The lifting of crippling international sanctions linked to Iran's nuclear program and the flurry of diplomacy that led to the release of

Iran says new US curbs on the Islamic Republic's ballistic missile programme were illegitimate, vowing to continue developing its conventional military deterrent.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said yesterday that the official implementation of the landmark deal reached between Tehran and six

Israeli troops killed two knife-wielding Palestinian assailants in the occupied West Bank yesterday, the army said, the latest in a months-long spate of street violence that Israel's defence minister described as declining.

Members of the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State will meet in Paris next week to reinforce efforts against the group, France's defence minister said on Thursday, adding that the militants were clearly retreating in Iraq.

With the war in Syria headed for a sixth year, UN agencies on Tuesday appealed for $7.73 billion in funding to help 22.5 million people affected by the conflict.

An Israeli air raid yesterday in the northern Gaza Strip targeting alleged militants killed one Palestinian and wounded three others, the Israeli army and a Palestinian official said.

Iran yesterday released 10 US Navy sailors detained in the Gulf, heading off a potential crisis within days of the expected implementation of its nuclear deal with world powers.

Jihadist gunmen and bombers killed at least 12 people in a busy market area of Baghdad while a double blast at a cafe north of the Iraqi capital claimed another 20 lives.

The Saudi-Yemeni and North African branches of al-Qaeda have threatened to avenge Saudi Arabia's execution of more than 40 jihadists, calling the measure a "foolish act."

Iran has sacked a senior security official over his failure to stop the ransacking of Saudi Arabia's embassy, which led the Sunni-ruled kingdom to sever

A missile strike on a Doctors Without Borders clinic in Yemen killed at least four people Sunday, the group said, condemning what it called a "worrying pattern"

Aid including one month's worth of food and medicine can reach for 40,000 people trapped in Madaya, a besieged Syrian village as early as Sunday morning, the World Food Programme says.

Around 50 Shia Muslims yesterday formed a human chain in front of Jatiya Press Club in the capital protesting the execution of a

Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said a war between his country and Iran would be the beginning of a catastrophe and Riyadh would not allow it.

Dozens of air strikes hit the Yemeni capital Sanaa yesterday, in what residents described as the heaviest aerial attacks there in nine months of war, days after a Saudi-led coalition trying to restore a Saudi-backed government ended a fragile ceasefire.

One can wonder what is going on in the Middle East these days, especially the civil and sectarian strife that are tearing Iraq, Syria and Yemen apart.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister arrived in Pakistan yesterday, where he will meet leaders of a government keen to defuse spiraling sectarian tension between the Sunni-majority kingdom and Shia Iran.

The Syrian government agrees to allow aid into the besieged rebel-held village of Madaya, the UN says, amid reports of residents starving to death.

Iran and Saudi Arabia take further steps to sever commercial ties today, intensifying a feud between the regional rivals, as Tehran announced a ban on imports from Saudi Arabia and Saudi groups called for boycotts of Iranian products.