5:22 pm - Thursday January 15, 2026

Middle East

Latest News on Middle East
IS stones to death two alleged gay men i...

IS stones to death two alleged gay men in Syria

DAMASCUS: Islamic State (IS) militants stoned to death two young men in Syria’s eastern province of Deir al-Zour on charges of having “unlawful” sexual intercourse with other males, a monitoring group has reported. The first man, 20-year-old, was stoned to death at the al-Bakara... read more »

Egyptian president to meet Pope Francis ...

Egyptian president to meet Pope Francis on Monday

VATICAN CITY: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will meet Pope Francis on Monday, Holy See spokesman Federico Lombardi said, in the first visit to the Vatican by an Egyptian leader in eight years. The afternoon meeting comes six months after Sisi’s rise to power. According to religious... read more »

Egypt making slow progress on genital mu...

Egypt making slow progress on genital mutilation

MANSHIET EL-IKHWA, Egypt: Raslan Fadl, the first doctor in Egypt to be put on trial for committing female genital mutilation, is still practicing even though a 13-year-old girl died after he performed the procedure. And in this Nile Delta Village, he has plenty of patients. Young girls and their... read more »

IS claims beheading of US aid worker, 18...

IS claims beheading of US aid worker, 18 Syrians

BEIRUT: The Islamic State jihadist group on Sunday claimed to have executed Peter Kassig, a US aid worker kidnapped in Syria, as a warning to the United States. The same video showed the gruesome simultaneous beheadings of at least 18 men described as Syrian military personnel, the latest in a... read more »

More from Middle East

Al-Qaida affiliate in Syria kills captive Lebanese soldier

9:53 P.M. The Nusra Front, al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, has killed one of the Lebanese soldiers it had been holding in captivity, Lebanese security sources and a statement on... read more »

France conducts first airstrike in Iraq, destroys logistics depot held by IS

PARIS: France says it has conducted its first airstrike in Iraq and has destroyed a logistics depot held by the Islamic State group. The office of President Francois Hollande’s office... read more »

Libya’s Zawiya refinery, El Sharara oil field shut: Report

TRIPOLI: Libya’s 120,000 barrels-a-day Zawiya refinery has been shut down due to damaged storage, an oil ministry official said on Thursday. The El Sharara field feeding the refinery... read more »

Iran rejects US-led coalition against IS

Seen from Tehran, which has helped both Damascus and Baghdad to confront IS advances, the coalition lacks credibility because some of its members had financed and armed the group as part of... read more »

Arab states mull air strikes on ISIS

PARIS: Several Arab countries have offered to carry out airstrikes against militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, senior US state department officials said on Sunday. The offer was... read more »