An 'increasingly confident' Israel is taking advantage of the instability in the Middle East to try to eliminate a 'long-standing enemy', says an expert in the region.Following victories against Hamas,

Israeli strikes blow up part of the defence ministry and hit close to the presidential palace. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Spread across Syria, Lebanon and Israel, the secretive religious minority has long balanced integration and independence. Now, members are at the heart of the region’s shifting power struggles.

An earlier statement had claimed there had been no casualites. The church was being used as a shelter for both Christians and Muslims, including a number of children with disabilities, according to Fadel Naem,

Israel, which has murdered over 60,000 Palestinians - most of them women and children - in Gaza, wounded more than 130,000, and destroyed nearly 80 percent of the territory’s buildings, cannot now masquerade as a protector of minorities.

A video clip circulating on social media in recent months shows Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Shara, astride a handsome black horse in a sand riding ring with a few thick palm trees. He is alone, wearing a trim leather jacket, as the high-stepping horse circles within the ring.

Emirates has officially resumed operations in Damascus, Syria, after a 13-year hiatus, reestablishing the city amongst its Middle East destinations.

Syria’s Interior Ministry denied reports that its forces had entered the southern Druze-majority province of Suwayda to contain ongoing clashes between Druze groups and Bedouin tribes, a state-owned Syrian TV reported on Friday,