Israel launched pre-dawn air strikes near the Syrian capital yesterday, state media said citing a military source, at a time of heightened regional tensions over the Gaza war.

Israel killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in a drone strike in Lebanon’s capital Beirut yesterday, Lebanese and Palestinian security sources said, as its forces kept pummelling parts of Gaza, vowing further “high-intensity” warfare against Hamas in the enclave.

Turkey yesterday announced the detention of 33 people suspected of planning abductions and spying on behalf of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service.

Turkey on Tuesday announced the detention of 33 people suspected of planning abductions and spying on behalf of Israel's Mossad intelligence service

Israeli tanks pulled out of some Gaza City districts yesterday while remaining in others, residents said, ahead of a planned troop reduction in the offensive, but fighting raged elsewhere in the Palestinian enclave along with intense bombardment.

Saudi Arabia executed 170 people in 2023, including four on New Year’s Eve -- an increase on the previous year, according to an AFP tally based on announcements by Saudi authorities.

Israeli settlers killed at least 10 Palestinians and torched dozens of homes in the occupied West Bank in 2023, making it the “most violent” year on record for settler attacks, an Israeli watchdog said yesterday.

The White House said Sunday it is not seeking a wider conflict in the Middle East after US forces sank three boats of Yemen's Houthi rebels in the Red Sea

The health ministry in Gaza Strip said yesterday at least 150 people have been killed in 24 hours in the Palestinian territory as Israeli jets intensified attacks, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retake control of the enclave’s border with Egypt.

More than 4,360 people, including combatants and civilians, were killed in Syria’s civil war in 2023, in the thirteenth year since fighting began, a war monitor said yesterday.

Israeli tanks pushed deeper into central and southern Gaza yesterday under heavy air and artillery fire, residents said, pressing a deadly offensive that has razed much of the enclave and that Israel has said may last months more.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday he was “very concerned” about the growing threat of infectious diseases in the Gaza Strip.

At least 35 people were killed in Nuseirat and Maghazi refugee camps following Israeli bombings in central Gaza yesterday, as the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said an aid convoy came under fire by the Israeli military in the enclave.

Iran yesterday hanged four people convicted of spying for arch foe Israel, the judiciary said, less than two weeks after authorities had executed a man on similar grounds.

Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) said on Thursday it had discovered multiple gold deposits south of its existing Mansourah Massarah gold mine, indicating the potential to expand gold mining in the area.

Israeli forces continued with the offensive in besieged Gaza Strip as relentless strikes killed more than 200 people including entire families over the past 24 hours across the Palestinian territory.

A court in Qatar has dropped the death sentence imposed on eight former Indian naval officers arrested there last year, India's External Affairs Ministry said today

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas yesterday said the Israeli offensive in Gaza is worse than genocide as the death toll in the besieged Palestinian territory surged above 21,000. 

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was no different from Adolf Hitler and likened Israel’s attacks on Gaza to the treatment of Jewish people by the Nazis.

The Israeli army struck more than 100 Hamas targets, including tunnel shafts in central Jabalia and Khan Yunis in south Gaza, in 24 hours till yesterday afternoon as heavy ground combat continued.