JERUSALEM — A gunman fatally shot two Israeli civilians on Sunday as they drove through a Palestinian town in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, even as Israeli, Arab and U.S. officials were attending a summit in Jordan to discuss ways to de-escalate rising tensions in the area. At the conclusion of the one-day meeting — described […]

After a violent uprising by Palestinians against Israel subsided nearly two decades ago, Abu Abdallah, then a leader of a Palestinian militia, stashed away his assault rifle and later became a civil servant in the West Bank city of Nablus. When Israeli troops raided Nablus late last month, Abu Abdallah, now 42, lent that rifle […]

ISTANBUL — Two dozen student volleyball players, four teachers and 12 parents visiting Turkey for a competition this month checked into the Grand Isias Hotel in the southern city of Adiyaman. When a powerful earthquake struck on Feb. 6, the building collapsed and killed dozens of people including everyone in the entourage except for four […]

Two weeks ago, Lutfiye Yuce hosted a 30th birthday party for her daughter Yesim in the southern Turkish city of Antakya. She bought an iced cake and invited a handful of neighbors. Three days later, the neighbors returned in the middle of the night to untangle Yesim from under her home, which had caved into the […]

For miles around the small Turkish city of Erzin, the earth is shattered and buildings are razed, towns and cities turned into tombs of concrete by last week’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake. But Erzin still stands, an oasis of stability near the Mediterranean, where the question of why the city weathered the quake and a powerful aftershock […]

JERUSALEM — The Israeli Parliament voted Wednesday to allow the deportation and revocation of citizenship and residence permits of people jailed for terrorism who also receive financial reward for their violence. Though the legislation does not target Palestinians by name, it permits the deportation of citizens and residents who receive money from the Palestinian Authority, […]

RIYADH (NYTIMES) – At the cramped shop where Mr Kholoud Ahmed sells the traditional Muslim women’s gowns known as abayas, the rainbow of colours is a revelation. In the past, women in Riyadh typically dressed in the same black abaya no matter where they were going. Now, observed Mr Ahmed, 21, there is a differently […]

BAGHDAD (REUTERS) -Militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group killed four Peshmerga soldiers and a civilian, and wounded six other people in an attack near Qara Salem village in northern Iraq, security sources said on Sunday (Dec 5). The Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs said in a statement that the attack […]

TEHERAN (AFP) – A senior Emirati security official is due in Iran on Monday (Dec 6), ISNA news agency reported, in the latest outreach between the two countries since a downgrading of ties five years ago. United Arab Emirates National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al-Nahyan “will arrive tomorrow in Teheran” at the invitation […]

TEHERAN (AFP) – Iran is firmly determined to reach an agreement with major powers on salvaging its 2015 nuclear deal at talks that resume on Monday (Nov 29) in Vienna, its foreign ministry spokesman said. “The delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran is in Vienna with a firm determination to reach an agreement and […]