Category: Middle East

Image caption Children like Hamza are among the group’s last evacuees US President Donald Trump says “100%” of the Islamic State group’s territory has now been taken over, even though local commanders with the US allies, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), maintain total victory will be declared within a week. As the battle draws to […]

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media captionMiddle East correspondent Tom Bateman explains the allegations against Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu – currently seeking to be elected for a fifth term as Israel’s prime minister – has known many challenging times in politics, but none quite like this. The attorney general has confirmed that he […]

Image copyright AFPImage caption A huge anti-government protest was held in the capital, Algiers Tens of thousands of Algerians have been protesting against 81-year-old President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s decision to run for a fifth term on 18 April. It is a rare show of dissent in the North African country, where more than 30% of people […]

Image copyright AFPImage caption This suspected IS fighter left Baghouz this week; Riedijk and Shamima Begum left earlier Yago Riedijk was born and raised in well-to-do Dutch suburbia but abandoned it all in his early twenties for so-called Islamic State (IS). Old pictures show a smiling teenager perched behind a child on a motorbike. A […]

A Syrian refugee has stunned swimming experts by learning how to swim in just 12 months and is now training for the 2020 Olympics. Eid Aljazairli, who is 24 years old, nearly drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe in 2016. Now he is living with a British family and training at the […]

At its height, five years ago, the so-called Islamic State controlled 88,000 sq km (34,000 sq miles) of territory, stretching from western Syria to eastern Iraq. The jihadist group has now been contained to an area of less than half a square kilometre, according to its opponents. IS’s last remaining supporters – women, children, the […]

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media captionThe faces of the people abandoning IS’s final territory in Syria US-backed forces battling Islamic State in Syria say they have launched their final assault on the jihadists’ last pocket of control in the country. “Nothing remains in Baghuz except for terrorists,” a spokesman for the Kurdish-led […]

Image copyright Getty ImagesImage caption The OPCW has said its data provided “reasonable grounds” the attack took place, but did not assign blame. The global chemical weapons watchdog has concluded chlorine is likely to have been used in an attack on the Syrian town of Douma last April. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical […]

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media captionAlgerian police use tear gas in clash with protesters Tens of thousands in Algeria have taken to the streets angry at 81-year-old President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s plan to seek a fifth term in office. Police fired tear gas at protesters in the capital, Algiers. According to authorities seven […]

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media captionA train collided with a buffer stop and burst into flames next to a busy platform The deadly fire at Cairo’s main railway station on Wednesday happened because the train driver left the cabin without putting the brakes on, Egypt’s public prosecutors believe. They say a preliminary […]