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Jakarta Post
Middle East and Africa

Failure to activate Hormuz fertilizer plan could trigger food crisis

Fertilizer shipments out of the Gulf region remained largely halted more than six months after the start of the conflict, the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute said in a note last month.

23 hours ago
Middle East and Africa premium

Indonesians urged to avoid nonessential travel in Saudi after deadly strikes

The Indonesian Embassy in Riyadh has urged Indonesians in Saudi Arabia to avoid nonessential travel and stay away from King Khalid International Airport after a series of deadly missile strikes hit the area over the weekend. ...

3 days ago
Middle East and Africa

One dead in new attack on Saudi airport, a day after Houthi strike kills 13

One person was killed and nearly a dozen hurt in a new attack on Riyadh's international airport on Sunday, Saudi authorities reported, a day after a strike claimed by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis that killed 13 people and wounded more than 300. ...

4 days ago

The Latest

Middle East and Africa

Netanyahu 'in good condition' after prostate surgery: hospital

"The Prime Minister has now been transferred to a protected underground recovery unit. He is expected to remain in the hospital for observation in the next few days," his office said.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

Israel raids north Gaza hospital, ministry says staff out of contact

The Palestinian health ministry said contact with staff inside the hospital in Beit Lahiya, which has been under heavy pressure from Israeli forces for weeks, had been lost.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

Israeli strikes hit Yemen

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media he was at the airport during the strike, adding that "one of our plane's crew members was injured".

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

Israeli army forces patients out of Indonesian Hospital in Gaza

The Indonesian Hospital is one of the Gaza Strip's few still partially functioning hospitals, on its northern edge, an area that has been under intense Israeli military pressure for nearly three months.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

'No more fear': Stand-up comedy returns to post-Assad Syria

Under the old regime, jokes about elections, the dollar or even mentioning the president's name could mean arrest or worse.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

Gaza Christians pray for end of 'death and destruction'

Gone were the sparkling lights, the festive decorations, and the towering Christmas tree that had graced Gaza City for decades.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

Palestinians say ongoing Israeli raid kills 8 in West Bank

The Ramallah-based ministry said seven were killed in the Tulkarem refugee camp and one in the nearby Nur Shams camp after the military launched a sweeping raid early on Tuesday. 

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

Sweden doubles aid to Gaza, but ends UNRWA funding

Funding earmarked for Gaza will total 800 million kronor (US$72 million) in 2025, but aid to UNRWA, which totaled 451 million kronor in 2024, will be stopped, said the government.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa premium

Indonesian warship departs for UNIFIL mission in Lebanon

The Indonesian Navy warship KRI Sultan Iskandar Muda departs from Jakarta on Thursday, carrying 120 servicemen for their duties in Beirut, Lebanon, serving under the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa premium

Islamic world unity important to support Gaza, Prabowo says

Strong economic cooperation and growth among Muslim countries can help bolster cooperation between them and better support the Palestinian cause amid the war in Gaza, President Prabowo Subianto said at the D8 Summit in Cairo.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

Top US officials in Damascus to meet new Syrian rulers

It is the first formal US diplomatic mission to Damascus since the early days of the brutal civil war that broke out in 2011 and culminated in a surprise lightning offensive that toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad this month.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

Netanyahu eyes Iran after triumphs over Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria

The veteran Israeli leader is set to cement his strategic goals: tightening his military control over Gaza, thwarting Iran's nuclear ambitions and capitalising on the dismantling of Tehran's allies -- Palestinian Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah and the removal of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

US doubled troops in Syria earlier this year: Pentagon

Washington has for years said it has some 900 military personnel in Syria as part of international efforts against the jihadist group, which seized swathes of territory there and in neighboring Iraq before being defeated by local forces backed by a US-led air campaign.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa premium

Prabowo reiterates support for ‘inevitable’ Palestinian state ahead D8 Summit

President Prabowo Subianto on Wednesday reiterated Indonesia’s ironclad support for a Palestinian state alongside his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, insisting on the two-state solution as the only possible resolution of the prolonged Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa premium

Prabowo in Egypt for D8 summit as Gaza crisis continues

President Prabowo Subianto is in Egypt for a summit of eight Muslim-majority developing countries grouped under the D8 Organization for Economic Cooperation scheduled for Thursday, an event he dubbed important for Jakarta despite skepticism from analysts who question the group’s strategic bearing.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

Netanyahu holds security briefing atop strategic Syrian peak

Netanyahu, Defence Minister Israel Katz and the heads of the armed forces and the domestic security agency visited "outposts at the summit of Mount Hermon for the first time since they were seized by the military", Katz's office said. 

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

Prabowo departs for D8 Summit in Egypt

President Prabowo Subianto left Jakarta on Tuesday to attend the Developing 8 Organization for Economic Cooperation (D8) Summit in Cairo and hold bilateral meetings with several heads of state. 

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa premium

Second group of Indonesian evacuees arrive home from Syria

A second group of Indonesian evacuees landed safely in Jakarta on Sunday after a three-day journey that saw them travel overland from Damascus to Beirut and then on an hours-long flight to Soekarno-Hatta, after rebel forces ousted the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

'Syria freed!': Thousands cheer at famed Damascus mosque

Families with children mixed with armed and uniformed Islamist fighters to celebrate the first Friday prayers since Assad's overthrow, later streaming into the Old City's streets and squares.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa premium

Indonesia to evacuate more citizens from Syria

Indonesia stands ready to evacuate an additional 97 of its citizens from Damascus following the arrival of 37 returnees in Jakarta on Thursday, the Foreign Ministry has said, adding that the government continues to communicate intensively with various stakeholders as Syria faces uncertain days ahead. 

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

US says Israel is acting in Syria for its own defence

Since the shock collapse of Assad's government over the weekend, Israel has moved troops into the buffer zone on the Syrian side of the dividing line with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and has conducted hundreds of airstrikes to destroy Syrian army weapons and equipment.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa premium

Indonesia welcomes UNGA resolution on immediate ceasefire in Gaza

Indonesia welcomed on Thursday the adoption of a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, a document Jakarta co-sponsored with several Muslim-majority countries and which received overwhelming support from UN members.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

UN General Assembly calls for 'unconditional' Gaza ceasefire

The resolution -- adopted by a vote of 158-9, with 13 abstentions -- urges "an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire," and "the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages" -- wording similar to a text vetoed by Washington in the Security Council last month.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

Pentagon chief urges 'close consultation' between Israel and US on Syria

Austin told Katz that Washington was monitoring developments in Syria and that it backed a peaceful, inclusive political transition, according to the Pentagon. He added that the US would continue its mission to prevent the Islamic State militant group from re-establishing a safe haven in Syria.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

New Syria PM calls for Syrians abroad to return

Mohammad al-Bashir, appointed by rebel groups as the transitional head of government to run the country until March, told Italy's Corriere della Sera daily that one of his first goals was to "bring back the millions of Syrian refugees who are abroad".

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa premium

Indonesia commences evacuation of 37 citizens in Damascus

The Indonesian Embassy in Damascus has started the evacuation process for citizens residing in Syria following the lightning overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad by insurgent rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) less than two weeks after the group took control of some of the country’s key cities.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

Airline pilots, crews voice concerns about Middle East routes

He decided to query the decision since just a week earlier the airline had deemed the route unsafe. In response, Wizz Air's flight operations team told him the airway was now considered secure and he had to fly it, without giving further explanation, the pilot said. 

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

Israeli troops near Damascus, say Syrian security

Israel's military operation into Syria comes two days after the lightning overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad by a rebel alliance left Syrians, regional countries and world powers nervous about what comes next.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

Assad's fall in Syria exposes limits of China's Middle East diplomacy

As the couple attended the Asian Games, President Xi Jinping vowed to support Assad in "opposing external interference" and in Syria's rebuilding, while his wife Asma was feted in Chinese media.

1 year ago
Middle East and Africa

Trial of Prime Minister Netanyahu resumes in Tel Aviv

Netanyahu has repeatedly sought to delay his appearance in court, where he faces charges of bribery, fraud and breach of public trust in three separate cases. 

1 year ago
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Today's ePost

Fri, October 16, 2026

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