Middle Orient

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Iraqi transport ministry activated an agreement with Iran to operate lines for flights between the Baghdad and Najaf airports, on one hand, and the Mashhad International Airport in Iran on the other, a senior advisor for the transport minister said. “The lines between Baghdad and Najaf in …

TEHRAN (FNA)- British Foreign Secretary David Miliband in an unprecedented move wrote a letter to British Muslim leaders to placate criticism about the UK’s policy in refusing to condemn Israel’s massacre of nearly 900 Palestinians in Gaza. “I thought it would be helpful to be in touch about the extremely …

GAZA – Israeli leaders trying to find a knockout blow against Hamas militants defying a 17-day-old assault on the Gaza Strip have sent army reservists into battle. With the Palestinian death toll nearing 900 and international pressure for a ceasefire mounting, Israeli forces might launch a full-scale attack on Hamas …

GAZA (Reuters) – Israel and Hamas vowed to keep fighting on Sunday, ignoring international calls to stop the Gaza conflict which entered a 16th day with heavy clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian guerrillas. Hamas’s leader in exile, Khaled Meshaal, said his Islamist group would not consider a truce until …

(Reuters) – Israel and Hamas remained locked in a 16-day-old Gaza war on Sunday, ignoring international calls for a ceasefire. The Palestinian death toll topped 850, including many civilians. Three Israeli civilians, killed by rockets, and 10 soldiers have died. Here are some questions and answers about the conflict:

RIYADH (Reuters) – A leading Saudi campaigner for political rights has been released without charge after eight months in detention, a rights activist said on Sunday. Matruk al-Faleh, a politics professor, was set free on Saturday after he was taken from his offices at King Saud University in Riyadh last …

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli soldiers killed 10 Palestinian gunmen during clashes in the city of Gaza on Sunday, Palestinian medical officials said. The location of the fighting, on the southwest side of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip’s biggest population centre, suggested Israel was intensifying a more than two-week-old offensive. Troops previously …

(Reuters) – Following are developments in the fighting in the Gaza Strip as of 0500 GMT: (* Denotes new or updated items) *GAZA – Palestinian witnesses report heavy fighting east of the city of Gaza where Hamas militants fired anti-tank missiles and mortar bombs at advancing Israeli forces who responded …

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel said on Sunday the job of stopping arms smuggling from Egypt to the Gaza Strip should be done by Egyptian forces and rejected the idea of an international force. European and Israeli diplomats have said an international force is part of a package mediators are trying …

GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli aircraft, tanks and ships pounded the Gaza Strip for a 15th day Saturday and militants from Hamas fired rockets back at Israel, both sides defying international efforts to put a stop to the conflict. In the latest exchange of fire, eight Palestinians were killed by an …