Main headlines

June 15, 2013

Hasan Nasrallah. (Al Bawaba file photo)
20:40 GMT

Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah has said that Hezbollah will remain fighting alongside troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad and that its involvement in Syria was a calculated move.

A picture of Patriot missile systems, like those that will be deployed in the north of Jordan. Image for illustrative purposes. (AFP file photo)
20:20 GMT

US Patriot missiles and F-16 fighter jets have arrived in Jordan for a military exercise, as the north of the country is put on high alert after Hezbollah and regime fighters reached the Jordanian-Syrian border.

Hassan Rouhani, the new Iranian president. AFP photo
17:20 GMT

Securing 18.6 million votes, the moderate Hassan Rouhani has been elected as the new Iranian president.

June 14, 2013

Hezbollah supporters at a rally (AFP)
16:21 GMT

Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech Friday that US 'interference' in Lebanon and the Middle East was the tip of the iceberg

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US Secretary of State John Kerry (AFP)
16:07 GMT

Vladimir Putin's senior foreign policy adviser said that Russia was not convinced by Washington's evidence documenting chemical weapons use by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

NATO’s Secretary General, Ander Fogh Rasmussen said on Friday that the international community has made it clear that any use of chemical weapons in Syria is a severe breach of international law.
09:13 GMT

Earlier on Friday, a senior Russian lawmaker said via Twitter that information on the use of chemical weapons by Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad was fabricated. He also suggested the United States would use it to justify intervention in the Syrian conflict.

With the conservative camp divided, reformists seem confident of a good showing by moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani, who has emerged as a frontrunner with a real chance of forcing a run-off, analysts say.
08:41 GMT

More than 50 million people are eligible to vote for the man -- no women candidates were approved -- to succeed former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is barred from standing for a third consecutive term under the constitution.

Former prime minister Saad Hariri said Hezbollah defied Lebanon’s law and granted itself the right to make decisions on behalf of the nation.
08:30 GMT

Former prime minister Saad Hariri said Hezbollah defied Lebanon’s law and granted itself the right to make decisions on behalf of the nation.

June 13, 2013

Ahmad Othman, 14, was killed on May 2 when Bashar al-Assad’s forces shelled his town of al-Baydah near Banyas. (Photo courtesy of #Tweet4SyrianChild)
16:23 GMT

The photograph of the 14 year-old who was killed on May 2 was published by #Tweet4SyrianChild, a campaign that highlights suffering of Syrian children

Iranian policemen stand guard as supporters of Iranian moderate presidential candidate, Hassan Rowhani, attend a street rally at Vanak square in northern Tehran on June 12 (Behrouz Mehri / AFP)
15:16 GMT

Iranian authorities have intensified their crackdown on political activists and journalists as the country prepares to go to the polls on Friday

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem (Abir Sultan / AFP)
14:46 GMT

Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Danny Danon sais that regardless of John Kerry's diplomatic efforts, there will never be a Palestinian state

A column of black smoke billows from an oil pipeline about six kilometres (four miles) east of Marib in the eastern Yemeni province of the same name, after it was blown up by Yemeni tribesmen on June 12, 2010. Oil flow from a key Yemeni pipeline came to a halt on Thursday after tribesmen carried out a fresh attack on it, tribal sources and industry officials said.
13:52 GMT

A Yemeni soldier was killed in clashes Thursday with tribesmen who attacked an oil pipeline and halted the flow of crude, sources said.

Damascus International Airport (Al Bawaba file photo)
13:47 GMT

Syrian state media reports say that two mortar shells hit close to Damascus on Wednesday afternoon. As of yet, there have been no reports on the number of casualties.

A Syrian refugee leans against a tent in the northern Jordanian Zaatari refugee camp. AFP
10:53 GMT

According to a recent UN report, at least 93,000 Syrians (including more than 6,500 children) have been killed in the ongoing Syrian civil war.

The general view of the Jewish settlement of Itamar (background) behind the West Bank village of Awarta. Israeli settlers are seeking approval for hundreds of homes in the northern West Bank. AFP photo
10:13 GMT

Despite being considered illegal by the international community, Israel is seeking approval for the construction of hundreds of new settlements in the West Bank.