Author: Daily Sabah With Reuters

Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday that its forces had taken Berestky, a small village close to the embattled town of Kurakhove in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said after meeting his counterparts from Russia and Türkiye in Doha on Saturday that the three countries agreed that the fighting in Syria should be immediately halted, Iranian state media reported. In remarks largely similar to those of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Araqchi said: “The most important thing is to start political talks between the Syrian regime and legitimate opposition groups.”

One person died, three were injured and an unknown number of people were missing after a building in The Hague collapsed on Saturday following explosions and a fire, the mayor of the Dutch city said. Jan van Zanen told a news conference those missing were believed to be buried under debris. “The chance that living people will be found is very small,” he said. The cause of the disaster, which took place shortly after 6 a.m. local time (0500 GMT), was not known. Van Zanen said that there had been a small explosion, followed by a larger explosion. Police called…

Syrian regime leader Bashar al-Assad used Russian and Iranian firepower to beat back opposition forces during years of civil war but never defeated them, leaving him vulnerable when his allies were distracted by wars elsewhere and his enemies went on the march. The anti-regime groups’ lightning advance through western Syria marks one of the most serious threats to half a century of Assad family rule in Damascus, and a seismic moment for the Middle East. Statues of Assad’s father and brother were toppled in cities taken by the anti-regime forces, while pictures of him on billboards and government offices have…

Hamas released a video claiming to show Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker in captivity on Saturday. In the video a man who introduces himself as Matan Zangauker, 24, can be seen pleading with the Israeli leaders to make a deal that would bring captives being held by Hamas in Gaza back to Israel. Mediating countries, including Qatar, see increased momentum for a possible deal that could allow the 100 hostages being held in Gaza to be released in exchange for scores of Palestinian prisoners, after Israel signed a landmark ceasefire deal with Hezbollah in Lebanon last month. Donald Trump’s Middle East…

At least four people died Saturday when an apartment complex in The Hague collapsed after a huge explosion and fire, authorities said, but firefighters managed to pull someone still alive from the rubble. The blast and resulting inferno destroyed at least five homes but it was not clear how many people were buried in the debris, Mayor Jan van Zanen told reporters. Authorities confirmed that four bodies had been pulled from the wreckage, as fears mounted that the toll could rise much higher. An AFP reporter on-site saw scenes of devastation with debris strewn across the street, burned-out cars, blown-out…

Former Turkish Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioğlu on Friday was elected the new secretary-general of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), a Turkish diplomatic source said, filling a position that had been vacant since September. The OSCE is the successor to a body set up during the Cold War for the East and West to engage with each other. In recent years, however, and especially since Russia invaded Ukraine, Moscow has blocked many key decisions, often crippling the organization. Foreign ministers from OSCE member states met in Malta this week and agreed on Sinirlioğlu being the new secretary-general, the…

Political parties of Turkish and Greek Cyprus called on their respective leaderships to open more crossings to improve communication between the island’s rival communities. Ethnically divided Cyprus has nine crossings along the 180-kilometer (116-mile) cease-fire line that separates Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Thousands use them daily with long queues and traffic jams a regular occurrence. The two sides are now engaged in discussions on opening up more crossing points. Thirteen Greek and Turkish Cypriot political parties attending an event organized by the Slovak Embassy in Lefkoşa (Nicosia) endorsed a call to their communities’ political leaders to move forward. “This is…

Lewis Hamilton has confessed he “massively underestimated” how challenging his emotional farewell to Mercedes would be ahead of his final race with the team in Abu Dhabi this weekend. The 39-year-old, seven-time world champion shocked Formula One in February by announcing he would leave Mercedes, his long-time team since his go-karting days, to join Ferrari at the end of the year. While Mercedes has had time to adjust, signing 18-year-old Italian Kimi Antonelli as Hamilton’s replacement, the Briton told reporters at Yas Marina that the transition has not been easy. “I anticipated it would be difficult, but I massively underestimated…

Dr. Mehdi Davut smiles as he talks about his plans to return for the first time in eight years to his homeland in Syria and see how his aid association may help in Aleppo, a significant city seized last week by anti-regime fighters. “The liberation of Aleppo brought us such joy because Aleppo was a source of pain,” he told Reuters in Istanbul, where some half a million Syrians live. Syrian anti-regime fighters captured Aleppo from Bashar Assad’s forces, bringing hope of return among hundreds of thousands exiled from the city, which has been under Assad’s control since 2016. The…