Türkiye Says Making ‘Intense’ Efforts to End Middle East War

03 March 2026, Türkiye, Ankara: Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during the lottery ceremony for a social housing project in Ankara. (Turkish Presidency/dpa)
03 March 2026, Türkiye, Ankara: Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during the lottery ceremony for a social housing project in Ankara. (Turkish Presidency/dpa)
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Türkiye Says Making ‘Intense’ Efforts to End Middle East War

03 March 2026, Türkiye, Ankara: Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during the lottery ceremony for a social housing project in Ankara. (Turkish Presidency/dpa)
03 March 2026, Türkiye, Ankara: Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during the lottery ceremony for a social housing project in Ankara. (Turkish Presidency/dpa)

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday Türkiye was making "intense" diplomatic efforts to end the conflict roiling the Middle East, sparked by the Israeli-US strikes on Iran. 

"Attacks on Iran, and missile and kamikaze drone attacks (by Iran) on neighboring countries in the Gulf have fueled instability," he said in a televised address. 

"Through peace-oriented diplomacy, we are making intense efforts to resolve issues at the negotiating table," he added. 

Earlier, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met Washington's Syria envoy Tom Barrack, ministry sources said. 

He also spoke with his UK counterpart Yvette Cooper to discuss "the current security environment in the region", evaluating "in detail" the "diplomatic efforts that could be undertaken to end the hostilities and establish stability". 

He also discussed regional developments with Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, with his Greek counterpart Giorgos Gerapetritis and with Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region. Fidan said Ankara was also in talks with Oman. 

The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. The war quickly widened with Tehran striking Gulf states that host US bases and Israel attacking Iranian-backed Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.  

Türkiye, a NATO member and neighbor of Iran, had for weeks urged Washington and Tehran to reach an agreement during ‌their rounds of negotiations ‌over Iran's nuclear program and missile capabilities, warning ‌that ⁠the region could ⁠not handle any more destabilization.  

Fidan told members of Turkish media during a Ramadan fast-breaking dinner on Tuesday that Türkiye was "sensitively carrying out necessary initiatives with all our counterparts" to achieve peace in the region, and added it was critical to preserve the stability of Iran and the region.  

"There isn't a single-layered negotiation, there is a multi-layered negotiation," Fidan ⁠said, according to a transcript of his comments shared ‌on Tuesday.  

"We have been talking ‌to the Europeans for a few days... If you want peace, let's work ‌together. We are urging them to take action. The Gulf ‌nations are now facing a serious situation," he said.  

"We are talking to the Omani (foreign minister). Oman is also still trying to do something there. We are talking to the Americans," he said. 

Fidan warned ⁠against the ⁠conflict engulfing the whole region and affecting energy supplies. He added that the closure of the Hormuz Strait, where one-fifth of global oil trade skirts Iran's coast, could "push the United States to obtain a quick result".  

He said Iran was trying to "create costs" for the US and its partners by attacking Gulf states and energy infrastructure, but added that he didn't believe Tehran could obtain the desired result that way.  

"By bombing these places, Iran will say they should pressure the United States and end the war, but that doesn't seem like it will happen. I don't know how much Iran has left," he said, adding that Tehran could instead "bother" Israel with missile strikes. 



Authorities in Ethiopia's Tigray State Denounce Army's Drone Strikes

Former Tigray elements undergoing rehabilitation and reintegration programs by the Ethiopian government (Archive – Ethiopian News Agency)
Former Tigray elements undergoing rehabilitation and reintegration programs by the Ethiopian government (Archive – Ethiopian News Agency)
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Authorities in Ethiopia's Tigray State Denounce Army's Drone Strikes

Former Tigray elements undergoing rehabilitation and reintegration programs by the Ethiopian government (Archive – Ethiopian News Agency)
Former Tigray elements undergoing rehabilitation and reintegration programs by the Ethiopian government (Archive – Ethiopian News Agency)

Tigray authorities on Tuesday accused the Ethiopian government of carrying out deadly drone strikes in southern Tigray state, denouncing "a serious escalation" amid fears of a new war.

"There was a drone strike carried out by the Ethiopian government yesterday (Monday) in Merewa," in southern Tigray near the border with the Amhara region, Amanuel Assefa, a Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) official, told AFP.

In a statement sent to AFP on Tuesday, the TPLF said the strikes targeted Tigrayan troops "causing human casualties", without providing further details.

A spokesperson for the federal army has not yet responded to AFP's request for comment regarding the accusations.

Amanuel also claimed that the strikes hit a high school, which AFP was unable to independently verify.

For several months, federal and Tigrayan forces have gathered on either side of the border of Ethiopia's northernmost regional state, with the two sides accusing each other of seeking to trigger a new conflict.

On August 1, fighting pitted federal forces against TPLF troops in northwestern Tigray, near the border with Sudan, according to the TPLF.

The federal government has not commented on the matter.

Tigray, home to around six million people, emerged in 2022 from a two-year war between TPLF forces and the federal army, supported by local militias and the Eritrean army.

The conflict claimed at least 600,000 lives, according to an African Union estimate.

A peace agreement signed in November 2022 put an end to the fighting, but several key points, such as the return of displaced people or the disarmament of the TPLF, have never been implemented.


Ukraine Says Russia Fired N. Korean Missiles in Deadly Attack

Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a Russian attack on a residential area in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, 11 August 2026. (EPA)
Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a Russian attack on a residential area in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, 11 August 2026. (EPA)
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Ukraine Says Russia Fired N. Korean Missiles in Deadly Attack

Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a Russian attack on a residential area in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, 11 August 2026. (EPA)
Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a Russian attack on a residential area in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, 11 August 2026. (EPA)

Russian attacks across Ukraine killed at least nine people overnight and wounded dozens, Kyiv said Tuesday, accusing Moscow of launching North Korean missiles in the raid.

The allegation comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned -- without providing evidence -- that Moscow was receiving more ballistic projectiles and troops from its ally Pyongyang.

Russia has turned to North Korea for support throughout its four-and-a-half-year invasion.

Earlier in the war, Pyongyang dispatched thousands of troops to help Russia fight back a Ukrainian counterattack into its western Kursk region.

Intelligence from the West, Kyiv and Seoul, has long accused North Korea of supplying weapons to Russia.

The southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia was worst hit in Russia's latest overnight barrage, with six people killed and 19 wounded, Zelensky said.

"The city was struck with North Korean ballistic missiles, Zircons, and guided aerial bombs. It was a vicious attack, calculated to inflict maximum damage specifically on civilian infrastructure," he said.

Three more were killed by Russian drones and missiles in the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region, the local military administration said.

In the capital Kyiv, Zelensky said an infectious diseases hospital was hit, while strikes on the frontlines cities of Kherson and Kharkiv caused power outages.

A children's hospital in Kyiv was also hit, the health ministry said, posting photos of broken windows and debris in a courtyard.

"Children and medical staff were not harmed, as they were in a shelter at the time of the attack," the ministry said.

Russia's defense ministry said its forces "delivered a group strike with high-precision ground-based weapons, hitting military-industrial enterprises and transport-logistics centers in the cities of Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia".

- Zelensky's N. Korea warning -

Zelensky has recently renewed his warnings of deepening military ties between Moscow and Pyongyang, while appealing for more Western air-defense supplies.

On Monday, he said that Russia received "additional ballistic missiles from North Korea."

Over the weekend, he alleged "a decision has been made for 30,000 to 50,000 North Koreans to be deployed on the territory of Russia."

Kyiv has not explained how it obtained the figures and did not provide a timeframe for the deployment.

But Zelensky is urging allies in the Asia-Pacific to supply air defense to Kyiv in order to counter Pyongyang's capabilities.

Russia and North Korea signed a mutual defense pact in 2024, ahead of Pyongyang sending troops to help push Ukrainian forces out of Russia's Kursk region.

In recent weeks, Russia has considerably stepped-up strikes with ballistic missiles -- a fast and powerful weapon that is hard to intercept.

Dozens have been killed in Kyiv in the attacks.

Only the most advanced air defense, such as the US-made Patriot system, is capable of intercepting them.

Ukraine has been reporting an acute shortage of Patriot interceptors since the US-Israeli war against Iran began in February.

Kyiv has also boosted its own long-range drone strikes against Russia, hitting oil infrastructure and e-commerce warehouses in counterattacks it says are justified and designed to crimp Moscow's logistics and revenue sources.

The latest spiral of escalation has brought the civilian death toll in Ukraine to the highest since the war's first months in 2022, according to the United Nations.


Ceuta Leader Wants Migrant Detention Center after Influx

The future of the migrants left in Ceuta has sparked a battle between the leftist central government and regions governed by the right. Antonio Sempere / AFP
The future of the migrants left in Ceuta has sparked a battle between the leftist central government and regions governed by the right. Antonio Sempere / AFP
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Ceuta Leader Wants Migrant Detention Center after Influx

The future of the migrants left in Ceuta has sparked a battle between the leftist central government and regions governed by the right. Antonio Sempere / AFP
The future of the migrants left in Ceuta has sparked a battle between the leftist central government and regions governed by the right. Antonio Sempere / AFP

The leader of Ceuta demanded on Monday the detention and expulsion of the thousands of migrants wandering the Spanish north African territory's streets after last month's mass influx from Morocco.

Some 72,000 migrants breached the border in an unprecedented and deadly rush on July 30-31, with 70,000 having since returned to Morocco, according to Spanish government figures.

But the thousands who remain -- including hundreds of unaccompanied children who cannot be summarily deported -- struggle to access food, water, shelter and sanitation while the tiny enclave's resources are overwhelmed, AFP said.

Their future has sparked a political battle between Spain's leftist central government and regions governed by the main conservative Popular Party (PP) and far-right Vox, which resist taking in unaccompanied children under existing legal provisions.

"A space that acts as an internment center for foreigners must be set up, where these people can be held and remain confined," Ceuta's PP leader Juan Jesus Vivas told reporters.

He said the measure "must be achieved urgently" so that the migrants "are not in our streets and that expulsion proceedings can be handled with greater speed and ease".

Vivas called the situation "unsustainable", estimating that between 8,000 and 11,000 migrants were left in Ceuta, well above the government's figure of around 2,500.

Thousands of residents of the territory of 84,000 inhabitants gathered to protest on Sunday at the handling of a crisis that they say has left Ceuta insecure and abandoned.

The Spanish government minister responsible for relations with the regions, Angel Victor Torres, assured Ceuta's population that police and troop numbers had been ramped up, including 40 percent more Civil Guards.

Reuniting the children with their families was "the priority", he added, without mentioning the possibility of expulsions.