Defense Secretary Jim Mattis defended U.S. military support to Saudi Arabian-led coalition forces in Yemen on Thursday as he explained a personal appeal to lawmakers who are considering whether to end Washington’s involvement in the devastating conflict.

A US military helicopter crashed in western Iraq with seven people on board, U.S. officials said late on Thursday.

Qatar announced Wednesday it was spending three billion euros ($3.71 billion) to buy 28 military helicopters, its latest high-profile defence purchase during a bitter diplomatic rift with its Gulf neighbours.

Airports in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq will be reopened to international air traffic on Thursday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadia declared in a statement issued by his office.

Qatar’s government will restrain current spending to achieve small budget surpluses and transfer less money to its sovereign wealth fund in coming years if oil and gas prices do not rise, according to the country’s new five-year development plan.

DP World, one of the world’s largest port operators, said on Thursday it is committed to the port project in Somaliland despite Somalia’s move to ban the ports operator from operating in Somalia.

Iraq’s oil ministry on Thursday called on companies to invest in a project to build a 70,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery in the western province of Anbar.

The Iranian military's behavior in the Gulf has changed "across the board" in recent months, the US Navy said on Thursday, after years of tensions in the busy waterway.

Saudi Arabia will develop a nuclear bomb if Iran does so, the kingdom’s 32-year-old crown prince said in a preview of a television interview released on Thursday.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's sacking shows that Washington is set on quitting the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, Iran's deputy foreign minister said Wednesday.

Somalia has banned Dubai ports operator DP World from operating in Somalia, saying that a contract that the company signed last year with the breakaway Somaliland region to develop an economic zone is null and void.

Iraq’s President Fuad Masum is refusing to approve the 2018 budget because of “legal and constitutional violations”, his legal adviser told Reuters on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia’s collapsed Saad Group, led by businessman Maan al-Sanea, has called a meeting with creditors in a last-ditch attempt to end a dispute over 16 billion riyals ($4.3 billion) of claims, sources close to the matter said.

A top U.S. general on Tuesday signaled support for the Iran nuclear deal, saying the agreement, which President Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw from, has played an important role in addressing Iran’s nuclear program.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was fired by President Donald Trump on Tuesday, said he was delegating all of his responsibilities to the State Department’s No. 2 official and that he would leave office at the end of the month.

The White House on Tuesday hosted 19 nations, including Israel and Arab Gulf states, to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but the Palestinian Authority boycotted the meeting, angered by the Trump administration’s policies on Jerusalem.

US President Donald Trump sacked on Tuesday (March 13, 2018) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, US media outlets reported.

Qatar Petroleum (QP) said on Tuesday it had renewed a concession agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the development and operation of their joint Al-Bunduq offshore oilfield, despite a diplomatic crisis between the Gulf states.

Militant group Islamic State claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack on a military kitchen in the south of Yemen, the group’s news agency Amaq said on Tuesday.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi agreed to lift a ban on international air traffic to the Kurdistan Region on Tuesday, in a decree which said international flights could resume within one week.