Middle East

By Agencies

Middle Eastern nations increased their military expenditure by billions of dollars last year, with Saudi Arabia's budget now the fourth largest in the world, according to figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Read more: Saudis lead Middle East military spending

By Agencies

A foreigner has died from the deadly MERS coronavirus in Saudi Arabia, while Yemen has reported its first case of the disease.

Read more: MERS kills foreigner in Saudi Arabia

By Agencies

Israeli soldiers and police have hurled stun grenades at Palestinian worshippers after entering the holy Haram al-Sharif compound in Jerusalem.

Read more: Israeli police raid Jerusalem holy site

By Agencies

Syrian state television and rebel forces have traded accusations over a poison gas attack that reportedly caused "suffocation and poisoning" of residents.

Read more: Syrian sides trade blame over new gas attack

By Agencies

Syrian jet fighters are reported to have launched a fierce offensive against a string of opposition strongholds, including Kafr Zita, a village north of Damascus that was recently hit by an alleged poisonous gas attack.

Read more: Syrian jets hit rebel bastions near Damascus

By Agencies

A car bombing in a commercial area of a northern Iraqi city has killed at least 10 people, while a separate bombing in the north has left six more dead, Iraqi officials say.

Read more: Deadly car bombings hit northern Iraq

By Agencies

Syrian rebels have advanced in Aleppo, killing scores of troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

Opposition fighters stormed the Ramouseh district in an attempt to cut the government's supply route between the city's international airport and a large army base, the reporter said on Saturday.

Read more: Syria rebels advance in Aleppo city

By Agencies

Two members of the Muslim Brotherhood have been killed in an exchange of gunfire with Egyptian security forces in the Nile Delta, the Interior Ministry said, and the Islamist group said another of its supporters was shot dead in Alexandria.

Read more: 'Muslim Brotherhood' members killed in Egypt

By Agencies

Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlak has survived an assassination attempt in the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad, after gunmen dressed as soldiers attacked his convoy, killed a guard and wounded at least five people.

Read more: Iraqi deputy PM escapes assassination attempt

By Agencies

At least 50 members of the Iraqi armed forces and seven fighters have been killed in clashes in the city of Ramadi, while two deadly car bombs have hit the capital Baghdad.

Read more: Scores killed in clashes in Iraq's Ramadi