The joint efforts of Russia and Syria have dealt a crippling blow to terrorists, allowing Damascus to regain control over more than 90% of its territory, Putin said during his meeting with Assad.

A statement by the US Naval Forces Central Command, or NAVCENT, said the task force would rely on regional and coalition partnerships. This in fact signifies the increased US involvement in the middle east as opposed to the notion that the US is leaving the region.

Qatar is close to the US and hosts Washington's largest military base in the region, but it also enjoys strong ties with Tehran, with which it shares the world's largest gas field.

Pakistan’s ambassador to Egypt Ambassador Sajid Bilal expressed these views at a seminar titled ‘Pakistan’s Engagement with Africa – the Continent of the Future, held in Egypt’s capital Cairo.

Fifteen Saudis were among the 19 hijackers in the plane attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which left nearly 3,000 dead and were plotted by Saudi-born Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

In a wide-ranging television interview, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu sounded a cautious note about Turkey's future relations with the fundamentalist Islamist group.

The Saudi-led military coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015, backing forces of the ousted government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fighting the Houthis.

While the US would like to focus on the Indo Pacific region to counter China, it can not leave too many loopholes behind for China to fill. China is likely to attract the Gulf states in its own security based institution, The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation given the security trends in South Asia, West Asia and the Middle East.

The sanctions come after U.S. prosecutors in July charged the four with plotting to kidnap the New York-based journalist who was critical of Tehran.

Chinese experts had previously travelled to Egypt to inspect equipment and materials for producing the Sinovac vaccine at factories belonging to state firm Vacsera.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev signed the joint declaration in Azerbaijan's historic city of Shusha, also known as the pearl of Karabakh.

Emirati officials have also made a series of visits to rival countries, including Qatar, after ties between the two Gulf nations were severed for more than three years.