A group called the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, also known by its Turkish acronym TAK, claimed responsibility for the bombing of a football stadium in Istanbul on Saturday that killed 44 people. A car carrying about 900 pounds of explosives detonated near police officers guarding the stadium shortly...
When the Syrian army, backed by relentless Russian airstrikes, beat back Islamic State from the ancient city of Palmyra early this year, it marked the first in a string of significant defeats against the extremist group in the country. But that victory appeared to have been short-lived. On Sunday,...
Pro-government troops in Syria have swept into the Old City quarter of Aleppo, swiftly moving toward a complete takeover of the city from rebels who had once hoped to use it as a springboard to national power. Aid groups reported Wednesday that more than 31,000 people had been displaced by fighting...
A ship carrying more than 60 people capsized in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Yemen, but authorities said Wednesday at least 36 people had been rescued and the search for survivors was ongoing. The ship set sail Saturday from Al Mukalla, the coastal capital of Hadramout Province in southern...
Islamic State introduced a new spokesman Monday, exhorting its followers to rise up against its many enemies even as the group faces the prospect of losing vital territory in Iraq and Syria. The debut of Abi Al Hassan Muhajer came in a 24-minute speech posted on social media. Replete with verses...
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas cemented his control over his political party, Fatah, on Sunday after 18 politicians loyal to him won spots on its powerful Central Committee. The vote capped a six-day conference of the party, which also saw a former West Bank security chief receive...
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani criticized U.S. lawmakers on Sunday for, in his view, undermining a landmark nuclear agreement but said Tehran had no intention of abandoning the deal. In a speech to parliament, Rouhani slammed a Senate vote last week to extend for 10 years a longstanding package...
He was a committed activist, as well as a “real funny guy,” according to his colleagues on the front lines in northern Syria. To his comrades in arms, he was a good fighter, one who said he feared cameras more than bullets. And to friends at home in Northern California, Michael Israel was “loving,”...
The sun had yet to rise over the northern Syrian village of Al Tokhar on July 19 when a U.S. airstrike obliterated much of the town, leveling adobe buildings and killing families as they slept. Soon grisly photos of bloody corpses and grieving survivors began appearing on social media, alerting...
In two of the Mideast’s most devastating urban conflicts – Aleppo in Syria and Mosul in Iraq – civilians who were already facing deprivation and danger are confronting harsh new threats brought about by recent battlefield events, humanitarian groups and international organizations say. In Aleppo,...
A U.S. military investigation has found that “unintentional human errors” led to a coalition airstrike that mistakenly killed dozens of Syrian-backed troops this fall, but it did not recommend disciplining anyone for the deadly attack. The Sept. 17 air raid on a garrison in the eastern Syrian town...
Building on dramatic advances over the last two days, Syrian pro-government troops stormed opposition-held neighborhoods in northeastern Aleppo on Monday, signaling an imminent defeat for the rebels who have waged a more than four-year battle for the once-thriving commercial city. The new advances...
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ political party, Fatah, opens its first party congress in seven years on Tuesday amid swirling speculation about who will succeed the 81-year-old at the helm of the Palestinian Authority. Some 1,400 Fatah delegates will gather at Abbas’ presidential compound...
There may be little common ground among Syria's fractious opposition groups, but they have long agreed that the country's largest city, Aleppo, is vital to their plans to overthrow the government of President Bashar Assad. With the city divided between the government and the opposition since 2012,...
Two days after a wave of wildfires spread throughout the mixed Arab-Jewish city of Haifa and forced tens of thousands to flee, residents returned to pick through the blackened debris of their homes while pondering what had started it all. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday had...
A U.S. service member was killed in an improvised explosive device blast Thursday in northern Syria, U.S. officials said. It marked the U.S. military’s first combat death in the country, where its forces are embedded with local militia battling Islamic State. The service member, whose name was...
Walid Moallem, Syria’s foreign minister, is known both for his ability to almost lazily parry a deluge of questions as well as his trademark languid pace of delivery. But in a recent meeting in Damascus with a roomful of journalists and analysts, he seemed even more relaxed than usual and began...
To lawyer Ceren Akkaya, a proposal by Turkey’s government that would defer sentencing or punishment in some sexual assault cases and which critics say would legitimize child marriages is a disaster waiting to happen. Akkaya said the proposal, which parliament is expected to vote on Tuesday, puts...
A pharmacist, woken by the sound of explosions, rushed out to help the wounded – only to be blocked by his wife and children, who feared he would die in another wave of attacks. A pediatrician worried about how he would reach the clinic in the morning. A doctor wondered if he would see a family...
U .S. intelligence officials expect Turkey and Russia to expand military operations in Syria over the next two months as President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team takes over and President Obama exits the White House. The Obama administration has stood back as Turkish forces have pushed deeper...
Will the Middle East slide into even greater chaos during Donald Trump’s presidency? Some potential scenarios: An expanded offensive against Islamic State could take precedence over all else. Syria's president could cling to power. Russia's regional ambitions could go unchecked. Strongmen could...
Donald Trump had sharp words for Iran during his presidential campaign. He promised to revisit or even tear up the deal over Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Any Iranian vessels that harass the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf, he said, should be “shot out of the water.” But Iranian leaders appear...
With more than 120,000 public workers suspended and nearly 40,000 people in prison, the aftermath of Turkey’s failed July 15 coup is being felt across every part of society, including its highest-ranked schools. The day after the coup attempt, 1,577 deans — working at nearly every university in...
Russia launched a broad new offensive Tuesday against rebels seeking to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad, an onslaught that included Moscow’s first use of fighter jets launched from an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean. At the same time, a three-week lull in fighting in the northern city...
A human rights monitoring group said Tuesday it had obtained videos and photographs of Iraqi security forces and allies apparently executing, dragging and mutilating the bodies of Islamic State fighters during the ongoing Mosul offensive. Human Rights Watch said one video shows a man in military...
An Israeli government bill to legalize unauthorized settlement construction in the West Bank came under a hail of criticism Monday, a day after a parliamentary committee endorsed the proposed legislation. The proposal is designed to sidestep recent Israeli high court rulings calling for the razing...
An Israeli Cabinet panel voted Sunday to endorse a piece of legislation that would silence mosque loudspeakers that broadcast the call to prayer, kicking up charges of discrimination from the country’s Arab minority. The vote by the Cabinet panel on Sunday means the legislation will be introduced...
When Moustafa Kawaie entered Layramoun, an industrial zone northwest of the Syrian city of Aleppo that was reclaimed by the government in July, he rushed to inspect his textile factory. ”I entered a few hours after the Syrian army did, but in the beginning I couldn’t find where my factory was,”...
The headless body was lying in a pool of blood in the street, partially covered by a tan blanket. An Iraqi military commander said the man was one of eight Islamic State fighters killed while trying to infiltrate Mosul’s eastern Zahra neighborhood. But his neck appeared to have been cleanly severed,...
Yasser Mahmoud carried a white flag, along with a small supply of rice, bread and water, as he returned to this city under siege. The 35-year-old photographer had talked with friends who’d fled to displaced persons camps, and he found their stories of long lines for food and supplies alarming....
The pudgy Islamic State fighter was wearing a short beard, sweater and jeans when troops caught him crossing the front line with civilians in east Mosul on Thursday and ushered him into an abandoned house for questioning. He admitted to being a militant. “They forced me,” said Omar Ahmed. After...
Officials with U.S.-led coalition forces are investigating accusations by Syrian activists who say airstrikes killed at least 20 civilians in a village near the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqah, a coalition spokesman said Wednesday. The spokesman, U.S. Col. John Dorrian, said coalition airstrikes...
Israelis who support settlement expansion in the West Bank hailed Donald Trump’s election victory, calling it a milestone that offers Israel’s right-wing government a chance to permanently block a two-state solution with the Palestinians. “The victory of Trump is a huge opportunity for Israel to...
A dozen years after the death of Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian Authority is opening a museum honoring the founder of the Palestinian movement for political sovereignty. The $7-million Yasser Arafat Museum sits next to the personal quarters where Arafat spent his final years and the mausoleum...
In 2014, when Islamic State routed its onetime rebel allies from Raqqa, the eastern Syrian city that would become its de facto capital, it was the first stage of a blitz that would bust through the border to Iraq and seize the city of Mosul. The two cities became the nuclei of what the jihadists...
Families made their way east Saturday, past sniper fire, mortar rounds and the bodies of neighbors, to a new camp set up for those displaced by the battle to drive Islamic State out of Mosul. They arrived in dump trucks and on foot, carrying their belongings in large bags, wrapped in bedding and...
Three American military trainers were killed Friday in a shooting outside a Jordanian military base that could complicate relations with a country that has been a close ally to the United States in a turbulent region. The Americans came under fire as their vehicles were entering the Prince Faisal...
A group of civilians took up arms and joined the fight against Islamic State on Friday as Iraqi forces continued to close in on Iraq’s second-largest city, defense officials said. “There is a demonstration from within Mosul, on the [east] side,” said Brig. Gen. Tahsin Ibrahim, spokesman for Iraq’s...
Troops and aid workers milled around aimlessly, turning to glance at the road cutting through a berm in this desolate corner of northern Aleppo. To the side, a group of Russian soldiers huddled near a set of plastic lawn chairs, seeking shade under an umbrella. Everyone seemed bored. Since July,...
Turkish police arrested eight lawmakers from a pro-Kurdish political party in late-night raids that touched off angry demonstrations, prompted a stern rebuke from the European Union and heightened tensions between the government and an increasingly disaffected Kurdish minority. The arrests also...
The crowd convulsed and parted when a medic commanded, “Make a path! Make a path!,” as he and his colleagues pushed a gurney through the narrow emergency room entrance of the Razi hospital. His shouts rose above the shrieking of the woman running behind him. “Save my son! Please save my son! He’s...