BAGHDAD, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Backers of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr said they would hold key government posts in the next Iraqi government should a new Shiite slate win in January elections.

SANAA, Yemen, July 20 (UPI) -- Yemeni officials downplayed claims that al-Qaida militants were fleeing Iraq and Afghanistan to establish operations in the Arabian peninsula.

VIENNA, April 28 (UPI) -- Syrian President Bashar Assad weighed in on Egyptian allegations that Hezbollah was plotting attacks, saying such claims were baseless.

CAIRO, April 19 (UPI) -- A Hezbollah group in the Sinai in Egypt planned to recruit Muslim Israelis to smuggle supplies into Israel for terrorist attacks, an Arab newspaper reports.

PARIS, March 30 (UPI) -- Oil export contracts with the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq are in direct violation of the Iraqi Constitution, the oil minister said.

AMMAN, Jordan, March 25 (UPI) -- A military envoy at the Iraqi Embassy in Amman said a committee finalized a review process for the return of former Iraqi military officers to national service.

JERUSALEM, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- The Palestinian Authority's chief negotiator with Israel has been fired from his post, reportedly for being too inflexible, Arab media said Tuesday.

JERUSALEM, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Israel will not invade Gaza as part of its efforts to stop Palestinian militants from firing rockets and mortars into the country, President Shimon Peres said.

LONDON, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The Kurdistan Regional Government is taking legal measures to discourage violence against women and honor killings, a Kurdish lawmaker said.