Top News

28-12-2024 DAMASCUS: Syria’s new rebel-led authorities say supporters of ousted President Bashar al-Assad have killed 14 interior ministry troops in an “ambush” in the west of the country. They say 10 other troops were wounded in the fighting on Tuesday near the Mediterranean port of Tartous, a stronghold of Assad’s …

28-12-2024 MOSCOW/ BAKU: The Russian government has cautioned against promoting “hypotheses” about the cause of the crash of a Russia-bound passenger plane that killed 38 people in Kazakhstan on Wednesday. Some aviation experts suggested that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane had been hit by air defence systems over the Russian republic …

28-12-2024 PANAMA CITY: Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino has denied claims by US president-elect Donald Trump that there are Chinese soldiers stationed at the Panama Canal. In recent days Trump has threatened to take the canal back into US control, accusing Panama of “ripping off” the US by charging high …

28-12-2024 SANA’A/ UNITED NATIONS: The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other UN staff were at Yemen’s international airport in Sanaa on Thursday during Israeli air strikes which are reported to have killed at least six people. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said they were about to …

27-12-2024 DUBAI/CAIRO/ JERUSALEM: The Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel traded blame on Wednesday over their failure to conclude a ceasefire agreement despite progress reported by both sides in past days. Hamas said that Israel had laid down further conditions, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the group of …

27-12-2024 OTTAWA: The Canadian government condemned China on Tuesday for taking steps against two Canadian institutions and 20 people involved in human rights issues concerning the Uyghurs and Tibet. China announced the measures, which included asset freezes and bans on entry, on Sunday. Its targets included the Canada-based Uyghur Rights …

27-12-2024 GAZA STRIP: Israeli forces continue to pound Gaza, killing five journalists in an attack on their car in the central Nuseirat refugee camp, and five others in the bombing of a residential building in northern Gaza City. At least 30 people are reported missing in the latter assault. Doctors …

27-12-2024 DAMASCUS: Thousands of people have protested in several cities across Syria after a video circulates showing an attack on an Alawite shrine in the north, a war monitor and witnesses say. Syria’s new rulers said the video was “old” and “unknown groups” were behind the attack, saying “republishing” the …

27-12-2024 ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that Kurdish fighters in Syria will either lay down their weapons or “be buried”, amid hostilities between Turkiye-backed Syrian rebels and other armed groups since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month. Following al-Assad’s ouster on December …

27-12-2024 Bureau Report ISLAMABAD/ KABUL: The Pakistani military conducted air raids in neighboring Afghanistan late on Tuesday night, targeting hideouts of the Pakistan Taliban, known by the acronym TTP, armed group in Paktika province, according to security officials. While no official statement was issued by Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs …