Israel’s rapprochement with Gulf Arab states has left the Palestinians feeling abandoned by traditional allies and clutching an old playbook in a rapidly changing Middle East, analysts and critics say.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have signed agreements for normalising relations with Israel, becoming the latest Arab states to break a longstanding taboo in a strategic realignment of Middle Eastern countries against Iran.

Saudi Arabia will partially lift its suspension on international flights from today, the interior ministry said, six months after travel curbs were imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Lebanon’s factional rivalries have put the brakes on moves to form a new government on the eve of a deadline agreed with France, stalling efforts to drag the nation out of a dire economic crisis.

Palestinians fear the UAE’s move will weaken a long-standing pan-Arab call for Israeli withdrawal from occupied land and acceptance of Palestinian statehood in return for normal relations with Arab countries.

Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar has committed to ending a months-long blockade of oil facilities, the US embassy in the country says in a statement.

Palestinians in Gaza have burnt pictures of Israeli, US, Bahraini and United Arab Emirates leaders in protest over the two Gulf countries’ moves to normalise ties with Israel.

US President Donald Trump boasted that he saved Saudi Arabia’s crown prince from greater scrutiny over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to an explosive new book.

Members of Bangladesh Navy have joined in alongside firefighters to help put out a fire that broke out at Beirut port area in Lebanon today.

A large fire has erupted at Beirut port, sending a huge column of smoke above the city a little more than a month after a massive blast devastated the port and surrounding residential area of the Lebanese capital.

A London hearing resumed yesterday to decide if WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be extradited to the United States to face trial over the publication of secrets relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Saudi Arabia supports a “fair solution” for the Palestinian cause, King Salman has told Donald Trump in a phone call, as the US President praised the kingdom for opening its airspace to Israel-UAE flights.

A Saudi Arabian court has issued a final ruling in the case of the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, sentencing eight people to between seven and 20 years in prison.

National flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines will operate five special flights on the Dhaka-Beirut route in the next few weeks to bring back Bangladeshi nationals who are stranded in Lebanon.

Rescue workers in Beirut dig through rubble and probed a collapsed building with sensors after signs of life were detected under a mound of debris one month after a huge explosion shattered the capital.

The situation of about four lakh Bangladeshi expatriates, mainly migrant workers, in Qatar is set to improve as the Gulf country recently brought some major changes to its labour laws for workers’ protection.

A difference between English and Arabic versions of a trilateral statement after an historic flight from Israel to the UAE has been seized upon by Palestinians to suggest the Gulf state has overstated Israeli readiness to drop West Bank annexation plans.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani yesterday said that the government had met all of its commitments for peace talks with the Taliban, as a team left for Qatar to prepare for negotiations.

Flights between Israel and the United Arab Emirates will be able to fly over Saudi Arabia after the kingdom has said all services to and from the UAE can cross its airspace.

Top aides to US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have arrived in the United Arab Emirates on a historic flight from Tel Aviv to finalise a pact marking open relations between the Gulf power and Israel.