The UN reports a "notable trend of spontaneous returns" of displaced Syrians as regime gains bring a modicum of peace to some areas—but mass killings by regime forces continue.
Turkish government claims that Kurdish rebels in the country's east are profiting from the hashish trade point to an integrated counter-insurgency and drug enforcement campaign.
Human Rights Watch accused the United Arab Emirates of operating secret facilities in Yemen, where detainees have been "forcibly disappeared, tortured, and abused."
Following rare public protests in defiance of harsh security measures, Egypt's Constitutional Court temporarily blocked the transfer of two disputed Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.
Thousands of residents have repeatedly taken to the streets of Ma'arat al-Numan, a town in Syria's Idlib governorate, to oppose the rule of jihadist forces that have seized control there.
Clashes broke out between Syrian rebel factions and Kurdish fighters in Aleppo province, as Arabs and Kurds are further pitted against each other by Great Power manipulation.
Qatar's diplomatic isolation by the other Gulf states, accused of supporting terrorism in the region, heightens contradictions for the Pentagon's use of the critical al-Udeid Air Base.
Amid an alarming and fast-spreading cholera outbreak in Yemen, Saudi warplanes struck a hospital in Sa'ada governorate, killing several patients and demolishing the building.
The UN Human Rights Commissioner called on Bahrain to investigate the deaths of several protesters during a security operation against supporters of a persecuted Shi'ite cleric.
A court in Bahrain dissolved the main opposition political party, an act Amnesty International said is a step toward the "total suppression of human rights" in the Persian Gulf monarchy.
Amid jeers and demands for the death penalty from government supporters, a trial opened for over 200 Turkish ex-officials accused in last year's attempted coup.
The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion stated that Houthi de facto authorities in Yemen must end their campaign of harassment against the Bahá'í community.
