In the latest unrest, an Israeli soldier is killed in a shooting at a bus station in the southern city of Beersheba, the first such attack after a day in which violence seemed to somewhat ebb.

The United States and Europe begin preparing to lift the trade sanctions that have hobbled the Iranian economy as a historic nuclear deal came into effect.

Iran's parliament approves a historic nuclear deal with world powers on Tuesday, effectively ending debate among lawmakers over the agreement and paving the way for its formal implementation.

Talented American student of Sudanese origin Ahmed Mohammed Al-Hassan arrived in Jeddah to perform Umrah and visit his relatives, reports Arab News.

Government troops backed by Lebanon's Hezbollah and Russian air raids advanced yesterday in western Syria in a "vast offensive" against rebels, as Nato voiced alarm at Moscow's escalating military activity in the country.

Four Russian cruise missiles fired at Syria from the Caspian Sea landed in Iran, unnamed US officials say.

Medical charity MSF yesterday demanded an international probe into a deadly US air strike on an Afghan hospital, after reports said Nato's top regional

Iraqi forces have retaken several areas north and west of Ramadi as efforts to close in on the Anbar provincial capital seized by jihadists in May intensify, officials said yesterday.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei yesterday banned any further negotiations between Iran and the United States, putting the brakes on moderates hoping to end Iran's isolation after reaching a nuclear deal with world powers in July.

New violence rocked Israel and the West Bank yesterday, including a stabbing in annexed east Jerusalem, even as Israel and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas took steps to ease tensions.

Failure to act in Syria risks stoking a "total war" in the Middle East, French President Francois Hollande said in a landmark speech to the European Parliament alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Smuggling gangs with suspected Russian links tried to sell nuclear material to Islamic extremists from ISIS, an investigation has found. In the backwaters of Moldova, authorities working with the FBI interrupted four attempts in the past five years by the gangs that sought to sell radioactive material to Middle Eastern extremists, The Associated Press news agency learned. The latest known case came in February this year, when a smuggler offered a huge cache of deadly cesium — enough to contaminate several city blocks — and specifically sought a buyer from ISIS.

US forces attacked a hospital in northern Afghanistan last weekend, killing at least 22 people, despite "rigorous" US military procedures designed to avoid such mistakes, the top commander of US and allied forces in Afghanistan said yesterday.

Turkey has warned the EU that millions more refugees could flee Syria as the civil war intensifies, European Council President Donald Tusk has said.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said yesterday he wanted to avoid a violent escalation with Israel, his most direct comments since unrest has spread in recent days and provoked fears of a new uprising.

At least 63 people have been killed in a series of car bomb attacks in Iraq , police and medical sources say.

Fresh clashes erupted yesterday in the West Bank and Israel's military shot dead a 13-year-old Palestinian boy after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged a crackdown following attacks that killed four Israelis.

Islamic State militants in northern Syria have blown up another monument in the ancient city of Palmyra, officials and local sources say.

Turkey warned Russia yesterday against violations of its airspace by warplanes straying over the border from Syria, as Nato called an emergency meeting over the "unacceptable" intrusion.

Two Egyptian policemen have been shot dead in the bastion of the Islamic State group in the Sinai Peninsula, the interior ministry said, in an attack claimed by