GAZA Hundreds of Gazans on Wednesday attended the funeral of a four-year-old boy who died after being hit by Israeli shrapnel at a border protest last week, according to Palestinian medical officials. Wrapped in a Palestinian flag, the body of Ahmed Abu Abed was carried on people’s shoulders as mourners …

BEIRUT Syria’s government has been using a little-known anti-terrorism law to seize property from dissidents and their families as it takes back control of areas that were held by rebel groups, rights groups and some of the people affected say. With Syria’s conflict stabilized, at least for now, and President …

DAMASCUS Seven mass graves containing hundreds of unidentified bodies have been unearthed near the former Islamic State group stronghold of Albu Kamal in eastern Syria, official news agency SANA said. Most of the more than 100 bodies recovered so far at the site appear to “have been subjected to torture …

QAMISHLI (SYRIA) A US-backed Kurdish militia in Syria warned Wednesday that an offensive against it by Turkey would hinder the battle against Islamic State jihadists. The warning came just hours after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara would launch an operation “in the next few days” against territory held …

BAGHDAD Nobel laureate and former jihadist captive Nadia Murad called on Iraq Wednesday to create a special team to investigate the fate of other members of her Yazidi minority kidnapped by the Islamic State group. The 25-year-old, the first Iraqi to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, made the appeal during …

DUBAI Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Iranians on Wednesday to stay united, saying the United States would exploit divisions and was likely to launch plots against Iran in 2019. Iran is struggling with the economic impact of President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of a 2015 nuclear deal …

With just hours left before the close of negotiations, UN mediators rushed to broker a truce Wednesday between government representatives and rebels in Yemen, a country teetering on the brink of famine. The UN talks, which opened last week in Sweden, mark the first meeting in two years between Yemen’s …

Al-QAIM (IRAQ) From a desert hillside guarded by Iraqi Shi’ite paramilitaries, commander Qasim Muslih can spot Islamic State hideouts across the frontier in Syria. But he also keeps a wary eye on U.S. warplanes soaring overhead. “The Americans are spying on us,” he said, squinting skywards. “But we can hold …

UNITED NATIONS The United States will push the U.N. Security Council to toughen its stance to prevent Iran from working on ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons and carrying out test launches, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday. Pompeo also told the Security Council an arms …

UNITED NATIONS U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that Iran is defying U.N. Security Council resolutions on its missile program and called on council members to take action to protect against the malign activity. “This threat is real and upon us. We clearly see that the JCPOA …