WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden’s top adviser on the Middle East is in the region for meetings with Egypt, Jordan, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, the White House said on Thursday.
The official, Brett McGurk, is traveling as part of a multiple-agency trip to the region as Washington has expressed concern over a surge in violence in Israel and the West Bank, which the Palestinians want as the core of a future state.

BRUSSELS: The European Union said Thursday it is temporarily easing sanctions on Syria to speed up aid deliveries to the country two weeks after a devastating earthquake.
Aid organizations will no longer need to seek permission from EU member state governments before sending supplies and services to sanctioned entities in Syria, the European Council representing the bloc’s countries said in a statement.
The measure will last for six months and was taken “in view of the gravity of the humanitarian crisis in Syria exacerbated by the earthquake.”

WASHINGTON: In an effort to encourage and support regional cooperation in efforts to combat climate change and improve food and energy security, the US is working with Oman, the UAE and India to develop projects that benefit the region and the wider international community, a leading American official said on Thursday.

LONDON: Iran’s democratic revolution must be supported by Western countries, including the UK, according to a cross-party panel of MPs and peers.

The meeting in the UK Parliament on Wednesday argued that a significant number of Iranians reject the regime and would support the establishment of a free, democratic and secular republic, but not a return to the country’s previous system of monarchy.

IRBIL, IRAQI KURDISTAN: Barely two months in and 2023 has already proven an eventful year in the ongoing covert conflict between Israel and Iran.

Early on Sunday, an Israeli airstrike killed five people and damaged several buildings in Syria’s capital Damascus. Two Western intelligence agents cited by Reuters news agency said the attack’s target was a logistics center run by Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).