Sulaimaniyah, Iraq: Four fighters affiliated with Turkey’s banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were killed Friday in a Turkish drone strike in Iraq’s autonomous northern region, Kurdish officials said. Turkish army drones targeted a “vehicle belonging to PKK fighters” in the city of Kalar, the anti-terrorist squad in Iraqi Kurdistan said in a statement. It killed […]
conflict
US airborne raid nets top IS operative in Syria
BEIRUT: US coalition forces said they captured a senior Islamic State group bomb maker in an airborne operation before dawn Thursday in northern Syria. A war monitor and AFP correspondents said military helicopters touched down for only a few minutes in a village in an area controlled by Turkish-backed rebel groups. The US-led coalition dedicated […]
Libya capital rocked by heavy fighting between militias
TRIPOLI: A night of clashes between militias in the heart of a residential district of the Libyan capital Tripoli raised fears on Saturday of escalating violence in the conflict-riven country. The intense fighting that erupted late Friday between two influential militias left at least one person dead and caused significant material damage, a security source […]
Russia’s Lavrov cancels Serbia trip after countries close airspace
MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was forced to cancel a visit to Serbia on Monday after several of its neighbours prevented his plane from passing through their airspace, officials said. Lavrov had been due to hold talks with top officials in Belgrade, one of Moscow’s few remaining allies in Europe since the launch of […]
Putin tells Erdogan Russia ready to work to reopen shipping
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin told Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday that Moscow was ready to work with Ankara to free up maritime shipping blocked over the conflict in Ukraine. “Vladimir Putin noted the readiness of the Russian side to contribute to the unimpeded maritime transit of goods in coordination with Turkish partners. […]
Jerusalem on high alert ahead of Israeli ‘flag march’
Jerusalem: Jerusalem braced for a controversial “flag march” on Sunday as Israelis mobilized to commemorate the city’s unification and Palestinian groups threatened retaliation over the annual rally that sparked a war last year. Hours before the march was to begin, tensions were high in Jerusalem’s Old City, where an extreme-right Jewish lawmaker and other Jewish […]
Turkey’s Erdogan urges Swedish PM to end support to ‘terror’ groups: presidency
Istanbul: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Saturday urged Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson to take “concrete steps” to end financial and political support for “terrorist” groups, the presidency said. Erdogan told Andersson in a phone call that “Sweden’s political, financial and weapon support to terrorist organisations must end,” it said. Turkey has threatened to block Sweden […]
Wheat prices hit record high after Indian export ban
PARIS: Wheat prices surged to a new record high in European trading on Monday after India decided to ban exports of the commodity as a heatwave hit production. The price jumped to 435 euros ($453) per tonne as the Euronext market opened, up from the previous record of 422 euros reached on Friday. On the […]
10 killed in deadliest recent Syria rebel attack
Beirut: Syrian rebels killed 10 soldiers in northern Syria Friday, in the deadliest such attack since a truce deal reached over two years ago, a war monitor and state media said. Nine soldiers were also wounded in the attack, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported, quoting a military source. “Around 9:30 this morning terrorists targeted […]
G7 leaders to hold video conference with Zelensky on Sunday
Berlin: Leaders of the world’s top industrialised nations will hold video talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, a spokeswoman for the German government as acting G7 chair said. “The German chancellor (Olaf Scholz) will hold the third video conference since the start of the year with his G7 partners,” Christiane Hoffmann told reporters […]