Spotlight
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Middle East
Israel defense minister denies report of PM-army rift on eve of election
Israel's defense minister denied on Monday reports of a rift between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the army over Iran, as the premier's riv...
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Middle East
Iran holds security talks with Saudi, Pakistan, Turkey
High-level delegations from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey were in Tehran on Monday for meetings with Iranian authorities to try to avert renewe...
Israelis entered the final 24 hours of an intense election season on Monday, as reports circulated that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have clashed with the Israeli military over initiating a possible escalation with Iran immediately before the vote.
Tensions flared over reports that Netanyahu and his military chief of staff disagreed over an instruction by the prime minister to carry out an "action" that the army worried could reignite the conflict with Iran. Netanyahu's office denied the report, first published by Israel's Channel 12, as "fake news."
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Egypt's parliament authorized on Monday sending military support to Saudi Arabia to defend the kingdom from attacks by Yemen's Houthis, following a request from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
The House of Representatives "approved authorizing President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to take the necessary measures to support the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia", state newspaper Al-Ahram reported.
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A ceasefire agreement in Gaza has not stopped what a group of independent experts commissioned by the U.N. say is genocide carried out by Israel in the territory, the team said in a new report Monday. They also accused Israeli forces of crimes against humanity, including torture and rape, in the West Bank.
Israel, which denies both the genocide and the sexual assault claims, did not immediately respond to the report's publication.
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Iraq's government said Monday that a Yazidi armed group in the northern district of Sinjar would be dissolved and its fighters would join the country's official security forces.
The agreement comes as authorities seek to bring weapons under state control despite opposition from some of the country's most powerful militias, and amid a push to end Turkey's military presence in northern Iraq.
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Israel's elections Tuesday could mark the end of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decades-long political career.
But his legacy in the Israeli-occupied West Bank — of massive settlement expansion, the displacement of tens of thousands of Palestinians and the empowerment of armed settler extremists — will likely endure, even if his opponents seek to rein it in.
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Jordanian security forces arrested three men on Monday for an attack on a Greek Orthodox Church that killed nine people and wounded more than two dozen last week. The arrest involved a shootout and all three men were wounded, officials said.
The Public Security Directorate said no member of the Jordanian forces was wounded in the dawn shootout in Karak, south of Jordan's capital, Amman.
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The Saudi-led military coalition fighting Yemen's Houthis struck several of its missile launchers and storage facilities, a spokesman said on Monday, while the Iran-backed group claimed a new attack on Riyadh's international airport.
The coalition's operation came a day after explosions rattled Saudi Arabia's capital and authorities sent text messages to residents warning them of a "hostile aerial threat" to the city, which has been heavily targeted by the Houthis in recent weeks.
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Iran's foreign ministry said Monday that the outcome of the Israeli elections in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a tight race will make "no difference".
"It makes no difference to us who, in these elections, takes the helm of a regime that has brought nothing but violence and massacres to our region," said ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei in a weekly press briefing, a day ahead of the Israeli legislative polls.
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Many Iranians are bracing for a return to all-out war as Israeli and U.S. leaders sharpen their threats ahead of elections in both countries in the coming days, and as Iran's leaders remain defiant despite mounting pressure.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces a close vote Tuesday, says Iran's leadership must be eliminated. U.S. President Donald Trump vows to "finish the job" in Iran eight months after the war began, as a third aircraft carrier and thousands of troops make their way to the region. Some fear attacks just after the U.S. midterms on Nov. 3.
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U.S. President Donald Trump has bristled when asked how far he was from a possible attack on Iran. He recently said on social media he would not hit Iran again before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
“Do you really think I’m going to tell you if I’m going to do it?" Trump responded. “And there’s a possibility I will. There’s also a possibility we’ll have a nice, big, beautiful agreement.”
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