Middle Orient

The Iraqi Kurdish region’s premier, Nechirvan Barzani, on Wednesday urged Kurdish rebels to declare a cease-fire “and think of another solution” to achieving their goal of a Kurdish state.

Hamas members of the Palestinian Parliament held a session of the assembly in Gaza on Wednesday in a challenge to the West Bank-based administration of President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah. Meanwhile in

The Lebanese political crisis was expected to rank high on the agenda of talks of US President George W. Bush and his French counterpart President Nicolas Sarkozy in

Following its monthly meeting in Bkirki, the Maronite Bishops’ Council reiterated “with insistence,” on Wednesday its call for government officials to find a consensus

The jailed chief of Turkey’s Kurdish rebels remains a powerful symbol for fighters who revere him with a personality cult. But the guerrilla lieutenants who plot tactics from bases in northern Iraq are coming under increasing scrutiny as Turkey presses Iraq and the United States for their arrest.

Campaigning for tougher sanctions on Tehran, Israel went on the offensive Tuesday against the UN nuclear watchdog, accusing its chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, of playing into Iran’s hands over its atomic program. The campaign comes with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) poised to publish a new report on

Pope Benedict XVI raised the issue of Christians living in Saudi Arabia in a historic meeting Tuesday with King Abdullah, the first monarch of the conservative Muslim kingdom to visit the Vatican. During their talks, which also touched on conflicts in the Middle East, the pope

Speaker Nabih Berri declared on Tuesday that the upcoming parliamentary session to elect the next head of state would likely be postponed, as senior Arab League official Hisham Youssef arrived in Beirut for two days of consultations with rival leaders. “As we near the deadline for a new president, it …

Israel’s foreign minister said Tuesday that an upcoming peace conference in the United States offers a crucial opportunity for progress, amid growing optimism that this time — just maybe — momentum for peace is real and sustainable.

Tens of thousands of Turkish troops were poised Tuesday on the border with Iraq awaiting the order to attack Kurdish fighters, and President Abdullah Gul said the country will do “what it believes to be right” to tame the rebels.