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March 26, 2025
 

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Timour Azhari
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (right) and Syrian Democratic Forces commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi signing an agreement to integrate the SDF into the state institutions, in Damascus on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 13, 2025
U.S. steered Syrian Kurds toward Damascus deal, sources say
The deal aims to stitch back together a country fractured by 14 years of war.
A Russian military vehicle heads toward Hmeimim air base in Latakia, Syria, on Dec. 15.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 3, 2025
Russia gambles to keep military bases in post-Assad Syria
Syria's interim president wants to renegotiate the 49-year lease for one base and an indefinite lease for the other to secure better terms.
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus on Jan. 16
WORLD / Politics
Jan 30, 2025
Syria's al-Sharaa declared president for transition, consolidating his power
Al-Sharaa said the first priority in Syria was to fill a vacuum in government "in a legitimate and legal way."
A Syrian fighter with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham patrols the gate as men wait outside a reconciliation center in Damascus on Dec. 30.
WORLD
Jan 11, 2025
Western powers warn Syria over foreign jihadis in army
HTS and allied groups have hundreds of foreign fighters in their ranks, many of them followers of hard-line interpretations of Islam.
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
Ozeki Onosato on doorstep of yokozuna promotion after latest title
Onosato celebrates after winning the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka on Sunday.
Japan's first foreign swordsmith opens workshop in Hiroshima Prefecture
Johan Leutwiler checks a sword he made at his workshop studio in the Kui district of Mihara, Hiroshima Prefecture.
Tokyo court strips Unification Church of religious corporation status
Nobuya Fukumoto (far left), a lawyer for the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, known as the Unification Church, is surrounded by the media at the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday after it ordered the group to be stripped of its religious corporation status.
Japan launches new Joint Operations Command to unify SDF branches
The head of the Self-Defense Forces' new Joint Operations Command, Gen. Kenichiro Nagumo, inspects an honor guard Monday morning at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo.
Applications for forgery-proof passports start in Japan
New Japanese passports will be printed using laser technology based on banknote printing techniques, making forgery more difficult.
New SDF command will be key for contingency planning, Australian commander says
A Maritime Self-Defense Force SH-60K "Super Auk" from JS Shiranui prepares to land on HMAS Brisbane during Exercise Malabar 2023 while off the coast of New South Wales, Australia.
Cherry blossom season kicks off in Tokyo after warm weekend
Blooms are seen on the Meteorological Agency's sample cherry tree at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Monday.
Japanese wages likely to rise more than 5% again this year
Wages are set for another big increase this year as annual negotiations secure generous agreements.
Stay at home if Mount Fuji erupts, government panel says
Mount Fuji in November. For the first time, the government has released specific guidelines on how residents should act in the event that Mount Fuji erupts.
In pictures: Tokyo's weeklong celebration of baseball's best
Shohei Ohtani belts a home run in the fifth inning of the second game of the Tokyo Series between the Dodgers and Cubs.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The sun shines from behind a waving Philippine flag at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
Eighty years after the Battle of Manila, old foes forge new ties
By Anton L. Delgado

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