Middle Orient

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain has formally handed over responsibility for the running of Basra airport to Iraqi authorities, the Ministry of Defence said on Friday, a move that paves the way for Britain to withdraw from Iraq. The airport, on the outskirts of Iraq’s second largest city in the south …

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A suicide bomber struck a lunch gathering of Sunni Arab tribal leaders on Friday in a town south of Baghdad, killing at least 23 people and wounding 42 others, security spokesman Major-General Qassim Moussawi said. The U.S. military said its initial reports said 21 were killed and …

GAZA (Reuters) – They boarded buses in the pre-dawn murk on Friday, lucky foreign passport holders allowed by Israel to escape from seven days of Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip. “The situation is very bad. We are afraid for our children,” said Ilona Hamdiya, a woman from Moldova married …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian student groups have appealed to the government to authorize martyrdom-seeking volunteers to leave Iran and fight against Israel in response to the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip. The government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had not responded to the call by Wednesday. Five student groups and a …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is due to arrive here in Tehran on Saturday heading a high-ranking economic delegation. The two-day trip is aimed at a discussion of bilateral ties of the two neighbors and their supreme council of economic cooperation. During his stay in Tehran, the Iraqi …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Israel rejected international pressure for a two-day cease-fire with Hamas and sent warplanes Wednesday to demolish tunnels that are the lifeline of Gaza’s population. The diplomatic efforts to forge a truce were set in motion by the scale of destruction in Gaza since Israel unleashed an offensive Saturday …

TEHRAN (FNA)- The religious leader of the Iranian Jews, Rabbi Golestaninejad, has issued a decree calling on Jews to help Palestinians, specially those under the Israeli blitzkriegs in the Gaza Strip. It is the duty of every “monotheistic Jew” to help these people, Golestaninejad said. He called on his coreligionists …

GAZA (Reuters) – Hamas would consider renewing a lapsed truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip, but wants guarantees the Jewish state will halt incursions and keep border crossings open for supplies of aid and fuel, a spokesman said on Tuesday. Gaza’s Islamist leaders had initially ruled out extending the …

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s parliament approved a measure on Tuesday that clears the way for troops from Britain, Australia and a handful of other nations to remain in Iraq after a U.N. mandate expires at year’s end, a senior lawmaker said. “We authorize the government to take all necessary steps …

JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) – Israel killed a Palestinian militant Tuesday in the occupied West Bank and launched at least one air strike against rocket-launching crews in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. A six-month-old ceasefire between Hamas and the Jewish state expires Friday, and tension along Israel’s border with the Gaza …