AL-HAYJANA, Syria: Syrian farmer Mohammad Saasaani grew up grazing sheep in the vast Badia rangelands, but today they are rife with jihadists, a place too dangerous to take the herd. Like many livestock herders, Saasaani can barely afford fodder for his dwindling flock. “We’re worried...

In the summer of 2015 a businessman in the Syrian province of Latakia was approached by a powerful security chief, seeking a favour. The official wanted the merchant, an importer of medical supplies, to source large amounts of a drug called fenethylline from abroad. The regime, he said, would...

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — It’s a men's-only club in the tangle of auto repair shops on the traffic-clogged streets of Iran’s capital, Tehran. Among them, workers toil in dim garages, welding and wrenching, fabricating and painting. That’s until Maryam Roohani, 34, pops up from under a...

Year after year Ramadan meals become more frugal in war-torn Syria as the economy worsens, but Damascus dwellers say a traditional wafer-thin crispy pancake called "naaem" is here to stay. During the Muslim fasting month, just before sundown Damascus residents flock to buy the...