She sent just one text to her mother: “I am trapped in a house with Islamic State fighters. Do not call me.” Off and on for eight hours, Monaly Atalla and six college roommates hid under their beds in their darkened house as an elite cadre of Islamic State fighters came and went during a...

(Middle East Eye)- Flooding in Egypt has killed 29 civilians and injured at least 73, according to the health ministry, sparking criticism among Egyptians that the government has failed to provide fast relief. .Khaled Megahed, the health ministry spokesman, said on Monday that Thursday’s...

(New York Times)- The guns were silent atop Mount Qasioun, and lights on its slopes twinkled over Damascus as President Bashar al-Assad welcomed visitors to his French-Ottoman palace below. It was possible to imagine, for a moment, that there was no war in Syria. The blasts that until...

(Vox)- The United States is actively participating in a brutal war in Yemen, providing valuable jet refueling capabilities and intelligence to the Saudi-led campaign against the Houthi rebel group that began in March of last year. Because of the US’s fairly limited direct combat role, the...