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Israeli strikes in central Beirut kill at least 20 as diplomats push for a cease-fire

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  • Fighter jets, tanks and more: Syrian army’s retreat from Aleppo is a windfall for rebels

    It took just 72 hours for the Syrian army and its Russian- and Iran-backed allies to lose all the territory they had “liberated” from Islamist rebel groups in Aleppo province in five years of bloody fighting between 2014 and 2019. The regime forces left behind an unprecedented stockpile of weapons and ammunition, including jets, missiles, and tanks. In Iran – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s most important ally – criticism has mounted, with some observers deriding the Syrian army as being “not

  • Iraq will not be just a 'spectator' in Syria, prime minister says

    Iraq will not act as a mere spectator in Syria where it believes groups and sects are victims of ethnic cleansing, Iraq's prime minister said on Tuesday, according to a readout from his office of a phone call to Turkey's president. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who discussed the situation in Syria with Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan, said Iraq would exert all efforts to preserve the security of Iraq and Syria, according to the official readout of the call.

  • Syrian rebels capture four more towns in advance on Hama

    Insurgents led by the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham along with Turkey-backed opposition fighters were about 10 kilometers from Hama, Syria’s fourth largest city, after seizing Aleppo over the weekend. Syrian insurgents captured four new towns early Tuesday, bringing them closer to the central city of Hama, opposition activists said, while government forces retook some territory they lost last week.The new push came as Turkey’s president — whose country is a main backer of insurgent g

  • Pro-Palestinian protest interrupts cathedral service

    Father Barry Mathews urged protesters not to "use the church for a place of political statement".

  • What to know about sudden rebel gains in Syria's 13-year war and why it matters

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The 13-year civil war in Syria has roared back into prominence with a surprise rebel offensive that captured Aleppo, one of Syria's largest cities and an ancient hub of Middle East culture and commerce. The push is the rebels' strongest in years in a war whose destabilizing effects have rippled far beyond the country's borders.

  • Zelenskyy says Russia is treating the first North Korean soldiers well, but it won't last

    Russia is treating North Korean troops well right now, Ukraine's Zelenskyy said, as it wants more to come fight, but they will become "cannon fodder."

  • Middle East latest: Deadly strikes by Israel in Lebanon as Netanyahu vows an 'iron fist'

    Lebanon’s Health Ministry and state media say Israeli forces have carried out several new drone and artillery strikes in southern Lebanon, killing a shepherd. The new Israeli strikes on Tuesday put further strain on a tenuous 6-day-old ceasefire with Hezbollah.

  • Middle East latest: Israel and Hezbollah trade fire, threatening Lebanon ceasefire

    Hezbollah fired into a disputed border zone held by Israel on Monday. The militant group said the volley, its first during the truce, was a warning shot in response to what it called repeated Israeli truce violations.

  • What just happened in Aleppo, and what it means for Syria's civil war

    Opposition forces seeking to overthrow Syria's President Bashar al-Assad launched their biggest offensive in years last week, retaking the northern city of Aleppo and driving government forces out of the region.It was the first significant development in years in Syria's grinding civil war, which after almost 14 years had largely fallen from the world's headlines. It also raises fresh questions about the opposing sides, who supports them, and what might happen next. Here's what we know:What happ

  • Turkey calls for reconciliation between Syrian government and the opposition to end conflict

    ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The recent rapid advance by opposition fighters in Syria shows that Syrian President Bashar Assad must reconcile with his own people and hold talks with the opposition, the Turkish foreign minister said Monday.

  • Israeli strikes kill 11 in Lebanon after fire exchanges with Hezbollah that test ceasefire’s limits

    JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel unleashed its largest wave of airstrikes across Lebanon since agreeing to a ceasefire with Hezbollah last week, killing at least 11 people on Monday after the Lebanese militant group fired a volley of projectiles as a warning over what it said were Israeli truce violations.

  • Ceasefire 'victory' looks bleak as Hezbollah bodies exhumed from makeshift mass graves

    In scrubland on the outskirts of Tyre, southern Lebanon, they started digging out the bodies - 186 of them.

  • Inside an Aleppo hospital after a deadly Russian military airstrike

    A Russian airstrike at the Aleppo University Hospital in Syria killed at least 12 people and injured more than 20 others. The bombardment, in support of Syrian government forces, followed insurgents seizing control of Aleppo, the country's largest city.

  • Bangladesh court defers Hindu leader's bail hearing as tensions with India spike

    DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A court in southeastern Bangladesh on Tuesday rescheduled a bail hearing for a jailed prominent Hindu leader who led large rallies in the Muslim-majority country demanding better security for minority groups.

  • Israel kills 23 people in north Gaza, orders evacuations in south

    Israeli military strikes killed at least 23 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, most of them in the town of Beit Lahiya on the northern edge, medics said, as the army issued new evacuation orders in the south of the small enclave. Medics said eight people had been killed in a series of airstrikes in Beit Lahiya while four others were killed elsewhere in Gaza City. An Israeli airstrike later killed two people and wounded others in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps, in the coastal enclave's north, medics said.

  • Syria says its strikes with Russia have killed at least 400 insurgents over past 24 hours

    Syria's military has said its joint airstrikes with Russia have killed at least 400 insurgents over the past 24 hours - as Vladimir Putin reaffirmed his support for Syrian President Bashar al Assad. The strikes are being carried out after insurgents led by jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al Sham and including Turkey-backed fighters launched a two-pronged attack on Aleppo, Syria's second largest city, on Saturday. Syrian and Russian airstrikes have mainly been carried out on rebel positions in those two provinces, Syria's military said.

  • Exclusive-Hezbollah not intending to send fighters to Assad in Syria for now, sources say

    Lebanese armed group Hezbollah does not currently intend to send fighters to northern Syria to support the Syrian army there, three sources familiar with the Iran-backed group's thinking told Reuters on Monday. An alliance of rebel fighters launched a surprise offensive last week on northern Syria, sweeping through government-held territory in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib and forcing government troops out of Aleppo city in the biggest setback for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in years. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Monday Syria's military was capable of confronting the rebels but "resistance groups will help and Iran will provide any support needed", referring to the regional militia groups Tehran backs.

  • Funeral being held in NY for Israeli American soldier killed during last year’s Oct. 7 Hamas attack

    SYOSSET, N.Y. (AP) — A Jewish community in the New York City suburbs is mourning the death of a young Israeli American soldier who Israeli authorities had believed was taken hostage following Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

  • Key players in Syria's long-running civil war, reignited by a shock rebel offensive

    BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s long civil war has reclaimed global attention after insurgents seized most of its largest city and dozens of nearby towns and villages.

  • With Israeli tanks on the ground, Lebanese unable to bury dead

    When a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect last week, Lebanese hotelier Abbas al-Tannoukhi leapt at the chance to bury a dead relative in their southern hometown of Khiyam, battered for weeks by intense clashes. Tannoukhi's cousin had been killed in one of the final Israeli airstrikes on Beirut's suburbs before Wednesday's ceasefire, which stipulated an end to fighting so residents on both sides of the border could return home. But with Israeli troops still deployed in southern Lebanon, Tannoukhi coordinated his movements with Lebanon's army.