Greater Middle East

ISIS blows up Syrian prison at Palmyra

ISIS militants blew up the Tadmur prison complex at Palmyra—a move protested by Syria's civil resistance as destroying evidence of the Assad regime's crimes there.

Greater Middle East

Egypt: court acquits officer in torture death

An Egyptian court acquitted a police officer accused of torturing to death an Islamist militant arrested over a deadly church bombing in the prelude to Mubarak's ouster.

Greater Middle East

Syria: Nusra Front announces drive on Damascus

Islamist rebels led by al-Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front have seized new territory in northwestern Syria, and issued a pledge to take Damascus and topple the regime.

Greater Middle East

Syria: Kurdish-Assyrian alliance against ISIS

Kurdish forces of the People's Protection Units (YPG) have formed an alliance with the Assyrian Military Council to fight ISIS for control of northeast Syria's Hassakeh governorate.

Greater Middle East

ISIS in Palmyra: lives versus archaeology?

As the world awaits ISIS destruction of the archaeological treasures of Palmyra, human rights groups are raising the alarm over the fate of the city's civilian inhabitants.

Greater Middle East

Egypt: court sentences Morsi to death

An Egyptian court sentenced ex-president Mohammed Morsi and more than 100 others to death for their involvement in a mass prison break in 2011.

Greater Middle East

Egypt: Morsi supporters get life in prison

Eight supporters of former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi were sentenced to life in prison for "illegal protests" against the death sentences of 14 Muslim Brotherhood leaders.

Greater Middle East

Yemen war fuels dope-for-guns trade

Both sides in Yemen's bitter Sunni-Shi'ite divide—equally intolerant of hashish-smokers and khat-chewers—are turning to the dope trade to fund their arsenals.

Greater Middle East

PKK announces deal with Turkish state

Turkey and the Kurdish rebel movement announced a landmark political deal that calls for the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to lay down arms and join the civil political process.