World

Israel’s foreign minister has ordered the closure of the country’s embassy in Dublin, citing the Irish government’s “extreme anti-Israel policy”. Gideon Sa’ar said “Ireland has crossed every red line in its relations with Israel”. “The actions and antisemitic rhetoric used by Ireland against Israel are rooted in the delegitimisation and demonisation of the Jewish state,

I knew we were near a Russian military base when I could read the names of shops, cafes and pharmacies written in Russian, in surrounding villages. The Russians have been permanently based here since 2017, propping up the Assad regime and overseeing the war against their many opponents. And the local communities have benefitted financially

The Kremlin has praised Donald Trump after he criticised Ukraine’s use of US-supplied weapons for attacks deep in Russian territory. Western allies have provided Ukraine with air defence systems to help it protect critical infrastructure, but Russia has sought to overwhelm the air defences with combined strikes involving big numbers of missiles and drones. “It’s

Russia has established “direct contact” with Syria’s Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) rebel group, according to state media outlet Interfax. It reported that deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov told journalists that Russia was aiming to maintain its military bases inside Syria. Mr Bogdanov said contact with HTS was “proceeding in constructive fashion” and that Moscow

Vladimir Putin has not been invited to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration next month, Moscow has said. The Kremlin said it had not received an invitation for the Russian president to attend the US president-elect’s swearing-in ceremony on 20 January. Meanwhile Mr Trump has reportedly invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend the inauguration in Washington

Russia has issued a travel warning to its citizens as it said tensions with the US are “teetering on the verge of rupture”. Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, urged citizens on Wednesday to “refrain from trips to the US, Canada and with a few exceptions EU countries” over the Christmas period.

Syria’s ousted President Bashar al Assad has arrived in Moscow, Russian state media has confirmed. Mr Assad and members of his family arrived in the city on Sunday, a Kremlin source told the TASS news agency. The source said: “Assad and his family members have arrived in Moscow. Russia, for humanitarian reasons, has granted them

Seismic is an overused word. Not when it comes to events currently under way in Syria, a country straddling the fault lines of the Middle East. The collapse of the Assad regime, if it comes, will be the most significant event yet in the upheaval that’s followed the 7 October attacks by Hamas in Israel

Romania’s top court has annulled the results of the first round of the country’s presidential election after claims of Russian interference. The unprecedented decision came after declassified intelligence documents alleged Russia was behind a campaign to promote far-right candidate Calin Georgescu on platforms such as TikTok and Telegram. Mr Georgescu was viewed as an outsider

Israel has dismissed allegations it is committing genocide in Gaza, saying the claims from Amnesty International are “no surprise”. Government spokesman David Mencer called it “fake news” and told Sky’s Mark Austin the human rights group’s “raison d’etre is to criticise Israel – they do that at every opportunity and this is sadly just another

Russia’s ability to outmatch Ukraine with artillery barrages on the battlefield has significantly reduced to just 1.5 Russian rounds for every Ukrainian shell fired back, Western officials have said. This compares with Russian forces launching at least five times as many artillery rounds as Ukraine could in the war previously – with the ratio at times

The man at the centre of negotiations over a Gaza ceasefire has told Sky News Donald Trump wants a deal done before he takes power in January.  Speaking exclusively to Sky’s The World with Yalda Hakim, the prime minister of Qatar expressed cautious optimism but said it required “maximum pressure” on all parties to end

Israel is preventing the entry of some vital supplies into Gaza, including medical equipment, and must do more to allow aid into the beleaguered Strip, Britain’s International Development Minister has told Sky News. Speaking in Jerusalem during a multi-day visit, Anneliese Dodds said it is “absolutely critical” that the Israeli government remove impediments to aid.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is using Ukraine as a “testing ground for experimental missiles” and is “not interested in peace”, NATO’s secretary general has warned. Mark Rutte made the remarks as foreign ministers from the alliance’s 32 members gathered in Brussels for a two-day meeting where there will be several discussions on Ukraine. In a

A court in Vietnam has upheld a death sentence for a real estate tycoon after rejecting her appeal against a conviction for embezzlement and bribery, state media reported. Truong My Lan, the chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group (VTP), was sentenced to death in April for her role in a financial

Syria’s president has said his country will “defend its stability and territorial integrity” after rebels reportedly took control of most of the country’s second-largest city Aleppo. In his first public comments since the start of the offensive, Bashar al Assad said the regime would defeat the “terrorists and their supporters”. In comments released by the

Israel claims it has killed a Palestinian involved in the 7 October attack by Hamas. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Saturday that it had carried out a strike in Gaza on a “vehicle with a terrorist that took part in the murderous 7 October massacre”. The IDF said it was

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested to Sky News that he might consent to Russia temporarily holding on to occupied Ukrainian territory as part of a ceasefire deal. The Ukrainian president said such an arrangement could only be possible if land under his forces’ control was taken “under the NATO umbrella” – allowing him to negotiate the

Sweden has formally asked Beijing to help clarify what happened when two data cables were damaged in the Baltic Sea where a China-flagged vessel had been sighted. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the request has been made as one of the cables, which connects Sweden and Lithuania, came back online after its operator Arelion

Israel’s military has said it has fired on “suspects” in southern Lebanon who were allegedly violating its ceasefire with Hezbollah. Israeli tank fire hit six areas within two kilometres of a strip of land demarcating the border between Lebanon and Israel, according to state media and Lebanese security sources. It comes after Israel and the