Tag - middle-east

 
 

MIDDLE EAST

A fire burns inside a Palestinian house in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Dec 19, 2024
Gaza mediators intensify ceasefire efforts as Israeli strikes kill 20
A Palestinian official close to the negotiations said mediators had narrowed gaps on most of the agreement's clauses.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander-in-Chief Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami reviews military equipment during an IRGC ground forces military drill in the Aras area, East Azerbaijan province, Iran, on Oct. 17, 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 18, 2024
Iran's Revolutionary Guards extend control of oil exports, sources say
All aspects of the oil business have come under the growing influence of the Guards.
Chinese President Xi Jinping's government is strengthening cooperation with Middle East countries and diversifying its involvement in African nations, a Japanese government think tank said.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 18, 2024
China boosting influence over Global South, Japan think tank says
An annual report on China by the National Institute for Defense Studies says that Beijing's growing sway has the risk of destabilizing the region.
A rebel fighter stands in front of an abandoned tank in the town of Adra on the northeast outskirts of Damascus on Monday.
WORLD
Dec 18, 2024
Conflict in Syria 'has not ended,' U.N. warns
The U.N.'s special envoy for Syria has warned of "significant hostilities" already witnessed there between Turkish-backed and Kurdish fighters.
Ghazi Mohammed al-Mohammed, a former detainee in a Damascus prison, poses for a picture with his mother at their home in Sarmada, in the northern Syrian Idlib province, on Saturday.
WORLD
Dec 16, 2024
Bashar Assad's prisoner #3006 tells his story
When Syrian military intelligence officers detained Ghazi Mohammed al-Mohammed, they told him to forget his name and who he was.
Houthi supporters hold a rally in Sanaa, Yemen, on Friday. A coordinated international military effort is needed to exploit Iran's weakened influence and neutralize the Houthi threat in Yemen.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2024
The next Iranian proxy to target is the Houthis
A coordinated international military effort is needed to neutralize the Houthi threat in Yemen, which disrupts global shipping and exploits Iran's weakened influence.
A rebel fighter inspects writings on a jail cell wall at the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate (GID) Branch 251, also known as Al-Khatib branch, in the capital Damascus on Saturday.
WORLD
Dec 16, 2024
'Torture after torture': Turkish inmate recalls time in Syria's jails
The man said he paid the price for the hatred Syria's authorities bore for Turkey's president, who early in the war urged the Syrian president to leave.
Israeli military vehicles ride through Syria close to the cease-fire line between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, as seen from Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 16, 2024
Israel plans to double its population on the occupied Golan Heights
Israel captured most of the strategic plateau from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War, annexing it in 1981.
Palestinians inspect the damage at a tent camp sheltering displaced people, following an Israeli strike in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday.
WORLD
Dec 16, 2024
Israeli forces carry out air and ground attacks in Gaza; dozens dead
Israel's air and land offensive that has killed almost 45,000 people, mostly civilians, according to authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
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.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fighters gather in Damascus on Saturday.
WORLD
Dec 15, 2024
U.S. says it is in contact with new Syria rulers
Secretary of State Antony Blinken's comment on "direct contact" with the HTS rebels came despite the United States having designated the group as terrorists in 2018.
Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin was in Damascus on Thursday, just days after an Islamist-led rebel push ousted Syrian strongman Bashar Assad.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 14, 2024
Turkey races ahead of U.S. in push for Syria influence
Ankara has sent a top official to Damascus and restarted diplomatic relations with Syria after more than a decade.
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 wave the flag of the Syrian National Coalition as they celebrate the fall of the Assad regime in Aleppo, Syria, on Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Dec 13, 2024
The Syrians have a chance to be free. They need our help.
The future of Syria, and the wider Middle East, remains uncertain, however, and the ultimate outcome could be more threatening than that of the Assad era.
The leader of Syria's rebel group, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, addresses a crowd in Damascus on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 12, 2024
Militant leader's endgame is big unknown in post-Assad Syria
Abu Mohammed al-Golani has sought to project a moderate image so far, but there is distrust in the air.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a hearing in his trial on corruption charges at the district court in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 11, 2024
Israel's Netanyahu dismisses allegations in corruption trial
Benjamin Netanyahu is the first sitting prime minister of Israel to face a criminal trial.
The aftermath of an overnight strike attributed to Israel is seen on the Barzeh scientific research center affiliated with the Syrian defense ministry in northern Damascus on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 11, 2024
Israel steps up airstrikes and sends troops deeper into Syria
The Israel Defense Forces said it struck most of the strategic weapons stockpiles in Syria to prevent them from falling into the hands of terrorists.
People hold a banner featuring Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as members of the Syrian community and supporters gather to celebrate the fall of Syrian president Bashar Assad in the face of an offensive by Islamist-led rebels, in Istanbul on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 10, 2024
With Assad’s fall, Erdogan oversees Turkey’s growing regional clout
Erdogan’s clout over his southern neighbor has increased dramatically with the fall of his onetime friend Bashar Assad.
A truck pulls the head of a toppled statue of late Syrian President Hafez Assad, the father of ousted-President Bashar Assad, through the streets of Hama on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2024
Assad’s fall shows Russia, Iran and Hamas made a bad bet
That’s not to say the Middle East is entering a bright new era of peace. The collapse of Assad’s regime could cause a revival of the Islamic State.

Longform

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