Western Asia

Since the tragic earthquakes in Turkey it appears that a sense of calm is prevailing in the Aegean - at least for the moment - that has led to an improvement in ties between Greece and Turkey and a decrease in threats and provocations from Ankara.

The Hellenic Police said Tuesday that in a coordinated operation with the country's National Intelligence Service (EYP), they had "dismantled a terrorist network that, guided from abroad, was planning attacks against carefully selected targets within Greece."

The deputy foreign ministers of Syria, Turkey, Iran and Russia will meet in April in Moscow, Turkish and Iranian officials said on Tuesday, building on contacts between Ankara and Damascus after years of hostilities during the Syrian war.

It's now been a few weeks since China brokered an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran to normalize relations. The deal, and China's role in it, shocked many countries in the region, including the US, and is already having a ripple effect across the Middle East.

At least 20 people died yesterday in Saudi Arabia in a bus accident, DPA reported.

The bus, which overturned and caught fire, was carrying passengers to the holy city of Mecca, including pilgrims on their way to perform Umrah, a minor Muslim pilgrimage.

The Turkish State Meteorological Services has shared the latest forecast reports, predicting nationwide precipitation in the last week of March and a noticeable drop in temperatures.

About 60,000 Syrian refugees have returned to their homeland after the Feb. 6 earthquakes devastated their homes in Türkiye, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on March 27.

"Around 60,000 Syrians living in Türkiye have returned to their own land due to the loss of their homes and relatives," Akar said speaking at a military bordar post in the southern Hatay province.

The situation in Israel is getting more and more complicated. There will be no flights from Ben Gurion International Airport until further notice as part of a large-scale strike announced by the Labor Union on Monday morning to protest judicial reform. This was announced by the chairman of the Committee of Airport Authorities of Israel, Pinchas Idan, quoted by the Jerusalem Post.

A seemingly never-ending political crisis is plunging oil-rich Kuwait's economy into the mire, affecting basic services and causing mounting public concern.

Despite its large oil reserves, hospitals and educational services are in decay as squabbling paralyses the wealthy Gulf region's only fully elected parliament.

The oil is pumped 24 hours a day several meters from Raghed Jasim's home in Iraq's crude-rich southern heartland. Gas flares from the field light the night sky bright orange, spewing acrid smoke; when the wind picks up, the 40-year old's clothes are coated black.