Switzerland looks set to loosen arms export rules to allow sales to countries embroiled in civil wars despite a newspaper report that Swiss-made hand grenades probably made their way...

More than a million Syrian children are at risk in the event of a government military assault on the rebel-held province of Idlib, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)...

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has invited the United States and six other countries for talks to end the Syria conflict in Geneva next month, a UN spokeswoman...

The return of Syrian refugees should not be linked to the resolution of the conflict in their country, Lebanese President Michel Aoun said yesterday. Aoun reiterated that his country...

Iran’s utmost authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the Islamic Republic had nothing to be concerned about, a report on his official website said on Wednesday, as the...

Swedish activist Benjamin Ladraa has been visiting Palestinian refugees in camps around Lebanon as part of his #WalkToPalestine campaign

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will visit neutral European neighbours Switzerland and Austria next month, the Swiss and Austrian governments said, on a trip overshadowed by the looming imposition of...

Swiss lender Banque de Commerce et de Placements (BCP) has suspended new transactions with Iran and is winding down Iran-related activities, the latest company to halt business after the United States said...

A senior Palestinian official on Wednesday called on the Swiss government to issue a formal apology for remarks made by Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis in which he criticized...

The Islamic Palestinian Resistance Movement, Hamas, has condemned a comment by Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis about the Palestinians’ right to return. The movement said that it was “shocked”...

Donors to an Israeli medical excellence programme refused to continue funding it because one of the doctors selected this year to receive the money is Arab, the Times of...

Switzerland has returned $33 million in frozen assets to Egypt. Some $700 million were frozen as a precaution following the overthrow of long-term dictator Hosni Mubarak in popular protests...

Kuwaiti authorities yesterday announced a temporary ban on the import of all types of live birds from three European countries and eight countries in south-eastern Asia due to an...

The civil war in Syria has left more than 1.5 million people with various physical injuries, Swiss German- language newspaper, Tages -Anzeiger reported. The newspaper cited data from UNICEF,...

Moroccan authorities yesterday arrested a Swiss national who had an international arrest warrant issued against him over suspicion of sexually exploiting minors. According to a statement by the country’s...

Switzerland and Qatar will step up cooperation in criminal investigations under a new accord to expedite mutual legal assistance, the Swiss government said today. After a memorandum of understanding...

Some 3,000 world leaders gathered in Davos for the World Economic Forum (WEF) last month, and there was a record number of Middle Eastern delegates among them. With eight...

Swiss Secretary of State for Migration Mario Gattiker said yesterday that his country would receive 2,000 Syrian refugees from Lebanon, Quds Press reported. Gattiker made the announcement during a...

Almost a dozen countries have agreed to advance their annual contributions to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees to help it plug a major shortfall after a partial cut-off...

France’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that a peace process for Syria should take place under UN auspices in Geneva and not under Russia in the Black Sea resort of...

The Iraqi parliament today voted to lift sanctions imposed on banks in the Kurdistan region over an independence referendum, Reuters reported, quoting two main Iraqi TV channels. Iraqi lawmakers...

German Defence Minister Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen informed Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi at the Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland that Berlin will continue training Iraqi armed forces....

The Swiss newspaper Basler Zeitung revealed the fact that there exists a “secret alliance” between Saudi Arabia and Israel, intended “to restrain Iran’s expansion in the region, despite the...

Farid al-Deeb, the lawyer of the former Egyptian president, Muhammad Hosni Mubarak (1981-2011), has disclosed that his client does not own any assets of any kind abroad. In a...

The Swiss government yesterday decided to end a freeze on Egyptian assets worth about $436 million, including those of former president Hosni Mubarak. The government explained that the assets...

The Syrian opposition delegation to the Geneva-eight talks said, Wednesday, it has discussed elections with UN Special Envoy, Staffan de Mistura, and his team. “Today’s session was richer and deeper...

The Syrian opposition has called the government of President Bashar Al-Assad’s decision to quit UN-led peace talks in Geneva an embarrassment to Russia, Reuters reported yesterday. The comments came...

Swiss Federal prosecutors said yesterday that the Swiss authorities were examining information provided by banks about possible suspicious transactions related to Saudi accounts. The comments came in response to...

The Palestinian group Hamas said Wednesday that Israel’s barring of Swiss officials from entering the blockaded Gaza Strip from Israeli territory is “inhuman”. Hamas explained in a written statement that...

The Syrian opposition delegation at peace talks in Geneva is aiming for the removal of President Bashar Al-Assad and plans to engage his negotiators in serious and direct talks,...

Syria’s main opposition stuck by its demand on Thursday that President Bashar al-Assad play no role in an interim period under any UN-sponsored peace deal, despite speculation it could...

The Swiss Defense Ministry has admitted sending its staff to assess surveillance drones in Syrian Golan Heights, a territory occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, according to the Swissinfo...