Middle East News

Syria's main opposition alliance on Wednesday urged fighters to come from around the country to reinforce a rebel-held town under attack by President Bashar Assad's troops and their allies from the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group.

A car bomb exploded as Sunni worshippers were leaving a mosque after evening prayers Tuesday in Baghdad, the deadliest in a string of attacks that killed at least 20 people nationwide in a week of the most sustained sectarian violence in the country since U.S. troops withdrew more than a year ago.

The latest attacks come amid a recent uptick in Sunni-Shiite violence in Iraq that has killed at least 266 people in the past three weeks, according to a CNN tally.

U.N. officials said Tuesday that the number of Syrian refugees arriving in Jordan has suddenly fallen from an average of 2,500 a day to fewer than 20, and they are trying to quickly figure out why.

The novel SARS-like virus that's been infecting people who have been in the Middle East or those who have been in contact with recent travelers to the region, has killed a 66-year-old Tunisian man following a visit to Saudi Arabia.

Iran's state TV says overseers of next month's presidential election have rejected a top aide of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a former president who revived hopes of reformers.

Shin Bet nabs two Hamas, Islamic Jihad cells plotting to kill Israeli, demand release of prisoners in exchange for body.

Syria said Tuesday it destroyed an Israeli vehicle that crossed the ceasefire line in the Golan Heights overnight, while the Israeli military said gunfire from Syria had hit an Israeli patrol, damaging a vehicle and prompting its troops to fire back.

President Barack Obama will be meeting with his disaster response team, including Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, on Tuesday before delivering a statement on the devastating tornado that tore through... President Barack Obama will be meeting with his disaster response team, including Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, on ... (more)

Officials say new attacks in Iraq have killed seven people and wounded dozens. A police officer says a suicide blast at a checkpoint, followed by militants who opened fire at Iraqi troops, has Civilians inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in the Kamaliyah neighborhood, a predominantly Shiite area of eastern Baghdad.

More than 70 people were killed in a series of car bombings and suicide attacks targeting Shi'ite Muslims across Iraq on Monday, police and medics said, extending the worst sectarian violence since U.S. troops withdrew in December 2011.

Qatar's emir, who has thrown his state's riches behind Arab uprisings, said on Monday that the emergence of 'people power' had put Arabs in direct confrontation with Israel and made a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more pressing.

Labor protests are uncommon across the Gulf Arab states, which depend on workers mostly from South Asia for vital construction jobs.

Three Brazilian tourists were killed when two hot air balloons collided in Turkey on Monday, the semiofficial Anadolu news agency reported, citing local officials.

Syrian troops pushed into a rebel-held town near the Lebanese border on Sunday, fighting house-to-house and bombing from the air as President Bashar Assad tried to strengthen his grip on a strategic strip of land running from the capital to the Mediterranean coast.

Peggy Cidor, a leading member of the Women of the Wall organization, stands in the hallway of her building in Jerusalem, Monday, May 20, 2013.

A string of car bombs and shootings killed at least 57 people in Shiite and Sunni areas of Iraq on Monday, officials said, escalating fears of a return to widespread sectarian bloodletting in the country.

Iraqi officials say five car bombs have gone off in Shiite neighbourhoods of Baghdad, killing 16 people and wounding 75.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held out the prospect on Sunday of further Israeli strikes inside Syria, pledging to act to prevent advanced weapons from reaching Hezbollah and other militant groups.

Violence surged in the strategically important Syrian town of Qusayr on Sunday. Activists said the offensive marked some of the most intense fighting they've seen in the fiercely contested area near the Lebanese border.