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Israel Punishes Officers over Palestinian Detainee's Death

The Israeli military said Tuesday it would reprimand a senior officer and remove two others from leadership roles over the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian who was dragged from a car, bound and blindfolded after being stopped at a checkpoint.

It said the soldiers believed Omar Asaad was asleep when they cut his zip-ties and left him face-down in an abandoned building where he had been detained with three other Palestinians. The other detainees said they did not know he was there until after the army left.

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U.S. Urges Allies to Repatriate IS Detainees after Syria Prison Attack

The United States on Monday urged its allies to repatriate suspected Islamic State-linked nationals detained in northeast Syria, after the jihadist group launched an attack on a prison to free its fighters.

Washington called on its partners in the international coalition to defeat the Islamic State (IS), also referred to as ISIS, "to improve the secure and humane detention of ISIS fighters, support rehabilitation initiatives, and urgently repatriate their nationals and other detainees remaining in northeast Syria," in a statement from State Department spokesman Ned Price.

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HRW Calls on Egypt to Reveal Whereabouts of Missing Islamist

Human Rights Watch on Monday called on the Egyptian authorities to reveal the whereabouts of a Muslim Brotherhood member who reportedly disappeared following an unscheduled landing in Egypt. 

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Israel's Top Arab Police Officer Resigns amid Investigation

The highest-ranking Arab Muslim officer in Israel's police force has resigned, according to a statement Monday — a week after a video emerged showing him tripping over the body of a stabbing victim as he left the scene of a crime in 2020.

Police said in a statement that Maj. Gen. Gamal Hakroosh tendered his resignation on Sunday, and that it would take effect Monday.

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Group Urges EU to Stop Returning Migrants to 'Hellish' Libya

A leading rights group on Monday urged the European Union to reverse its migration policy on Libya, saying the approach helps return migrants to "hellish" conditions in the North African country.

Amnesty International said in a statement more than 82,000 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya in the past five years since the EU began its cooperation with Libyan authorities to block migrants from reaching European shores.

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Biden to Meet Qatar Leader as Europe Energy Crisis Looms

President Joe Biden is hosting the ruling leader of Qatar at the White House on Monday as he looks for the gas-rich nation to step up once again to help the West as it faces the prospect of a European energy crunch if Russia further invades Ukraine.

Qatar played a central role in aiding last summer's U.S. military evacuations of Afghan helpers and U.S. citizen in Afghanistan, hosts the biggest American air base in the Middle East, and served as a go-between with the Taliban for the last three U.S. administrations as they tried to wind down America's longest war.

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UAE Intercepts Yemen Missile as Israeli President Visits

The United Arab Emirates intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels early Monday as the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, was visiting the country, authorities said, the third such attack in recent weeks.

The attack only fuels ongoing tensions affecting the wider Persian Gulf, which has seen a series of attacks as Iran's nuclear deal with world powers collapsed and Yemen's yearslong war rages on.

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Over 330 Killed since IS Attacked Syria Prison

More than 330 people have been killed in heavy fighting since Islamic State group militants first attacked a prison in northeast Syria, a war monitor said on Sunday.

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Israel President on 1st Visit to UAE amid Regional Tension

Israel's figurehead president arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday in the first official visit by the country's head of state, the latest sign of deepening ties between the two nations as tensions rise in the region.

The UAE and Israel normalized relations in the fall of 2020, part of a series of U.S.-brokered diplomatic deals between Israel and Arab states that had long avoided formal relations with Israel over its decades-old conflict with the Palestinians.

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Iran Condemns 'Destabilizing' Attack on Baghdad Airport

Iran's foreign ministry on Saturday condemned a rocket attack against Baghdad airport that took place the previous day as an act that seeks to "destabilize" Iraq.

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