Four people were killed and 16 injured in a stampede in the landmark Umayyad Mosque in Damascus on Friday, the Syrian state news agency (SANA) said. The crush “during a civilian event at the mosque... resulted in the death of three people,” Governor Maher Marwan told SANA. The White...

Lebanon’s parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun head of state on Thursday. The presidency, reserved for a Maronite Christian in Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system, has been vacant since Michel Aoun’s term ended in October 2022, with deeply divided factions unable to agree on...

Battles between Turkish-backed groups, supported by airstrikes, and Kurdish-led forces killed 37 people on Thursday in Syria’s northern Manbij region, a war monitor said. The latest reported fighting comes despite the United States saying Wednesday that it was working to address...

The UN on Wednesday reported severe Israeli restrictions on aid efforts in Gaza, where civilians are enduring "horrific levels of violence" amid ongoing attacks. "Our colleagues from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report that Palestinian civilians endure...