Middle East

Trump: 'All hell will break out' if Hamas hostages not returned

President-elect sets Inauguration Day deadline for Hamas; militant group stands by demands in hostage deal

UN calls for halt to all executions in Iran as numbers surge

900 people reportedly were executed in 2024, including some 40 in one week in December

Israeli military says it killed 3 militants in West Bank raids 

Nearly 20 arrested in latest overnight operation in occupied territory 

What future awaits Syria’s Christian minority?

Syrian new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa recently met with the Mideast nation's Christian leadership after a string of menacing attacks on religious minorities

Immigration by Jews to Israel is growing as fear of hostility grows

The war in Gaza has intensified the connection that many Jews around the world feel to Israel and has sparked a wave of immigration to the Jewish state. At the same time, a growing number of Israelis are leaving the country, at least temporarily. Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem.

Post-Assad Syria faces challenges in building unified military

Syria’s newly appointed defense minister holds meetings with various rebel factions

Palestinian refugee camp at Yarmouk illustrates brutality of Syria’s civil war

Some of Yarmouk’s 150,000 residents in the Damascus outskirts start returning to a scene of total devastation

US eases restrictions on Syria while keeping sanctions in place

VOA Turkish: Tensions rise in Syria’s Christian town of Malula after Assad’s fall

Syrian rebels vow to dismantle Assad’s drug empire

The illegal drug Captagon was a major moneymaker for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

VOA Kurdish: Kurds' quest for rights in the new Syria

Israeli officials say bus shooting kills 3 in West Bank