Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa has denounced the Arab boycott of Israel, in recent statements revealing the direction Gulf States are taking towards normalizing relations with Israel.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Saturday that Kurdish plans to hold a referendum on independence was like "playing with fire", according to a local media website.

Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, son of Bahrain’s King and Royal Guard Commander, received yesterday at Isa Air Base number of soldiers returning home from the war in Yemen, as part of the Saudi-led offensive launched March 2015.

President of the National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR), Saeed Al-Faihani, received Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Bahrain, Simon Martin, in the presence of the Institution's Vice President Abdullah Al-Drazi and Khalifa Al Fadhel the Acting Secretary-General.

Iran warned on Sunday that independence for Iraqi Kurdistan would mean an end to all border and security arrangements with the regional government.

Iraqi vice president warned on Sunday that Baghdad would not tolerate the creation of “a second Israel” after the Jewish state became the only country to support a planned Kurdish independence referendum in northern Iraq.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will meet Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi this week to discuss their concerns about an independence referendum in Iraq’s Kurdish region.

Families of detainees held at Central Jaw prison said that they had lost contact with their sons nine days ago, i.e. since the political prisoners began an open hunger strike to protest against dire prison conditions.

The authorities at Bahrain’s Central Jaw Prison transferred a large number of prisoners on hunger strike to solitary confinement after they refused to end the strike that entered its ninth day, according to information.

Bahrain’s Interior Ministry forces launched a campaign today, targeting religious manifestations of Ashura, a religious occasion commemorated annually by Shia citizens in the country.

Iraqi armed forces on Saturday dislodged Islamic State from a natural gas-rich border area with Syria, according to the military.

The campaign group Human Rights Watch on Friday condemned the arrest by Saudi authorities of some 30 clerics, intellectuals and activists this week as a "coordinated crackdown on dissent", and Amnesty International echoed the sentiment.

China signaled on Wednesday it was willing to back an international inquiry into atrocities in Yemen, as demanded by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, but Saudi Arabia and the United States said they did not support the idea.

A panel set up by the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen to investigate civilian casualties found a series of deadly air strikes largely justified, citing the presence of armed militiamen at the homes, schools and clinics that were targeted.

The National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) expressed deep regret over Qatar's withdrawal of the citizenship of Talib bin Mohammed bin Lahoom bin Shuraim Al-Murrah, along with his 54-member family.

The Bahraini security authorities intensified their presence in the house surrounding of the spiritual leader of Shia majority, Sheikh Isa Qassim, who has been under house arrest since May 23, 2017.

Societies of the national democratic movement called on the Bahraini political forces to agree on a national agenda to break the deadlock and distance the country from political congestion and escalation of sectarianism as well as hatred speeches.

Qatar is ready to sit at the negotiating table to try to end a dispute with its Gulf Arab neighbors, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said on Friday in Berlin.

Saudi authorities have arrested dozens of people, including prominent clerics, in what appears to be a coordinated crackdown on dissent, Human Rights Watch said today. The campaign comes three months after Mohammed bin Salman became crown prince in June 2017.

Information revealed that hunger strikers in Jaw Central Prison decided to abstain from calls, in a new measure to pressure on the authorities to ameliorate the conditions inside the prison.