TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s caretaker prime minister took a gamble with his preemptive strike against Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza, less than three months before he is to compete in general elections to retain his job. Yair Lapid had counted on Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers to...

Many fires erupted in separate areas of northwestern Syria, causing great losses to civilian property, the Syrian Civil Defense said on Monday. According to the rescue agency, 7 fires broke out on Sunday, two of which were in forested forests in Deir Othman and Ain Bunduq areas in the...

The Russian Defence Ministry announced on Friday that its air forces had "eliminated" a group of opposition fighters trained by the US in Syria on 4 August. The ministry's statement read: "On 4 August, after the routine reconnaissance operations, Russian fighters eliminated a group of...

By Baria Alamuddin  Two years after Beirut’s port catastrophe — which was an apt metaphor for the wider state of Lebanon —the port’s huge grain silos continue to disintegrate and toxic fires feed upon their decomposing contents, terrorizing locals and prompting fears about...