TRCB News:Middle East

Syria’s top Muslim cleric has thanked Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his unwavering support of Syria’s government as it deals with widespread unrest, the presidency website reported Thursday. Grand Mufti Sheikh Ahmed Badreddin

China said on Thursday that a Syrian opposition delegation had visited the country this week and met a vice foreign minister, the first contact reported by Beijing in the wake of its veto in the U.N. of a draft resolution on the country. The

Australia denied as “nonsense” Thursday claims in a British newspaper that it played an “integral” part in illegally detaining prisoners of war at a secret Iraqi desert jail in 2003. The Guardian, citing a U.S. military document, said

Israel’s mounting speculation that Iran is moving closer to developing a nuclear weapon could have “catastrophic consequences,” a senior Russian foreign ministry official warned Thursday. “The inventions” concerning Iran’s nuclear

Chinese-made bullets and aircraft bought from Russia are used to commit rights violations in Sudan’s Darfur under an ineffective U.N. arms embargo, Amnesty International said on Thursday. The London-based rights watchdog aired similar

The Hamas prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, is on Friday to make a visit to Iran, which is celebrating the anniversary of its 1979 Islamic revolution, Iranian government officials said. The Palestinian leader was to be received by

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday the Arab League chief told him he intends to revive an Arab League monitoring mission in Syria, which has collapsed amid continuing violence there. Nabil Elaraby asked for U.N. help with the project

More soldiers and tanks will be deployed across Egypt as a warning to activists planning a national strike on the anniversary of the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s ruling generals said on Wednesday. Protesters are planning mass walkouts

Afghanistan’s forces will be “good enough” to take over its security by the end of 2014, even though only a small number of them now operate independently from NATO-led troops, a top U.S. general said Wednesday. Lieutenant General Curtis

European Union governments have reached an agreement in principle to impose sanctions on the Syrian central bank this month as part of new measures intended to force President Bashar al-Assad out of power, a senior EU diplomat said on Wednesday.