Tag - middle-east

 
 

MIDDLE EAST

Smoke billows over Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip during Israeli bombardment on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 19, 2024
Prospects dim for truce as Israel rejects calls to spare Rafah
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls to spare Rafah, arguing that failing to launch the operation would mean to "lose the war."
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."
Displaced Palestinian children play as they take shelter at the border with Egypt, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 16, 2024
Egypt setting up shelter area for Palestinians at Gaza border, sources say
Some 1.5 million Palestinians are currently in Rafah. A mass exodus into Egypt due to an Israeli offensive would be "a sort of nightmare."
Smoke billows over Khan Younis in the distance as seen from Rafah following Israeli bombardment on the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 15, 2024
Israel vows to press ahead with 'powerful' Rafah operation
Despite growing pressure to hold back, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists Hamas' battalions must be eliminated in the overcrowded city.
Israeli officials evacuate a person who was injured by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Safed, northern Israel, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Feb 15, 2024
Israel-Hezbollah tensions rise with strikes from Lebanon
The assault, presumed to be carried out by Hezbollah, prompted Israeli fighter jets to launch extensive strikes.
Israeli tanks roll near the border with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Israel’s military is preparing an assault on Rafah, a town close to Egypt’s border, where it says Hamas’ remaining fighters are based.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 15, 2024
Israel pulls out of peace talks over ‘delusional’ Hamas demands
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it would hold out for Hamas to change its position before taking any further role in talks.
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 Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 14, 2024
Gaza truce talks end inconclusively as Rafah braces for assault
The city teems with people living in makeshift shelters who fled there from Israeli bombardments in areas of Gaza farther north.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva (right) speaks during the World Governments Summit in Dubai on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 13, 2024
IMF and World Bank warn Gaza and Red Sea chaos imperils global economy
The Israel-Hamas war and its knock-on effects could impact the world the longer the fighting drags on, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said.
Jordan's King Abdullah II looks on as U.S. President Joe Biden speaks following a meeting in Washington on Monday. Biden said he's pushing for a six-week pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas to allow for the release of hostages, saying those conditions could lay the groundwork for a broader peace.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 13, 2024
Biden pushes for six-week pause in Israel-Hamas hostage deal
Biden’s comments were his most detailed yet about the ongoing negotiations between Israel and Hamas, which the U.S. is helping to facilitate.
Yemeni security forces stand guard upon the arrival of the United Nations' special envoy for Yemen ahead of a meeting with local officials in the city of Taez on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 13, 2024
Red Sea crisis puts Yemen peace process on hold
As recently as December, painstaking negotiations were gaining ground.
An Israeli soldier stands by as a mobile artillery unit fires, near the Israel-Lebanon border on Jan. 15.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 13, 2024
France poses Hezbollah withdrawal for Israel-Lebanon truce
The plan aims to end fighting between the Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel at the border.
Israel began its military offensive in Gaza after militants from Hamas-ruled Gaza killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 7, 2024
Gaza mediators search for 'final formula' for Israel-Hamas cease-fire
It remains unclear if Israel or Hamas are willing to soften their hard-line positions despite Palestinian group's "positive" response to initial framework.
A Palestinian woman walks with a child at Mar Elias refugee camp in Beirut on Jan. 29.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 6, 2024
UNRWA funding cuts put Lebanon's Palestinian refugees on alert
"It's difficult to imagine that Gazans will survive this crisis without UNRWA"
Smoke rises over buildings in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip following Israeli bombardment on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 6, 2024
Palestinians hope Blinken visit hastens truce before Rafah strike
Blinken's meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman lasted about two hours.
Houthi tribesmen gather to show defiance after U.S. and U.K. airstrikes on Houthi positions near Sanaa, Yemen, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 5, 2024
U.S. promises more Mideast strikes while trying to avert wider war
Officials framed the U.S. strikes as a necessary and inevitable response to the killing of three U.S. soldiers in a drone strike in Jordan a week ago.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (third from left) visits a navy base in Bandar Abbas, southern Iran. U.S. President Joe Biden is being urged to attack Iran directly, but that may not be the right solution.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2024
Biden’s air strikes won’t work, nor would hitting Iran
Deterrence, especially as it pertains to air strikes, isn’t only about what U.S. does, but also what Iran thinks.
Indian commandos stand guard with a group of detained pirates after the Indian Navy freed an Iranian fishing vessel hijacked by Somali pirates on Tuesday.
WORLD
Feb 4, 2024
As navies focus on Red Sea Houthis, Somali pirates may rebound
Attacks off the coast of Somalia peaked around 200 incidents a year from 2009 through 2011 — there have already been three in 2024
A Royal Air Force Typhoon FRG4 undergoes preparations to conduct further strikes against Houthi targets on Saturday.
WORLD
Feb 4, 2024
U.S. and U.K. hit dozens of Houthi sites in bid to end ship attacks
Targeting Houthi sites at 13 locations in Yemen, the allies escalated their effort to destroy the militant group’s ability to attack Red Sea shipping.
U.S. President Joe Biden exits Air Force One in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Feb 3, 2024
U.S. hits Iranian militias in Syria and Iraq with wave of strikes
Aircraft including long-range B-1 bombers flown from the U.S. struck 85 targets at seven locations linked to Iran’s Quds Force.
People distribute bags of flour to Palestinians in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on behalf of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in November. The agency has come under fire after a few of its employees were accused of supporting terrorism.
EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 2024
Hold UNRWA accountable — but don’t harm those in need
Some 30,000 UNRWA employees serve 5 million people in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, with 13,000 of them working in Gaza alone.

Longform

Eme-Ima Kitchen is one of over 10,000 kodomo shokudō in Japan. A term first used in 2012 to describe makeshift eateries offering free or cheap meals to disadvantaged kids, it now refers to a diverse range of individuals, groups and organizations working to provide not only food but a sense of belonging to both children and adults.
Japan’s ‘children’s cafeterias’ are booming — but is that a good thing?