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Middle East

This is a locator map for Yemen with its capital, Sanaa. (AP Photo)

Explosion forces crew to abandon Hong Kong-flagged container ship in the Red Sea

An explosion has struck a Hong Kong-flagged container ship traveling north through the Red Sea, sparking a major fire that forced its crew to abandon the vessel.
 
Displaced Palestinians return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, following Israel's decision to allow thousands of them to go back for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians celebrate their return to northern Gaza after 15 months of war

 
Syrian fighters watch Russian armoured vehicles driving past near the Hmeimim Air Base, a Syrian airbase currently operated by Russia, in the town of Hmeimim, southeast of Latakia, Syria, Monday Dec. 16, 2024.(AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)

Russian government delegation makes first official visit to Syria since Assad’s fall

 
Displaced Palestinians return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, following Israel's decision to allow thousands of them to go back for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Northern Gaza is shattered. The spirit of returning Palestinians is not

 
Algerian author Boualem Sansal, a members of the Jury, at the press conference speaks during the 62 edition of International Film Festival Berlinale, in Berlin Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

Algeria blasts European Parliament for condemning a French-Algerian author’s arrest

 
Lebanese citizens gathering as prepare to return to their homes while Israeli soldiers block a road leads to the southern Lebanese village of Aitaroun, Lebanon, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

2 killed in southern Lebanon as protests against Israeli presence erupt for a second day

Lebanese officials say firing by Israeli troops has killed two people and wounded 17 in the second day of deadly protests in southern Lebanon.
 
Two boys watch a crowd of Palestinians returning to northern Gaza, amid destroyed buildings, following Israel's decision to allow thousands of them to return for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Huge health challenges face Gaza residents returning to their homes

As Gaza residents return to what is left of their homes, they’re facing new risks on top of monumental health challenges.
 
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One as he travels from Las Vegas to Miami on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Trump’s Palestinian refugee idea falls flat with Arab allies and confounds a Republican senator

President Donald Trump’s push to have Egypt and Jordan take in large numbers of Palestinian refugees from besieged Gaza has fallen flat with both countries’ governments and perplexed a congressional ally.
 
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., questions former Governor Doug Burgum, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the the Interior Department as Secretary of the Interior during the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Trump should rethink revoking former officials’ security details, Tom Cotton says

A top Republican Senate ally says that President Donald Trump should rethink his decision to remove security details from three former senior national security officials, saying their protection is not just for them but also the public.
 
Igor Abramovich surveys heavy damage to a house from the 14-month war between Hezbollah and Israel in Kibbutz Manara, on the border with Lebanon, northern Israel, Jan. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A destroyed Israeli kibbutz on the Lebanese border starts to pick up the pieces. Who will return?

Residents of northern Israel are surveying damage and trying to rebuild after the 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah.
 
Vehicles ply at a slow pace through a street with Dubai's iconic skyline in the background, United Arab Emirates, on Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Dubai’s ceaseless boom is putting strains on its residents

Skyscraper-studded Dubai has been on a hot streak for the last five years — and some are starting to get burned.
 
Displaced Palestinians return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, following Israel's decision to allow thousands of them to go back for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Middle East latest: Israel lets displaced Palestinians return to northern Gaza

Israel is letting hundreds of thousands of Palestinians return to heavily destroyed northern Gaza as part of a fragile ceasefire.
 
Pete Hegseth speaks after being sworn in as Secretary of Defense by Vice President JD Vance in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

As Hegseth takes charge at the Pentagon, here’s what changes could be in store

There will be a lot on the plate for new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth when he steps into his office on the Pentagon’s third floor E Ring.
 
An aerial photograph taken by a drone shows displaced Palestinians gathering with their belongings near a roadblock on the al Rashid Street, as they wait to return to their homes in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025, days after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas came into effect. (AP Photo/Mohammad Abu Samra)

Middle East latest: Deal reached to release Israeli hostage and allow Palestinians into north Gaza

Mediator Qatar has announced that an agreement has been reached to release an Israeli civilian hostage and allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.
 
A bulldozer works to open the al Rashid main road for Palestinians who are returning from the southern parts of the Gaza Strip to the north, in Gaza City, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, days after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas came into effect. (AP Photo/Abed Hajjar)

Qatar says a deal is reached to release an Israeli hostage and allow Palestinians into northern Gaza

Qatar says an agreement has been reached to release an Israeli civilian hostage and allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.
 
Lebanese citizens check the destruction on their village caused by the Israeli air and ground offensive, in Aita al-Shaab, a Lebanese border village with Israel, south Lebanon, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

22 reported killed in Lebanon before agreement to extend deadline for Israeli forces to withdraw

Israeli forces in southern Lebanon have opened fire on protesters demanding their withdrawal in line with a ceasefire agreement, killing at least 22 and injuring scores.
 
Palestinian prisoners are greeted by a crowd after being released from Israeli prison following a ceasefire agreement with Israel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Who are the Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for Israeli hostages?

The release of four female soldiers from Hamas captivity on Saturday came at a great cost for Israel.
 
Demonstrators protest calling for the immediate release of the hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Here’s what happens next during the ceasefire in Gaza

The deal hit its first major complication when Israel said a female civilian hostage named Arbel Yahoud was supposed to be released but wasn’t.
 
Shiite pilgrims pray at the golden twin-domed shrine of Imam Moussa al-Kadhimduring during their annual pilgrimage in the northwestern Baghdad district of al-Kadhimiyah, Iraq, Saturday Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photto/Anmar Khalil)

Shiite pilgrims make annual pilgrimage in Iraq amid regional upheaval

Thousands of Shiite pilgrims are marching in Iraq dressed in black, heading on foot toward the golden twin-domed shrine of Imam Moussa al-Kadhim in the northwestern Baghdad district of al-Kadhimiyah.
 
Palestinian prisoners are greeted by a crowd after being released from Israeli prison following a ceasefire agreement with Israel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025.(AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Middle East latest: Israel says it won’t complete its withdrawal from Lebanon by Sunday

Israel’s military says it won’t complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon by Sunday as outlined in its ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah militants.
 
This photo released by the International Committee of the Red Cross shows its officials helping prisoners prepare to be freed by Yemen's Houthi rebels in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (International Committee of the Red Cross via AP)

Yemen’s Houthi rebels unilaterally release 153 war detainees, Red Cross says

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have unilaterally released 153 war detainees. That’s according to a statement Saturday from the International Committee of the Red Cross.
 
An aerial photograph taken by a drone shows the destruction caused by the Israeli air and ground offensive, in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

With the ceasefire in Gaza comes a gruesome challenge: Counting and collecting the dead

The corpses keep coming every day, sometimes dozens at a time brought to morgues in the Palestinian enclave, after being pried from under 15 months of rubble and pulled from battle zones long too dangerous for search-and-rescue teams to reach.
 
Evelyn Tinoco kisses her boyfriend Arturo Zacarías upon his arrival to the General Heriberto Jara International airport in Veracruz, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, days after he was released by Yemen Houthi rebels who had seized his cargo ship Galaxy Leader in the Red Sea in 2023. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)

Mexican sailor returns home to festivities after 14 months in Houthi rebel captivity

Escorted by locals on bicycles and cars that awaited his arrival outside his hometown, Arturo Zacarías Meza has returned home days after Houthi rebels in Yemen released him and fellow crew members following more than a year in captivity.
 
Israeli female soldier hostages wave and react at a Palestinian crowd before being handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza City, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Abed Hajjar)

Hamas frees 4 female Israeli soldiers in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners as ceasefire holds

Four female Israeli soldiers who were taken in the attack that sparked the war in Gaza have returned to Israel after Hamas militants paraded them before a crowd of thousands and handed them over to the Red Cross.
 
This is a locator map for Yemen with its capital, Sanaa. (AP Photo)

UN suspends all trips into Houthi-held areas of Yemen over 7 more staffers being detained

The United Nations on Friday suspended all travel into areas held by Yemen’s Houthi rebels after seven more of their staff were detained by the rebels.
 
A woman looks at a display of empty chairs representing hostages held by the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Desperate families await return of 4 female soldiers held by Hamas for 15 months

Hamas has announced it would release four female soldiers held hostage for 15 months in Gaza, as part of an exchange for dozens of Palestinian prisoners laid out in its ceasefire agreement with Israel.
 
A Palestinian boy carries his belongings as he walks with his family next to the rubble of destroyed homes, after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Abed Hajjar)

Middle East latest: 4 Israeli women soldiers will be next hostages freed from Gaza

The second batch of Israeli hostages set to be released by Hamas this weekend are four female soldiers.
 
Dania Hanatsheh, right, a former Palestinian prisoner who was released from an Israeli prison as part of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, poses for a photo at a reception for released prisoners, West Bank city of Ramallah, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Freedom is bittersweet for Palestinians released from Israeli jails

Dozens of Palestinian women and teenagers were released from Israeli prisons this week as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas to pause the war in Gaza.
 
Holocaust survivor Naftali Fürst pauses during an interview at home in Haifa, Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

After 80 years, not many Auschwitz survivors are left. One man makes telling the stories his mission

A Holocaust survivor who lived through four concentration camps as a young boy will return to Auschwitz to mark 80 years since the liberation of one of the Nazi’s most notorious concentration camps.
 
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends an Israeli soldier memorial ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem, July 16, 2024. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Why Netanyahu’s political future is as fragile as the ceasefire

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be flying high. Israel’s enemies across the region have been badly weakened during 15 months of war.
 
A view of a Greek Air Force F-16 aircraft after landing at Cyprus' Andreas Papandreou Air Base near the southwestern coastal city of Paphos, Cyprus, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias, File)

US Air Force looks to upgrade Cyprus airbase as humanitarian staging post for the Middle East

A Cypriot official says experts from the U.S. Air Force are looking at ways to upgrade Cyprus’ premier air base for use as a humanitarian staging post in future operations in the Middle East.
 
A child inspects the damage of his destroyed family home, in Bureij, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, days after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas came into effect. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

How the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal will unfold — and why it is so precarious

Israeli troops have pulled back to the edges of Gaza, the first hostages have been released and many Palestinians have returned to what remains of their homes in the first few days of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.
 
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, shakes hands with Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Saudi foreign minister makes first official trip to Lebanon in a decade after years of strained ties

Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat has visited Lebanon for the first time in a decade following years of strained relations between the oil-rich kingdom and the tiny Mediterranean country.
 
A Turkish Airlines commercial flight lands at Damascus international airport from Istanbul, in Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (Ahmet Arslan/IHA via AP)

Commercial flights between Turkey and Syria resume after 13 years

Commercial flights between Turkey and Syria have resumed after 13 years with a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Damascus.
 
Two Palestinian girls attempt to walk through a flooded area after a night of heavy rainfall at a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Middle East latest: Gaza ceasefire holds as Israel cracks down in the West Bank

The ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas stretched into a fifth day on Thursday. Humanitarian aid groups are working to surge food and supplies to the war-ravaged territory as Palestinians scour through mountains of rubble.
 
In this Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook, Southport stabbings suspect Axel Rudakubana appears on the first day of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court, where he has pleaded guilty to killing three young girls and wounded 10 other people in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, in Liverpool, England, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Elizabeth Cook/PA via AP)

Why were warning signs missed for the UK teen who killed 3 girls in a stabbing rampage?

Six months after a teenage attacker stabbed three girls to death at a children’s dance class in England, new details about his background have sparked questions about how authorities repeatedly failed to spot the threat he posed.
 
Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., speaks during a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Capitol Hill, Feb. 29, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

160 national security staffers are sent home as the White House aligns its team to Trump’s agenda

President Donald Trump’s national security adviser has sent home about 160 National Security Council aides while the administration reviews staffing and tries to align it with Trump’s agenda.
 
Israeli army vehicles are seen during a military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Why is Israel launching a crackdown in the West Bank after the Gaza ceasefire?

In the days since a fragile ceasefire took hold in the Gaza Strip, Israel has launched a major military operation in the occupied West Bank and suspected Jewish settlers have rampaged through two Palestinian towns.
 
A family drives past tanks that belonged to the Assad government, in Nawa, near Daraa, Syria, Jan. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

Southern rebels loom large as Syria’s new rulers try to form a national army

Syria’s interim rulers are trying to form a united national army after the fall of Bashar Assad late last year.
 
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is sworn by Vice President JD Vance in the Vice Presidential Ceremonial Office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Marco Rubio became secretary of state without a hitch. Keeping Trump’s favor may be harder

Marco Rubio has been confirmed by the Senate for secretary of state with unanimous support. Now comes the hard part that could make or break his tenure: retaining the full backing of his new boss, Donald Trump.