References to the ousted President Bashar al-Assad and his father, who ruled Syria before him, have been removed, as have images of pre-Islamic gods. The definition of a martyr has been changed, and it now means someone who has died for God, not one’s country. A Roman-era queen has been taken out of some textbooks. […]

The business owners arrived one by one, but all were united in their mission on a chilly December morning: Salvage anything from the pulverized market in this hillside city in southern Lebanon. A photo studio operator and his son trudged through debris and twisted metal to recover dust-coated negatives and camera lenses. A clothes shop […]

A top U.S. envoy who helped broker the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah issued reassurance on Monday that Israel would withdraw fully from southern Lebanon, as called for in the fragile 60-day truce deal that paused the bloodiest war between the two sides in decades. Speaking to reporters in Beirut, the Lebanese capital, the envoy, […]

The Biden administration on Monday lifted some restrictions on humanitarian aid to Syria but kept sweeping sanctions in place just weeks after rebel forces toppled the Assad family’s 50-year authoritarian grip on the country. The authorization by the Treasury Department is a sign of how Washington is taking tentative steps to navigate its approach to […]

As Israeli and Hamas officials continued indirect talks on Monday for a cease-fire and hostage release deal, Hamas representatives indicated that the group had approved an Israeli list of 34 hostages to be released in the first stage of an agreement, conveying a sense of momentum. But the Israeli government quickly dampened any notion that […]

Eliana Passentin delights in her house, which sits nearly 3,000 feet above sea level in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, with a view from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean coast. The dining room looks out over ancient Shiloh, the Israelites’ first capital in ancient times. But Ms. Passentin would feel even […]

The Israeli military said on Sunday that it has been conducting “operational raids” in recent weeks on Mount Hermon in Syria, continuing a military campaign on Syrian soil that is drawing increasing international condemnation. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based Syrian war monitor, on Sunday also reported airstrikes around the Syrian capital, Damascus, […]

Dozens of Israeli strikes pounded the Gaza Strip over the weekend as Israeli and Hamas officials continued indirect cease-fire talks through mediators in Qatar. Israel’s military said on Sunday that it had hit more than 100 targets across the enclave over the weekend, including sites from which militants had fired at least four projectiles toward […]

Dozens of Israeli strikes pounded the Gaza Strip over the weekend as Israeli and Hamas officials resumed indirect cease-fire talks through mediators in Qatar. Israel’s military said on Sunday that it had hit more than 100 targets across the enclave over the weekend, including sites from which militants had fired projectiles toward Israeli territory. It […]

For much of her life, Sumaya Ainaya spent weekend and summer nights on Mount Qasioun, which overlooks the city of Damascus, joined by other Syrians drinking coffee, smoking hookah and eating corn on the cob roasted on grills nearby. But soon after the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, the military under President Bashar al-Assad […]