Oil prices hit four year high: Latest news on the Middle East conflict on 9 March
Global oil prices reached a four year high on Monday (9 March), surpassing $...
United Nations teams have been deployed to Syria’s coastal Latakia province, where wildfires have been burning for four days, forcing hundreds of families to flee and destroying large areas of farmland and infrastructure.
The UN’s top humanitarian official in Syria, Adam Abdelmoula, said urgent assessments are underway to gauge the scale of the disaster and determine priority needs.
Firefighters from Türkiye and Jordan have joined Syrian crews, using helicopters to contain the blazes and protect the nearby al-Frunloq natural reserve — known for its dense, interconnected forests.
Syria’s emergency minister Raed al-Saleh called the situation “extremely tragic,” estimating that 10,000 hectares of forest had been destroyed.
There are concerns that unexploded ordnance from Syria’s long war could complicate firefighting in some areas.
The fires come amid worsening drought and water shortages after a dry winter, with experts warning that climate change is making summer fires more intense across the eastern Mediterranean.
Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is a hardline cleric with strong backing from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. His rise signals continuity in Tehran's anti-Western policies.
Global oil prices surpassed $119 a barrel on Monday (9 March, 2026), an almost four year high, as the Middle East conflict rumbled on.
Trump says the United States "don’t need people that join wars after we’ve already won," targeting his criticism at UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Israel continues to fire missles at strategic sites in Iran and Gulf regions report more strikes from Iran.
China has urged Afghanistan and Pakistan to resolve their dispute through dialogue after Chinese envoy Yue Xiaoyong met Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, as fighting between the two neighbours entered its eleventh day.
Iran named Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father Ali Khamenei as supreme leader on Monday (9 March), signaling that hardliners remain firmly in charge, as the week-old U.S.-Israeli war with Iran pushed oil above $100 a barrel.
U.S. President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke by phone on Sunday as tensions between Washington and Westminster deepened over the conflict involving Iran. The call came less than a day after Trump criticised Britain’s response to U.S. strikes on Iranian targets.
Norwegian police are searching for a suspect after an explosion at the U.S. embassy in Oslo on 8 March caused minor damage but no injuries, in what authorities say may have been a deliberate attack linked to the Middle East crisis.
An explosion damaged a synagogue in the Belgian city of Liège early on Monday (9 March) in what authorities said was an antisemitic attack that caused damage but no injuries.
The Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers will meet on Monday to discuss a global rise in oil prices and a joint release of oil from emergency reserves coordinated by the International Energy Agency, the Financial Times reports.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 9th of March, covering the latest developments you need to know.
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