Sheikh Atilyoush al-Shatat and his son were gunned down by unknown assailants in Hawaij Theban village in Deir ez-Zor’s eastern countryside reports SANA.

The announcement comes after Gulf leaders this week agreed to end their years-long embargo of Qatar. The United Arab Emirates will reopen its borders to Qatar beginning Saturday, the Emirati Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation announced Friday, days after the Gulf countries agreed to resume ties with Doha.

Burns, a former ambassador to Jordan and Russia, would bring with him decades of experience in the foreign service. President-elect Joe Biden has named career diplomat William Burns as his choice to be the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency. If confirmed, Burns would be the nation’s first-ever spy …

Relief organizations in Yemen warn the designation will hamstring their life-saving work in a country already considered to have the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The Trump administration will designate Yemen’s Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said late Sunday, despite months of pleading from relief …

The United States on Sunday started the process of establishing a consulate in contested Western Sahara, after Washington recognized Morocco’s sovereignty there in exchange for Rabat normalizing ties with Israel. U.S. Ambassador to Morocco David Fischer visited the port of Dakhla, 1,440 kilometers (895 miles) southwest of Rabat in the …

The meeting will focus on the peace process in the Middle East as well as ways to tap into the recently-signed normalisation agreements between Israel and the four Arab countries

Negotiations between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt, in a long-running dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile, have reached a new impasse, the three countries said on Sunday. “We cannot continue this vicious cycle of circular talks indefinitely,” Sudanese irrigation minister Yasir Abbas said in a …

The United States will designate Yemen’s Huthi rebels as a terrorist group, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday, a late-term move that aid groups fear will worsen a humanitarian crisis. With just 10 days left before President-elect Joe Biden takes office, the action could complicate the new administration’s efforts …

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A leadership member of the opposition umbrella group Kurdish National Council (ENKS) accused the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) of being the de-facto ruler of northeast Syria’s autonomous region (Rojava), adding that the group has harmed Kurdish unity talks.

At least seven troops of the Syrian regime were killed in clashes with the Islamic State (IS) in the countryside of Deir ez-Zor, a monitor said on Saturday.