Media Coverage

Syria on Thursday dismissed the global chemical weapons watchdog’s statement, which said that investigators had found “reasonable grounds to believe” the Syrian air force dropped two cylinders of chlorine gas in 2018 on then-rebel-held town of Douma. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical...

Lebanon's top prosecutor has charged the judge leading the inquiry into the 2020 Beirut port blast and ordered the release of suspects in custody. On Monday, Judge Tarek Bitar unexpectedly restarted the probe after a 13-month suspension and filed unspecified charges against eight officials...

The judge investigating the 2020 Beirut port explosion has unexpectedly resumed his inquiry and charged top security officials, three judicial officials said on Monday, more than a year after his probe was frozen by political resistance. Judge Tarek Bitar's efforts to interrogate top officials over...

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday confirmed it had officially received a request from the United Nations General Assembly to give an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories. In a move condemned by Israel and welcome by...

On New Year’s Eve, a small boat carrying more than 230 would-be migrants, most of them Syrians, broke down and began to sink after setting sail from the northern coast of Lebanon. After bringing them back to shore, to the port of Tripoli, where they recovered overnight, the Lebanese army loaded...

Germany’s lower house has recognized as “genocide” the 2014 massacre by the armed group ISIL (ISIS) against the Yazidi minority group in Iraq and Syria. After seizing large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014, ISIL killed more than 1,200 Yazidis, enslaved 7,000 Yazidi women and girls, and displaced most...

The United Nations envoy for Yemen said on Monday he was encouraged by intensified efforts for an expanded truce deal but stressed they should seek an inclusive process for a sustainable political settlement. A UN-brokered truce deal agreed in April and rolled over twice delivered the longest...

The UN human rights chief says the flurry of death sentences handed down following the outbreak of civil unrest in Iran amounts to “state sanctioned killing,” with executions being used to strike fear into the population and stamp out dissent. The Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights said on Monday...

Israel’s right-wing government says it has approved a series of punitive measures in response to a Palestinian bid to push the International Court of Justice to give its opinion on the decades-old occupation. The measures announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing security cabinet...

The United Arab Emirates will begin teaching about the Holocaust in history classes in primary and secondary schools across the country, the country’s embassy in the United States said. The embassy provided no details on the curriculum and education authorities in the Emirates, a federation of seven...