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Samia Nakhoul
A damaged poster of Syria's ousted leader, Bashar Assad, in Aleppo on Nov. 30
WORLD / FOCUS
Dec 15, 2024
Assad's final hours in Syria: Deception, despair and flight
Hours before he fled to Moscow, Assad assured army and security chiefs that Russian support was on its way and urged ground forces to hold out.
U.S. President Joe Biden with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in July 2022.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Nov 30, 2024
Saudi Arabia abandons pursuit of U.S. defense treaty over Israel stalemate
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has again made recognition of Israel conditional on it taking concrete steps to create a Palestinian state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington on July 25.
WORLD / FOCUS
Oct 19, 2024
With Sinwar dead, Israel aims to lock in strategic gains before U.S. election
Goals include reshaping the regional landscape in Israel's favor and shielding its borders from any future attacks, according to sources.
Former Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal speaks during an interview in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 8, 2024
Hamas will rise 'like a phoenix' from the ashes, leader-in-exile says
Khaled Meshaal, who was overall Hamas leader from 1996 to 2017, said the group is still recruiting fighters and continues to manufacture weapons.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar looks on during an anti-Israel rally in Gaza City on Oct. 1, 2022.
WORLD
Oct 5, 2024
Hunted yet unrepentant: Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar remains committed to Israel's destruction
For Sinwar, architect of the cross-border raids a year ago, armed struggle with Israel remains the only way to force the creation of a Palestinian nation.
Students hold posters of Hassan Nasrallah, the assassinated chief of Lebanon's Hezbollah, during a rally in Sanaa, Yemen, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Oct 3, 2024
Iran's Khamenei warned Nasrallah of Israeli plot to kill him, sources say
Iran is now deeply worried about Israeli infiltration of senior government ranks in Tehran, three Iranian sources said.
Hezbollah fighters take part in a funeral procession for one of the movement's commanders who was killed in an Israeli strike, in Beirut's southern suburbs on Wednesday.
WORLD / FOCUS
Sep 29, 2024
Nasrallah's killing reveals depth of Israel's penetration of Hezbollah
The Hezbollah leader had been even more cautious than usual since the Sept. 17 pager blasts, out of concern Israel would try to kill him.
A screen displays Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, as he delivers an address in Baalbek, Lebanon, in May 2018. In 32 years in charge of Hezbollah, Nasrallah, 64, has built the Iranian-backed militia into an influential force in Lebanon and a potent adversary of Israel.
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Sep 28, 2024
Hezbollah reckons with future amid Beirut strikes
Killing or incapacitating Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah would deal a significant blow to the group he has led for 32 years, analysts say.
Senior Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh delivers a speech in Gaza City, in the Gaza Strip, in 2017.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 31, 2024
Tough-talking Ismail Haniyeh was seen as Hamas' more moderate face
Hamas' political leader, who was killed in Iran, was the tough-talking face of the Palestinian group's international diplomacy.
Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip in January.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 8, 2024
Diminished Hamas switches to full insurgent mode in Gaza
The militant group has been reduced to between 9,000 and 12,000 fighters, according U.S. officials familiar with battlefield developments.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting with senior editors from international news agencies at Lakhta Centre business tower in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 6, 2024
Putin says West wrong to think Russia would never use nuclear weapons
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow's nuclear doctrine allows the use of such weapons if the country's territorial integrity or sovereignty was threatened.
Demonstrators carry flags and banners during a protest in Amman, Jordan, on May 3 in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
WORLD / Politics
May 16, 2024
Jordan foils arms plot as kingdom gets caught in Iran-Israel shadow war
The weapons were sent by Iranian-backed militias in Syria to a Muslim Brotherhood cell in Jordan that has links to Palestinian group Hamas.
People walk past a mural depicting Iranian missiles in Tehran on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 20, 2024
Israel's Iran attack carefully calibrated after internal splits and U.S. pressure
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war Cabinet had initially approved plans for a strike on Monday night, but held back at the last-minute.
Smoke rises during an Israeli ground operation in Khan Younis, as seen from a tent camp sheltering displaced Palestinians in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 15, 2024
Hamas issues cease-fire proposal detailing exchange of hostages and prisoners
Hamas said the initial release of Israelis would include women, children, elderly, and ill hostages.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (right) fist bumps U.S. President Joe Biden upon his arrival at Al Salman Palace, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on July 15, 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 8, 2024
Saudi Arabia pushes for U.S. defense pact ahead of presidential election
Such a major regional deal would face numerous political and diplomatic obstacles, not least the uncertainty over how the Gaza conflict will unfold.
Palestinian's mourn relatives killed in an Israeli strike at the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis on the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 29, 2023
Devastating Israel-Hamas war looks set to continue into 2024
The war has more U.S. military forces to the region and fears of spillover are high, with little hope of reviving peace moves as Washington had hoped.
Smoke rises from damaged buildings in the Gaza Strip on Friday. Washington has appealed to Jordan, Egypt and Gulf states to persuade Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to pursue institutional reforms with urgency to prepare for post-war Gaza.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 18, 2023
U.S. wants overhauled Palestinian Authority to run Gaza after Hamas
Washington considers the Mahmoud Abbas-led administration as the the only realistic post-war solution despite its unpopularity.
Damaged houses following the deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas gunmen in southern Israel.
WORLD
Dec 2, 2023
Israel's most wanted: The three Hamas leaders it aims to kill
Sources familiar with Israel's thinking have said that the offensive in Gaza was unlikely to stop until three top Hamas commanders are dead or captured.
Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip on Friday, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel.
WORLD
Dec 2, 2023
Israel tells Arab states it wants buffer zone in postwar Gaza, sources say
Israel detailed its plans to its neighbors Egypt and Jordan, along with the United Arab Emirates, which normalized ties with Israel in 2020.
Smoke rises from Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war on Saturday.
WORLD
Nov 18, 2023
Forever war? Israel risks a long, bloody insurgency in Gaza
None of the ideas floated so far by Israel, the United States and Arab nations for the postwar administration of Gaza have managed to gain traction.

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Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition