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Timour Azhari
Members of the Orthodox community of Latakia attend a Sunday Mass at St. George's Cathedral in Latakia, Syria, on Sunday.
WORLD
Dec 16, 2024
Syrian Christians attend services, schools reopen a week after Assad's overthrow
Some Syrian Christians remain jittery at the prospect of an Islamist government.
Farhan al-Khouli, a Syrian military conscript who deserted his post on the first day of the rebel offensive, works at a horse stable in Damascus, Syria, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 13, 2024
Demoralized and abandoned by allies: Why Syria’s army failed to fight
Rampant corruption and a heavy reliance on foreign allies hollowed out Bashar Assad's once-feared army.
People gather at Umayyad Square in Damascus on Sunday. The Islamist-led rebels declared that they have taken the city.
WORLD
Dec 8, 2024
Syrian rebels topple President Assad; prime minister calls for free elections
Syrian rebels seized Damascus, ending President Bashar Assad's 13-year rule and raising uncertainty over a transition led by Islamist group HTS in a war-torn nation.
A child holds on to their belongings while crossing from Lebanon into Syria at the Masnaa border crossing, Lebanon, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 31, 2024
Lebanon and Israel could agree to cease-fire within days: Lebanese PM
The statement comes as Israel's public broadcaster published what it said was a draft agreement providing for an initial 60-day truce.
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs late on Sunday.
WORLD
Oct 7, 2024
Israel bombs Lebanon and Gaza ahead of marking one year since attacks
Israel's defense minister also declared all options were being looked at for retaliation against arch-enemy Iran.
Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs after a strike as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon, on Saturday.
WORLD
Oct 5, 2024
Israeli strike hits north Lebanon as raids pummel Beirut suburbs
A source said a Hamas official, his wife and two children were killed in the strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli.
A person sorts through rubble in Dahiya, the predominantly Shia southern suburbs of Beirut, after a barrage of Israeli airstrikes, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Oct 3, 2024
Israel strikes the heart of Beirut, killing six and wounding seven
More than 1,900 people have been killed and over 9,000 wounded in Lebanon in almost a year of cross-border fighting with Israel.
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.
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese village of Zaita on Monday.
WORLD
Sep 24, 2024
Israeli airstrikes kill at least 492, Lebanon says, as civilians flee
After almost a year of war against Hamas in Gaza, Israel is shifting its focus to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Smoke billows over southern Lebanon, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as pictured from Marjayoun, Lebanon, near the border with Israel, on Sunday.
WORLD
Sep 23, 2024
Hezbollah and Israel exchange heavy fire in 'new phase' of fighting
The conflict escalated sharply in the past week after Hezbollah opened a second front, backing Palestinians amid Israel's offensive in Gaza.
The agreement follows more than six months of talks between Baghdad and Washington, initiated by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (center) in January amid attacks by Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups on U.S. forces stationed at Iraqi bases.
WORLD
Sep 7, 2024
U.S.-Iraq deal would see hundreds of troops withdraw in first year
The plan has been broadly agreed but requires a final go-ahead from both capitals and an announcement date.
Mourners carry coffins, during the funeral of children who were killed at a soccer pitch by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Majdal Shams, a Druze village in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, on Monday.
WORLD
Jul 30, 2024
Don't bomb Beirut: U.S. leads push to rein in Israel's response
Washington is racing to avert a full-blown war between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese movement Hezbollah.
U.S. soldiers during a handover ceremony of Taji military base from U.S.-led coalition troops to Iraqi security forces, in the base north of Baghdad on August 23, 2020
WORLD
Jul 23, 2024
Iraq eyes drawdown of U.S.-led forces starting September, sources say
The U.S. currently has around 2,500 troops in Iraq at the head of a more than 80-member coalition that was formed in 2014.
Protesters and militia fighters carry the logo of the U.S. Embassy during a protest to condemn airstrikes on bases belonging to Hashd al-Shaabi (paramilitary forces), in Baghdad on Dec. 31, 2019.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 4, 2024
Iran's allies in Iraq are firing at Israel. What if they draw blood?
Though experts do not see the attacks as posing the same level of threat to Israel as Hamas and Hezbollah strikes, they have increased in number and sophistication.
Brig. Gen. Esmail Qaani, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, speaks during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of senior Iranian military commander Mohammad Hejazi, in Tehran, on April 14, 2022.
WORLD
Feb 18, 2024
Iraqi armed groups dial down U.S. attacks on request of Iran commander
A top Iranian security official said: "Commander Qaani's visit was successful, though not entirely, as not all Iraqi groups consented to de-escalate."
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein in Cairo on August 15, 2023
WORLD / Politics
Jan 25, 2024
U.S. and Iraq to begin talks on end of U.S.-led military coalition
The United States has 2,500 troops in Iraq, advising and assisting local forces to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State group
Smoke billows over the Lebanese village of Odaisseh on Saturday during Israeli bombardment amid cross-border tensions in the Middle East.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 21, 2024
Missile attacks across Middle East raise Gaza escalation risks
Missiles and rockets launched by Iran-backed militants in Iraq hit al-Asad air base, where a number of U.S. personnel were being evaluated for traumatic brain injuries.
A large billboard depicting an Iranian missile with a phrase in Persian that reads "prepare your coffins" on the side of a building in Tehran on Tuesday, after overnight missile attacks by Iran on multiple targets in Syria and in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 17, 2024
Iran strikes targets in Iraq amid growing fears of regional conflict
The missile strike set off an unusual dispute between the neighboring allies, with Baghdad recalling its ambassador from Tehran in protest.
Air traffic at the Erbil International Airport in Erbil, Iraq, was suspended in the early morning on Tuesday amid explosions.
WORLD
Jan 16, 2024
Iran attacks Israel's 'espionage centers' in Iraq, state media says
Revolutionary Guards said they also struck in Syria against the Islamic State group.
Iraqi Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr delivers a speech in Najaf, Iraq, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 21, 2023
Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr hints at comeback with torching of Swedish Embassy
By having his supporters torch the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad, the unpredictable Shiite cleric has dragged an administration run by his rivals into a diplomatic crisis.

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Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.
Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?