a rare glimpse into how the longest-serving legislative leader in American history operated behind closed doors. As the corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan stretches into its third month, testimony has covered his multiple alleged schemes, from kickbacks involving the state’s largest utility company to Chinatown developments benefiting his private tax firm. Jurors have heard from a congresswoman, former state legislators and the government’s…

NEW YORK – U.S. troops will be staying in Syria after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad as part of a counter-terrorism mission focused on destroying Islamic State militants, a top White House official said on Tuesday. “Those troops are there for a very specific and important reason, not as some sort of bargaining chip,” U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer said in an interview at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York. U.S. troops “have been there now for the…

There are legitimate concerns about the risks of sectarian violence in Syria and a resurgence of extremism in the country, the European Union’s new foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday, while pointing to positive early signals. Syria’s new interim leader announced on Tuesday he was taking charge of the country as caretaker prime minister with the backing of the former rebels who toppled President Bashar al-Assad three days ago. Kallas also told a European Parliament committee session that…

BEIRUT – A Syria war monitor said on Dec 10 that Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants in central Homs province killed 54 soldiers who were fleeing as Islamist-led rebels pressed a major offensive on government-controlled areas. ISIS militants captured “personnel fleeing military service in the desert… during the collapse of the regime” of president Bashar al-Assad and “executed 54“ of them in the Sukhna area in Homs province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. ISIS overran…