Middle East

Israeli air strikes on bases in Syria are a warning to Turkey to keep its military assets away.

11 hours agoShareSaveDan JohnsonCorrespondentReporting fromJerusalemShareSaveMobile phone footage has emerged that appears to contradict Israel's account of why soldiers opened fire on a convoy of ambulances and a fire truck on March 23, killing 15 rescue workers.
The video, published by the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), shows the vehicles moving in darkness with headlights and emergency flashing lights switched on – before coming under fire. The PRCS said the video was obtained from the phone of a paramedic who was killed.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) initially denied the vehicles had their headlights or emergency signals on.
But in response to the new video, the IDF told the BBC: “All claims, including the documentation circulating about the incident, will be thoroughly and deeply examined to understand the sequence of events and the handling of the situation”.
A surviving paramedic previously told the BBC that the ambulances were clearly marked and had their inter..

6 hours agoShareSaveCachella Smith and Lana LamBBC NewsShareSaveSindbad submarine vessels seen off the coast of Hurghada in August 2022. Six Russian tourists have died after a tourist submarine sank in the Red Sea near the Egyptian city of Hurghada.
Thirty-nine other people were rescued after the vessel – the Sindbad – sank at about 10:00 local time (08:00 GMT), officials say. Nine are said to have been injured with four in critical condition.
Two of those who died were children, Russia’s Tass news agency reports, citing a Russian official.
Authorities are still investigating and it is currently not known what caused the incident.
This is the second incident involving a tourist vessel in the Red Sea in recent months. In November, a boat capsized near Marsa Allam, which left 11 people missing, presumed dead.
The Sindbad had been in operation as a tourist submarine for a number of years.
Egypt submarine sinking: What we know so farSindbad Submarines, the company running the trips, says i..

The Palestinian Oscar winner’s West Bank home was attacked by Israeli settlers. Ballal’s co-director says his acclaim “does not help us on the ground”.

1 day agoShareSaveRushdi AboualoufGaza correspondentAlex BoydBBC NewsShareSaveHundreds of people took to the streets of Beit Lahia, with many chanting anti-Hamas slogansHundreds of people have taken part in the largest anti-Hamas protest in Gaza since the war with Israel began, taking to the streets to demand the group step down from power.
Masked Hamas militants, some armed with guns and others carrying batons, intervened and forcibly dispersed the protesters, assaulting several of them.
Videos shared widely on social media by activists typically critical of Hamas showed young men marching in the streets of Beit Lahia, northern Gaza on Tuesday, chanting “out, out, out, Hamas out”.
Hamas said it condemned those who it accused of pushing “suspicious political agendas” and shifting the blame from Israel.
Pro-Hamas supporters downplayed the significance of the protests and accused the participants of being traitors.
The protests in northern Gaza came a day after Islamic Jihad gunmen laun..

7 hours agoShareSaveMahjooba NowrouziBBC Afghan Service, KabulShareSaveGirls being taught at the Shaikh Abdul Qadr Jilani madrassaAmina will never forget the moment her childhood changed. She was just 12 years old when she was told she could no longer go to school like boys.
The new school year began on Saturday in Afghanistan but for the fourth consecutive year, girls over 12 were barred from attending classes.
“All my dreams were shattered,” she says, her voice fragile and filled with emotion.
Amina, now 15, has always wanted to become a doctor. As a little girl, she suffered from a heart defect and underwent surgery. The surgeon who saved her life was a woman – an image that stayed with her and inspired her to take her studies seriously.
But in 2021, when the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan, Amina’s dream was abruptly put on hold.
“When my dad told me the schools were closed, I was really sad. It was a very bad feeling,” she says quietly. “I wanted to get an education so t..

2 days agoShareSaveSebastian UsherMiddle East correspondentThomas MackintoshBBC NewsShareSaveHamdan Ballal poses with Rachel Szor after they won Best Documentary Feature Film for No Other Land at the OscarsA Palestinian Oscar winner who activists say was attacked by Israeli settlers before being detained by the Israeli military has been released, his co-director has said.
Hamdan Ballal, who co-directed No Other Land, had his house in the Israeli-occupied West Bank surrounded by settlers during an attack on Monday, the activists said.
His co-director Yuval Abraham – who said Mr Ballal was beaten by settlers then taken by soldiers while in an ambulance, which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) denied – said on Tuesday afternoon that Mr Ballal had been freed.
The IDF said three Palestinians and an Israeli had been detained on suspicion of “rock hurling” at security forces.
The five activists from the Center for Jewish Nonviolence group (CJNV) said they had gone to the village to document th..

3 days agoShareSaveKayla EpsteinBBC NewsShareSaveThe Trump administration is facing political uproar after the White House confirmed that a journalist had been inadvertently added to an unsecure group chat in which US national security officials planned a military strike in Yemen.
The Atlantic magazine’s Jeffrey Goldberg reported that he had been added to a Signal message group which apparently included Vice-President JD Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
He said he had seen classified military plans for US strikes on Houthi rebels, including weapons packages, targets and timing, two hours before the bombs struck.
The report sparked a firestorm of criticism from opposition Democrats and concerns among several Republicans.
Goldberg said he had been added to the message chain, apparently by accident, after receiving a connection request from someone who appeared to be White House National Security Advisor Michael Waltz.
“If they were going to pick an errant phone number, I mean ..

Friends and family of Badar Khan Suri in India say they are shocked by the terror charges against him.

3 days agoShareSaveRaffi BergBBC News, LondonRushdi Abu AloufGaza correspondent, CairoShareSaveAn Israeli air strike on a hospital in Gaza killed a senior Hamas leader and an aide on Sunday evening, a Hamas official told the BBC.
Ismail Barhoum, the group’s finance chief, was hit in Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis.
Barhoum is one of the most senior Hamas figures killed since Israel resumed military action against the group last Tuesday, ending a two-month ceasefire.
Hamas said Barhoum was being treated in Nasser Hospital for wounds suffered in an air strike four days ago.
But Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Lt Col Nadav Shoshani said that was “completely false”. He said Barhoum was in the hospital “in order to commit acts of terrorism” and had been there for weeks.
The Hamas-run health ministry said on Monday morning that 730 people had been killed by Israel since then. It said at least 61 had been killed over the past day.
Meanwhile, a 75-year-old Israeli man was killed and a ..