All Middle East
Israeli ground offensive in Gaza triggers shelter crisis for fleeing civiliansOvernight fighting killed at least 60 Palestinians in a Gaza neighborhood, while Israel's army reported its deadliest day in a 13-day offensive. Aid agencies are struggling with more evacuees than during the 2008-09 war.聽
In Gaza, a patriarch speaks of 'senseless' deaths of 8 family membersOne day after he lost children and grandchildren, a stricken Moussa Abu Jarad struggles to comprehend what happened. 'We have no relation to Hamas or Fatah,' he says. 'We're businessmen and we don't care about politics. ... We didn't fire one bullet.'
'One blood, one enemy': Solidarity for Gaza boils in West BankAnger is building in the West Bank amid the ongoing Israeli operation in Gaza, particularly toward Palestinian Authority security forces trying to tamp down demonstrations.
Gaza conflict: Israeli fears shift from skies to below groundFor years, Israel has considered rocket fire from Gaza to be the largest security threat. But now the Jewish state is more worried about what's going on below.
Israeli ground invasion of Gaza ramps up stakes of conflict with HamasPalestinians in northern Gaza fled south as Israeli tanks rolled over the border. A hospital for the disabled took a direct hit in a stepped-up Israeli bombardment.
In social media battle, IDF uploads while Hamas accounts are deletedTwitter and Facebook have suspended several accounts used by Hamas. But neither Palestinian militants nor Israeli forces have paused their social media campaigns to sway public opinion.
Why Gaza doesn't have bomb sheltersWhile Hamas has built an extensive network of underground tunnels and bunkers since 2009, it hasn't built infrastructure for protecting civilians.
Gaza cease-fire affords brief respite, then a buzz of dronesA UN-brokered lull of fighting today gave residents in Gaza a chance to stock up after more than a week of Israeli bombardment. Fighting quickly resumed after the cease-fire ended.
Covert war against Iran's nuclear scientists: a widow remembersThe wife of the first scientist to be assassinated speaks about her husband's growing fear of a net closing around him 鈥� and of meeting his Israeli-trained assassin before his execution.
To trim or not to trim? For Syrian men, beards matter under militant ruleThe ascendancy of the Islamic State, an extremist Islamist group that has overrun swathes of Iraq and Syria, is forcing fighters in other rebel groups in Syria to defect or try to melt into civilian population.聽
Israelis scrawl the names of the Gaza dead on their city wallsAnonymous Israeli artists have graffitied the names and ages of some of the nearly 200 Palestinian casualties to make sure Israelis notice the growing death toll in Gaza.
Syria's President Assad says the Arab Spring is deadSyrian President Bashar al-Assad was sworn in today for his third, seven-year term in power. He vowed to crush his opponents and pronounced the 'death' of the Arab Spring.
Two political casualties of Gaza conflict: Netanyahu and AbbasThe Israeli prime minister and Palestinian Authority president have both argued for restraint 鈥� and are paying the price.
Why Hezbollah is playing a smaller role in this Iraqi conflictThe Lebanese militant organization is sending a small unit to assist Iran, its sponsor, in training Iraqi Shiite militia. Fighting in Syria and spillover onto Lebanese soil take priority for now.
Is Israel's targeting of militant homes in Gaza legal?The Israeli military says it goes above and beyond the requirements of international law to protect civilians. Israeli and international human rights groups disagree.
Egyptian cease-fire plan for Israel-Hamas conflict quickly unravelsHamas faced a choice between a cease-fire that met almost none of its conditions or聽rejection that gave Israel diplomatic cover for further escalation.
What children talk about when they talk about the Israel-Hamas conflictIsraeli and Palestinian parents living under fire struggle to answer their children's questions about why the rockets and air strikes are back after a two-year hiatus.- Sprung from Assad's gulag, Syrian detainee speaksThe thousands of Syrian detainees released from regime prisons after President Assad declared a general amnesty last month now fear re-arrest. One man shares his story.
On Gaza's southern front, Egypt offers aid, not political leverageEgypt brokered a successful 2012 ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Its new rulers, who ousted an Islamist president last year, may be less keen on helping Hamas this time.聽
As Iraq's politicians fumble, Iran fears its own quagmireWhile volunteers have signed up to defend Shiite shrines in Iraq, Iran is leery of entanglement and suspicious of US motives. Iraq's parliament remains deadlocked on forming a new government.聽
