Middle East
Latest stories
8 Syrians Dead, Rebels Wage New Raid as Turkey Slams World 'Silence'

Rebel troops hit offices of Syria's ruling party on Thursday, a day after a daring raid on an intelligence base that prompted Russia to warn that its longtime ally risks "full-scale civil war."

The rocket-propelled grenade attack in northwestern Idlib province, near Turkey, came as security forces killed eight people, including two children, despite an Arab League ultimatum that Syria halt the bloodshed or risk sanctions.

W140 Full Story
Sadr Sympathizes with Syria 'Revolutionaries', Praises Assad

Iraq's anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has expressed support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while noting that he sympathizes with the “revolutionaries” in Syria.

Assad has since March been trying to crush a popular uprising against his government, in which over 3,500 people have been killed, according to U.N. figures.

W140 Full Story
Syria Arms Sale Suspect Death in Jordan Jail Sparks Anger

Residents of a border town went on an overnight rampage after a Jordanian, who allegedly helped two Syrians buy arms, died in detention, police said on Thursday.

Angry protesters in Ramtha, a town north of Amman and near the border with Syria, set fire to the governor's offices, the courthouse and a police car before a riot squad broke up the demonstration using tear gas.

W140 Full Story
Muslim Brotherhood Open to Turkish 'Intervention' in Syria

The leader of Syria's exiled Muslim Brotherhood said Thursday that his compatriots would accept Turkish "intervention" in the country to resolve months of bloody unrest.

"The Syrian people would accept intervention coming from Turkey, rather than from the West, if its goal was to protect the people," Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammad Riad Shakfa told a press conference.

W140 Full Story
Syria Says it will Arrest Any Person Attacking Diplomatic Missions

Syria said it has issued a warning to its citizens that they would be arrested and prosecuted if they took part in further attacks on embassies.

"The interior ministry will take all necessary measures, including the arrest and trial, of any person seeking to attack diplomatic missions," the state news agency SANA reported.

W140 Full Story
Kuwait Emir Orders Police to Maintain Order Day after Protestors Storm Parliament

Kuwait's emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, on Thursday ordered the national guard and security forces to take all "necessary" measures to maintain security in the Gulf state.

The order was issued in a statement by the cabinet which held an emergency meeting chaired by the emir, a day after opposition-led protesters calling for the premier's resignation stormed the parliament building.

W140 Full Story
General Assembly Resolution to Seek Syrian Rights Condemnation

Germany, Britain and France are pressing for a U.N. resolution that would strongly condemn Syria's human rights violations and call for an immediate halt to all violence in the country.

The three European countries decided to move ahead with the General Assembly resolution after the Arab League confirmed its suspension of Syria Wednesday and gave Bashar Assad's government three days to halt the violence against civilians and accept an observer mission or face economic sanctions.

W140 Full Story
Lavrov Says Syria Rebel Attacks May Lead to 'Full-Scale Civil War'

Damascus' Russian ally said Thursday that attacks by renegade Syrian troops risked plunging the country into civil war and accused foreign powers of fanning the flames by supporting the opposition.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was speaking after talks with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, piling more pressure on his increasingly isolated regime.

W140 Full Story
UAE: Iranian Official's Son Died of Medicine Overdose

The son of a top Iranian official whose body was found in a Dubai hotel last weekend died of an overdose of anti-depression and schizophrenia medicine, United Arab Emirates police said.

A forensic investigation "rules out any criminal suspicion" in the death of Ahmed Rezaei, 35, Dubai's police chief, Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan, said late Wednesday, according to the state news agency WAM.

W140 Full Story
Juppe Says Syrian Opposition Must Get Organized

The Syrian National Council opposed to the regime of Bashar Assad needs to be better organized before any official recognition of it, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Thursday.

"The SNC must get organized," Juppe told RMC radio, excluding immediate official recognition of the confederation of most anti-Assad groups protesting Assad's regime in Syria.

W140 Full Story