Middle East

For two days in a row, Israel Defence Forces have been carrying out strikes on what the IDF claims are Iranian targets in Syria.

A newly-released video shows the second Israeli attack on Syria in two days. According to the Israeli military, the strikes were carried out to prevent "Iranian entrenchment" in Syria.

TEL AVIV (Sputnik) - The Israel Defense Forces said they had ordered to suspend on Monday the work of the country's only ski resort, Mount Hermon, located on border with Syria.

Damascus' air defense systems earlier on Sunday repelled an air strike by Israel in the south of Syria, a source in the country's military told Sputnik.

ANKARA (Sputnik) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his US counterpart Donald Trump during a phone conversation agreed to speed up negotiations on the creation of a security zone in northeastern Syria, the Turkish leader’s administration said on Sunday.

On Sunday, the Israeli Air Forces carried out an attack against the Damascus International Airport. A Russian military spokesman confirmed that Syrian-operated air-defense missile systems destroyed seven Israeli missiles, successfully repelling the attack.

Tehran has condemned the upcoming meeting, scheduled to take place in Warsaw in mid-February, branding it a "desperate anti-Iran circus."

BEIRUT (Sputnik) - About 20,000 people participated in mass rallies organized by the Lebanese Communist Party in Beirut on Sunday to protest the authorities' economic policy amid the Arab League Economic and Social Development Summit, a Sputnik correspondent reported.

Earlier in the day, Syrian air defence systems successfully repelled an Israeli attack in the country's south.

BEIRUT (Sputnik) - Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Sunday proposed to establish a strategy on the reconstruction of Arab states, calling for the creation of a bank and working mechanisms for that purpose.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Incumbent Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced on Sunday that he had officially registered as a candidate for the upcoming presidential election.

The German magazine Der Spiegel reported that the suspect had access to highly sensitive information, including the deployment of troops in Afghanistan, and passed it along to the Iranian secret services.

A military source indicated that air defence systems in the country's south have successfully repelled an Israeli air attack, preventing the attackers from achieving any of their objectives.

Case 4000 pertains to corruption allegations against Benjamin Netanyahu, with suspicions that he assisted the Bezeq group, controlled by Shaul Elovitch, in exchange for favourable media coverage, while working as communications minister in 2014-2017, in addition to his prime ministerial post.

ANTAKYA (Sputnik) - As many as 10 people were killed and 18 others were injured in two bomb explosions in the Syrian city of Afrin, a source in the Free Syrian Army (FSA) told Sputnik on Sunday.

The explosion occurred on the highway in a suburb of Damascus, Syria according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

DAMASCUS (Sputnik) - All of those killed were civilians, members of three families, the Syrian pro-government newspaper al-Watan's sources said.

DOHA (Sputnik) - The Saudi-led Arab coalition has conducted a series of airstrikes against the positions of the Houthis Ansar Allah militants in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, local media reported on Saturday.

DUBAI (Sputnik) - Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates announced plans on Saturday to launch a digital coin as a way to boost bilateral ties, Emirati state media reported.

Israel's longstanding policy has been to neither admit nor deny that the country has nuclear weapons. However, estimates by reputable intelligence companies suggest the country has between 80 and 400 nuclear warheads, making it the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East.