Tag - middle-east

 
 

MIDDLE EAST

Palestinians who had taken refuge in Rafah, leave the city to return to Khan Younis after Israel pulled its ground forces out of the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday, six months into the devastating war sparked by Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks.
WORLD
Apr 8, 2024
Six months into 'long' war, Israel says readying for Rafah
Defense minister says troops left Khan Younis "to prepare for future missions, including ... in Rafah" where most of Gaza's population has taken refuge.
Mourners gather in Tehran on Friday for the funerals of senior Iranian military and intelligence officials killed in Israel's bombing of the Iranian Embassy building in Damascus, Syria.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 6, 2024
Israel and U.S. are on alert for Iran to strike back at Israel
Analysts say Iran is more likely to strike Israel itself than through Hezbollah, its closest militant ally.
Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, meets with the family of one of the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who were killed in the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian embassy complex in the Syrian capital Damascus, during a funeral ceremony in Tehran on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 5, 2024
Iran embassy strike shows Israel's growing reach and disregard for norms
"In my view, it's without precedent," one analyst said, adding that he could not recall any state targeting another's diplomatic presence in this way.
Former Hamas hostage Aviva Siegel poses during an interview with AFP during her visit to the 55th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, on Feb. 28. Nearly six months into the Gaza war, with the families of hostages still held captive by Hamas desperate for their release, many former hostages are finding the words to describe the ordeal of captivity.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 4, 2024
After six months of war, former Hamas hostages speak of ordeals in Gaza
About 130 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, Israel believes, including 34 who are presumed dead.
World Central Kitchen’s damaged vehicle hit by an Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Tuesday
WORLD / Politics
Apr 4, 2024
Strikes in Gaza and Iran show limits of Biden’s leverage on Israel
They draw scrutiny to the question of how much leverage the U.S. president has over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and whether he’s willing to exert it.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz walks as families and supporters of hostages kidnapped in the deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas take part in a four-day march from Reim to Jerusalem as they call for the release of hostages, near Beit Shemesh, Israel, on March 1.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 4, 2024
Israel’s Gantz ups ante with Netanyahu by calling for early elections
Gantz has seen his popularity among Israeli voters surge as that of Netanyahu has taken a nosedive.
The "disaster" of Oct. 7 would have killed off any other politician. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hold over the ruling Likud party has been likened to Donald Trump's over U.S. Republicans.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 3, 2024
Bye, bye Bibi: Is the game up for Israel's great survivor Netanyahu?
With thousands of protesters on the streets every night this week demanding he resign, many wonder how long the veteran escapologist can survive.
The United Nations building in New York
WORLD / Politics
Apr 3, 2024
Could the Palestinians become a full United Nations member?
Palestinian U.N. envoy Riyad Mansour said the aim was for the council to take a decision at an April 18 meeting, but that a vote had yet to be scheduled.
A person looks at a vehicle where employees from the World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli airstrike, according to the NGO, in Deir Al-Balah, in central Gaza, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Apr 3, 2024
Israel says airstrike unintentionally killed aid workers in Gaza
The U.S. and other allies called for explanations amid widespread condemnation.
A Palestinian boy walks on the site of an Israeli strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 27.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 2, 2024
How the Israel-Hamas war is changing the international security order
The divide within the international community over the conflict is set to become even more serious.
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad (left) walks near a damaged site after what the Iranian media said was an Israeli strike on a building close to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 2, 2024
Israel bombs Iran embassy in Syria, killing military commanders
Monday's attack marks a major escalation in Israel's war with its regional adversaries.
Palestinians inspect the damage at Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital after the Israeli military withdrew from the complex housing the hospital on Monday.
WORLD
Apr 2, 2024
Israeli troops exit Gaza's Shifa Hospital, leaving rubble and bodies
More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel's military offensive on Oct. 7.
Anti-government protesters launch a prolonged demonstration against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government in front of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 1, 2024
Protests against Netanyahu intensify as cease-fire talks resume
Netanyahu has faced increasing pressure at home and abroad over Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza.
Newly-appointed Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa (center) poses for a picture among other ministers during a swearing in ceremony in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, on Sunday. A new Palestinian government that includes both Gazans and four women was sworn in Sunday, but is already facing skepticism from its own people.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 1, 2024
New leadership for Palestinian Authority gets lukewarm reception
The authority is under pressure from Washington to prepare to step into the breach in the aftermath of the Gaza war and undertake reforms.
According to the Integrated Food Security Classification, as many as 1.1 million residents of Gaza — roughly half the population — are at risk of catastrophic food insecurity by July, and 210,000 in the North are likely to fall into the formal definition of famine between now and May.
WORLD
Apr 1, 2024
Gazans go hungry as Hamas, Israel and clans battle for control
A recent U.N.-backed report said famine is imminent in northern Gaza where 70% of the population is on the brink of starvation.
A smoke plume erupts during Israeli bombardment on Khan Yunis as seen from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 1, 2024
Fighting rages across Gaza amid revival of truce talks
More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's military offensive in Gaza since Oct. 7.
Israeli police officers hold fire extinguishers during a protest against  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government in Tel Aviv on Saturday.
WORLD
Mar 31, 2024
Deadly chaos at Gaza aid distribution as WHO renews hospital warning
U.N. agencies have warned repeatedly that northern Gaza is on the verge of a man-made famine.
Smoke rises following an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 29, 2024
World Court orders Israel to halt famine as Hamas says cease-fire needed
The order from the International Court of Justice came as Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters battled in close combat around Gaza's Shifa Hospital.
The Barbados-flagged bulk carrier vessel True Confidence in Ravenna, Italy, in 2022
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 28, 2024
Deaths on Houthi-ravaged vessel herald perilous era for Middle East shipping
The experience of the True Confidence shows the threat to the oil tankers, cargo carriers and seafarers who are still using this vital waterway for trade.
An Israeli military helicopter flying away from the helipad of a hospitalin Tel Aviv, Israel, after transporting a patient on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 28, 2024
Israel deploys expansive facial recognition program in Gaza
Members of Israeli intelligence and its military are concerned about the experimental surveillance effort's false positives and cases of mistaken identity.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami