Latest Middle East News

Riot police scuffle with anti-government protesters outside the Ministry of Energy and Water in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020. Dozens of Lebanese protesters tried to storm the Ministry of Energy on Tuesday, angered by prolonged power cuts as the country grapples with a crippling economic crisis. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanese try to storm Energy Ministry amid power cuts

Aug. 4, 2020 10:50 AM EDT

BEIRUT (AP) — Dozens of Lebanese protesters tried to storm the Ministry of Energy on Tuesday, angered by prolonged power cuts as the country grapples with a crippling economic crisis. Security forces pushed back against the angry protesters, chasing away some who breached the ministry perimeter. Scuffles...

In this photo distributed by Colombia's Attorney Generals Office, officials pose with their backs to the camera by a pool on a property allegedly belonging to Alex Saab in Barranquilla, Colombia, Wednesday, July 22, 2020. Authorities seized a luxury mansion allegedly belonging to the businessman detained in Cape Verde on U.S. corruption charges related to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. (Colombia's Attorney Generals Office via AP)

Court OKs extradition of man linked to Venezuela's Maduro

Aug. 4, 2020 10:24 AM EDT

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A court in the West African nation of Cape Verde has approved the extradition to the United States of a Colombian businessman wanted on suspicion of money laundering on behalf of Venezuela's socialist government, his lawyers said Tuesday. The court made the decision to extradite...

An Israeli soldier drives a tank during an exercise in the Israeli controlled Golan Heights near the border with Syria, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Netanyahu warns Hezbollah after Israeli strike in Syria

Aug. 4, 2020 10:24 AM EDT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday warned the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group and others after Israeli forces said they thwarted an infiltration attempt from Syria by suspected militants. The Israeli military announced late Monday that it had struck targets in Syria...

This undated photograph provided by the family of Jamshid Sharmahd shows the 65-year-old man from Glendora, California. Iran abducted Sharmahd, a leader of a California-based Iranian militant exile group, while he was in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and apparently smuggled him into Oman before bringing him to the Islamic Republic, his family told The Associated Press on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020. Iran has only said they detained Sharmahd in what it describes as a

Family tells AP: Iran abducted California man while in Dubai

Aug. 4, 2020 7:46 AM EDT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A California-based member of an Iranian militant opposition group in exile was abducted by Iran while staying in Dubai, his family said Tuesday. The suspected cross-border abduction of Jamshid Sharmahd appears corroborated by mobile phone location data, shared by his...

Laith Jabbar, a gas station worker drinks water in Basra, Iraq, Monday, July. 27, 2020. As temperatures soar to record levels this summer, Iraq's power supply falls short of demand again, providing a spark for renewed anti-government protests. Amid a nationwide virus lockdown, homes are without electricity for hours in the blistering heat. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)

Record heat, politics inflame Iraq's electricity shortages

Aug. 4, 2020 5:27 AM EDT

BASRA, Iraq (AP) — In Iraq’s oil-rich south, the scorching summer months pose painful new choices in the age of the coronavirus: stay at home in the sweltering heat with electricity cut off for hours, or go out and risk the virus. This is Zain al-Abidin’s predicament. A resident of al-Hartha...

This image made from a 2017 video by The Modern Middle East shows Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a University of Melbourne scholar on the Middle East. The British-Australian academic serving a 10-year sentence for espionage in Iran has been moved to a notorious prison where concerns for her well-being have escalated, the Australian government confirmed Wednesday, July 29, 2020. (The Modern Middle East via AP)

Australia: British-Australian woman in Iran prison 'is well'

Aug. 4, 2020 4:15 AM EDT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's ambassador to Iran has visited a British-Australian academic who was convicted of espionage before being moved recently to a notorious Iranian prison, and found that she “is well,” Australia’s government said Tuesday. Kylie Moore-Gilbert was a...

A worker wearing a mask to protect against the coronavirus walks past space themed displays promoting an online service in Beijing, China on Monday, Aug. 3, 2020. An outbreak in China's far northwestern region of Xinjiang is continuing to subside. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

The Latest: Mainland China, Hong Kong report fewer new cases

Aug. 3, 2020 11:00 PM EDT

BEIJING — Both mainland China and Hong Kong reported fewer new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday as strict measures to contain new infections appear to be taking effect. Mainland China announced 36 new cases across the country, down from 43 the previous day. Of those, 28 were in the northwestern region of...

Afghan security personnel take position on the top of a building where insurgents were hiding, in the city of Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 3, 2020. An Islamic State group attack on a prison in eastern Afghanistan holding hundreds of its members raged on Monday after killing people in fighting overnight, a local official said. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Afghan forces retake prison after deadly attack by IS group

Aug. 3, 2020 6:26 PM EDT

JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AP) — Militants affiliated with the Islamic State group stormed a prison in eastern Afghanistan in a daylong siege that left at least 39 people dead, including the assailants, and freed nearly 400 of their fighters before security forces restored order, a government official said...

Libyan commander responds to federal lawsuits in Virginia

Aug. 3, 2020 6:20 PM EDT

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — A Libyan military commander who spent decades living in Virginia is now responding to two federal lawsuits accusing him of atrocities in his military campaigns. Khalifa Hifter leads the self-styled Libyan National Army. Once a lieutenant to Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, Hifter...

FILE - In this March 15, 2019 file photo, Iraqi Yazidi women grieve during the exhumation process of a mass grave in Iraq's northwestern region of Sinjar. U.N. investigators have collected millions of call data records implicating Islamic State militants in atrocities committed in northern Iraq, but delays in passing a law to govern war crimes probes is hindering the pursuit of justice, according to the head of the investigation. The data will help geolocate suspects in and around Sinjar in the summer of 2014, when the extremists killed and enslaved thousands of Yazidis. (AP Photo/Farid Abdulwahed, File)

Murad, Amal Clooney accuse leaders and UN of failing Yazidis

Aug. 3, 2020 5:41 PM EDT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Six years after Islamic State fighters launched an attack on Iraq’s Yazidi minority, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad and human rights lawyer Amal Clooney accused government leaders and the United Nations on Monday of failing to bring the extremists responsible for the...

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