Firas and Zeina survived Beirut's port explosion unscathed but still sustained severe injuries -- not in the disaster itself but in the heavy-handed crackdown on the street protests that followed. Firas Hamdan, 33, a lawyer who was filming one demonstration, was hit in the heart by a lead...

Iran surpassed 20,000 confirmed deaths from the coronavirus Wednesday, the health ministry said - the highest death toll for any Middle East country so far in the pandemic. The announcement came as the Islamic Republic, which has been struggling with both the region's largest outbreak and...

Gaza's lone power plant shut down Tuesday, less than a week after Israel suspended fuel shipments to the Palestinian enclave over the launching of incendiary balloons that have caused brush fires in southern Israel. Gaza, run by Hamas Islamists, relies on Israel for most of its energy...

The number of COVID-19 deaths among medical personnel in government-held parts of Syria has shot up in recent weeks amid a rise in infections, several sources told AFP. The capital Damascus has been especially hard hit, with doctors warning of a deteriorating situation in overcrowded...