Middle East

A Yemeni walks over the debris of a destroyed building following U.S. airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo)

New US airstrike campaign targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels more intense than last, AP review finds

An Associated Press review finds a new American airstrike campaign against Yemen’s Houthi rebels appears more intense and more extensive.
 
Palestinian Muslim women pray during Laylat Al Qadr, also known as the Night of Power and marked on the 27th day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in front of the Dome of the Rock shrine at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Middle East latest: Israeli strikes kill a family of 6 and a Hamas spokesman in Gaza

 
In this image made from a video released by the Israeli Government Press Office, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a statement Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Israeli Government Press Office via AP)

Israel’s parliament approves a key part of Netanyahu’s divisive judicial overhaul

 
A protester waves Turkish flag during a protest against the arrest of Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, outside Caglayan courthouse, in Istanbul, Turkey, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Police use force to break up protests at a university in Turkey’s capital

 
Tourists walk on the Giftun Island beach as the sun sets over the Red Sea in Hurghada, Egypt, Thursday Aug. 20, 2015. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)

Tourist submarine sinks off Egypt’s coast, leaving 6 dead, officials say, while 38 are rescued

 
An MQ-9 Reaper aircraft is seen in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, United States, on Aug. 7, 2024. (Tech. Sgt. Joseph Pagan/U.S. Air National Guard via AP)

US gives initial approval for Qatar to purchase MQ-9 armed drones for nearly $2 billion

The United States has given an initial approval for the energy-rich Mideast nation of Qatar to buy eight armed MQ-9B Predator drones for its military, an estimated purchase worth nearly $2 billion.
 
Palestinians chant slogans during an anti-war protest and against Hamas in a rare show of public anger against the militant group that rules the territory, in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians protest Hamas in a rare public show of dissent in Gaza

Palestinians have chanted against Hamas during anti-war protests in the Gaza Strip. It’s a rare show of public anger against the militant group that has long repressed dissent.
 
Smoke rises from a location reportedly struck by U.S. airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Takeaways on AP’s report on intense new US airstrike campaign targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels

The Trump administration promised a tougher stance against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, and an Associated Press review of the operation finds its new airstrike campaign appears to be more intense and more extensive.
 
Israeli soldiers stand by a truck packed with bound and blindfolded Palestinian detainees, in Gaza, Dec. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Moti Milrod, Haaretz, File)

Told to fix notorious prison, Israel just relocated alleged abuses, detainees say

Under pressure from Israel’s top court to improve conditions at a facility notorious for mistreating Palestinians seized in Gaza, the military transferred hundreds of detainees to newly opened camps.
 
Mahmoud Fanas, a "musaharati,"or "dawn caller," who beats on a drum to wake up Muslims for a meal before sunrise during Ramadan, walks through old streets in the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

With the bang of his drum, he wakes up the whole neighborhood in a Ramadan tradition

CAIRO (AP) — You wouldn’t think that someone who goes around banging a drum in the streets before dawn and waking up the whole neighborhood would be so beloved.
 
Hamdan Ballal, Oscar-winning Palestinian director of "No Other Land," is released from a police station in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba a day after being detained by the Israeli army following an attack by Jewish settlers, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Oscar-winning Palestinian director says Israeli soldiers beat him after attack by settlers

Israeli authorities released an Oscar-winning Palestinian director who was detained by the army after being attacked by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank.
 
CORRECTS DATE: Hamdan Ballal, Palestinian co-director of Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, is detained by the Israeli military from his home in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Monday, March 24, 2025. (Raviv Rose via AP)

Oscar-winning Palestinian director is attacked by Israeli settlers and detained by the army

Israeli settlers have beaten up one of the Palestinian co-directors of the Oscar-winning documentary film “No Other Land.”
 
Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israel has struck the largest hospital in the territory’s south

Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israel’s military has struck the largest hospital in the territory’s south, killing two people and wounding others.
 
From left, Yael and Adi Alexander, parents of Eden Alexander, who was abducted and brought to Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, listen to Liz Hirsh Naftali, great aunt of Abigail More Edan, as families and victims of the Hamas attacks meet with the House Foreign Affairs Committee, at the Capitol in Washington, Nov. 29. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Father of the last living American hostage in Gaza hopes Trump can bring his son home

The father of the last living American hostage being held by Hamas in Gaza is hoping that the Trump administration’s negotiators can help bring his son home safely.
 
A Palestinian man carries the body of his 11 years old daughter Aya Al-Samri who was killed by an Israeli army airstrike, during her funeral at the Baptist Hospital in Gaza city, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israel fires on Lebanon after rocket attack in the heaviest exchange since the truce with Hezbollah

Israel has launched airstrikes on several locations in Lebanon in retaliation for a rocket attack. Israel’s strikes Saturday killed six people, in the heaviest exchange of fire since its ceasefire with the militant group Hezbollah began nearly four months ago.
 
Injured Palestinians wait for treatment at the hospital following Israeli army airstrikes in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Mohammad Jahjouh)

As Israeli bombs fell, wounded children overwhelmed this Gaza hospital. Dozens died

When Israel unleashed a wave of bombardment this week, shattering Gaza’s ceasefire, a hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis was overwhelmed with wounded children.
 
Iraqi Kurds holding lit torches walk up a mountain during a procession to celebrate their Nowruz, the Persian New Year, in Akra, Iraq, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Kurds in Iraq and Syria celebrate the Newroz festival of spring at a time of new political horizons

Kurds in Iraq and Syria this week have marked the Newroz festival, a traditional celebration of spring and renewal, at a time when many are hoping that a new political beginning is on the horizon.
 
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, center, walks with Scott Burns, left, as they enter "A Southern Salute to the Troops" fund raiser put on by the non-profit 7 Days for the Troops Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Tupelo Miss. (Thomas Wells /The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal via AP)

Hegseth beefs up warship presence in the Middle East and will have 2 aircraft carriers in the region

A U.S. official says Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is beefing up the Navy warship presence in the Middle East, ordering two aircraft carriers to be there next month as the U.S. increases strikes on Yemen-based Houthi rebels.
 
Displaced Palestinians, carrying their belongings, wood and other items, move between southern and northern Gaza along a beach road away from the areas where the Israeli army is operating after Israel's renewed offensive in the Gaza Strip, in the outskirts of Gaza City, Friday March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Israeli forces push deeper into Gaza and destroy its only cancer hospital

Israeli forces have destroyed Gaza’s only specialized cancer hospital as ground forces advance deeper into the Gaza Strip.
 
Sudan army soldiers take over the Republican Palace in Khartoum, Sudan, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo)

What could happen next in Sudan’s civil war

The war in Sudan appears to be reaching a critical juncture after nearly two years of fighting that has killed tens of thousands, driven millions from their homes and spread famine.
 
The bodies of victims of an Israeli army airstrike are prepared for burial at Indonesia Hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israel returns to war in Gaza with wider aims and almost no constraints

Israel’s renewed military offensive in the Gaza Strip threatens to be even deadlier and more destructive than the last, as it pursues wider aims with far fewer constraints.
 
Masih Alinejad greets friends and supporters outside the federal courthouse after testifying at the trial of two men accused of allegedly plotting to kill her in New York, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Jury convicts 2 men of plotting to assassinate an Iranian American journalist in New York

A jury has convicted two purported Russian mobsters of plotting to assassinate Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad at her home in New York City.
 
This photo released by the official Syrian news agency SANA, shows Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, left, and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, pose for a photograph in Damascus, Syria, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (SANA via AP)

Germany reopens its embassy in Syria, 13 years after it was closed

Germany’s foreign minister has reopened its embassy in Damascus, 13 years after it was shut in the early days of Syria’s civil war.
 
Rockets fired from Gaza and intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system over Israeli skies are seen from Gaza City, on May 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)

A look at Israel’s multilayered air defense as military says it shot down missile from Yemen

The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen early Thursday before it reached Israeli airspace, as air raid sirens and exploding interceptors were heard in Jerusalem.
 
Israelis attend a rally against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet internal security service, and calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, outside the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem on Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Middle East latest: Israeli strikes kill at least 85 Palestinians in Gaza, hospitals say

Three hospitals in the Gaza Strip say at least 85 Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes on several homes across the war torn territory.
 
Locals inspect the site reportedly struck by U.S. airstrikes overnight in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo)

Trump threatens Houthi rebels that they’ll be ‘completely annihilated’ as airstrikes pound Yemen

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened Yemen’s Houthi rebels that they’ll be “completely annihilated” as American airstrikes pounded locations under their control, while further pressuring the group’s main benefactor Iran.
 
An Israeli tank maneuvers on the Gaza Strip border in southern Israel, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Middle East latest: Israeli forces are recapturing a key corridor that cuts Gaza in half

The Israeli military says it launched a “limited ground operation” to retake part of a key corridor that bisects northern Gaza from the south.
 
An injured man is taken to the Al-Ahli hospital following overnight Israeli army airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, in Gaza City, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi).

Israel’s wave of airstrikes on Gaza

This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors
 
Mourners gather around the bodies of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli army airstrikes as they are brought to Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

After one of the deadliest days in Gaza, here’s the conflict in numbers

Israel’s wave of predawn airstrikes across Gaza shattered two months of relative calm during a ceasefire with Hamas.
 
The body of Muhannad Akrad, one of three people killed in Israeli airstrikes on Monday, is carried for burial at the Omary mosque in Daraa, southern Syria, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

Mourners attend funeral of man killed in Israeli airstrikes on Syrian city of Daraa

Hundreds of mourners have attended the funeral of one of the victims of an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian city of Daraa, in which three people were killed.
 
Relatives of hostage held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, stand by the Israe-Gaza border fence, calling for their release and expressing concerns that the resumption of fighting in Gaza puts their loved ones at risk, in southern Israel, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Families of hostages in Gaza are terrified they won’t return after Israel resumes fighting

Families whose relatives remain hostages in Gaza are terrified their loved ones might not return after Israel launched a wave of strikes on the territory.
 
A Palestinian man holds the body of his 11 month-old nephew Mohammad Shaban, killed in an Israeli army airstrikes at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Israel’s surprise bombardment plunged Palestinians back into ‘hell’

Israel’s surprise wave of airstrikes has plunged Palestinians back into a nightmare they had hoped might be behind them.
 
In this image made from a video released by the Israeli Government Press Office, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a statement Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Israeli Government Press Office via AP)

Why did Netanyahu end the Gaza ceasefire?

The wave of Israeli strikes that killed hundreds of Palestinians across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday was the culmination of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to get out of the ceasefire with Hamas that he agreed to in January.
 
The body of a Palestinian killed in an Israeli army airstrikes is brought to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

What to know about why Israel launched dozens of attacks across Gaza, raising fears of all-out war

The relative calm of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has come to an abrupt end with Israel launching dozens of attacks on targets across the Gaza Strip.
 
Masih Alinejad blows a kiss to supporters outside the federal courthouse after testifying at the trial of her would-be assassins in New York, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad testifies at the trial of two men accused of plotting to kill her

A charismatic journalist from Iran who prosecutors say was targeted by her former homeland’s government for assassination has testified at the trial of two men accused in the plot.
 
An injured man is taken to the Al-Ahli hospital following overnight Israeli army airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, in Gaza City, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi).

Netanyahu says Israeli strikes across Gaza that killed hundreds are ‘only the beginning’

Israel has launched airstrikes across the Gaza Strip that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says are “only the beginning” and “a necessary condition for freeing hostages.”
 
A dead person killed during an Israeli army strike is taken into the hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday March 18, 2025.(AP Photo/ Mohammad Jahjouh)

Israel launches deadly wave of airstrikes across Gaza after ceasefire talks stall

Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, striking dozens of Hamas targets in its heaviest assault in the territory since a ceasefire took effect in January.
 
Mohammad Shabir Osmani, pushes one of his families suitcases out of the Sacramento International Airport, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

After Trump halted funding for Afghans who helped the US, this group stepped in to help

An organization of American veterans, Afghans who fled their country and other volunteers has stepped up to help Afghans at risk of being stranded overseas.
 
Houthi supporters chant slogans during an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Trump warns Iran it will face ‘consequences’ of further attacks from Yemen’s Houthi rebels

U.S. President Donald Trump has explicitly linked the actions of Yemen’s Houthi rebels to the group’s main benefactor, Iran.
 
Ronen Bar, chief of Israel's domestic Shin Bet security agency, attends a ceremony marking Memorial Day for fallen soldiers of Israel's wars and victims of attacks at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl military cemetery, May 13, 2024. (Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool photo via AP, File)

Netanyahu’s push to fire Israel’s domestic security chief sparks an uproar

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has fired or forced out a string of top officials since the deadly Hamas attack on Israel in 2023 that triggered the war in Gaza.