Greater Middle East

Lebanon, Golan Heights at stake in Syria conflict

A suicide blast hit Lebanon's Bekaa Valley after Hezbollah fighters took a Syrian border town. Meanwhile, a Syrian opposition figure broaches selling the Golan for Israeli military aid.

Greater Middle East

Lebanon: army seizes strife-torn Tripoli

​Lebanon's government has ordered the coastal city of Tripoli placed under army control amid growing sectarian clashes pitting Sunni residents against Alawites.

Greater Middle East

Israel bombs Syria —again

The Israel Air Force was reportedly responsible for an attack on a military base in the Syrian city of Latakia, targeting a Russian missile shipment bound for Hezbollah.

Greater Middle East

NYC: Syrians march against Bashar Assad

New York area Syrians came out for a "Rally to Stop Assad's War on Syria" near Times Square. Placards read: "GLOBAL SILENCE IS THE CAUSE OF ATROCITIES IN SYRIA." 

Iraq

Iraq: sectarian war escalating fast

Sectarian violence has killed at least 200 in Iraq since the start of Ramadan, and Hezbollah has launched an Iraqi wing to fight al-Qaeda’s networks in the country.

Greater Middle East

Syria: sectarian, ethnic fighting spreads

A rocket strike near an important Shi’ite shrine in Damascus sparked protests throughout the Shia world, while Kurdish militias fight jihadist forces in northern Syria.

Palestine

Islamic Jihad severs ties with Hamas

The Islamic Jihad movement in Gaza announced that it is suspending ties with Hamas, accusing Gaza authorities of being responsible for the death of one of the group’s members. 

Greater Middle East

Lebanon’s hashish valley drawn into Syrian war

Lebanon’s hashish heartland of the Bekaa Valley is increasingly embroiled in the civil war raging across the border in Syria, with a wave of sectarian clashes and abductions.

Greater Middle East

‘Sunni cleansing’ in Syria?

Turkey sees in the battle for Qusayr a strategy to create an Alawite mini-state within Syria, purged of Sunni Muslims, to which the ruling elite can withdraw for a last stand.