Liz Sly

A convoy of U.S. forces near the village of Yalanli, on the western outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Manbij, March 5, 2017.

U.S. forces, adorned in American flags, have to keep their allies from killing each other in Syria

August 22, 2019 at 3:30 a.m.

The U.S. military is getting drawn into a deepening struggle for control over areas liberated from the Islamic State that risks prolonging American involvement in wars in Syria and Iraq...

Iranian protesters set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran during a demonstration against the execution of prominent Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi authorities on Jan. 2, 2016.

Saudi Arabia breaks diplomatic ties with Iran after Shiite cleric’s execution

June 24, 2019 at 7:42 a.m.

Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran on Sunday, escalating the regional crisis that erupted after the execution of a Shiite cleric triggered outrage among Shiites across the Middle East...

A member of the Syrian Arab Crescent and a man look for survivors amid the rubble following airstrikes in the rebel-held town of Douma, on the eastern edges of the Syrian capital Damascus, on December 13, 2015.

Russian airstrikes halt aid, trigger new Syria humanitarian crisis

June 20, 2019 at 8:05 p.m.

Aid agencies are warning of a worsening humanitarian crisis in northern Syria as sharply intensified Russian airstrikes paralyze aid supply routes, knock out bakeries and hospitals and kill and maim...

Iraq's Badr Brigades Shiite militia detain four men they suspect of being militants belonging to the Islamic State group outside the oil refinery in Beiji, Iraq, on May 28, 2015.

U.S. denies Syrian claim that its warplanes hit government military base

June 22, 2019 at 10:07 a.m.

Syria accused U.S.-led coalition aircraft of hitting a Syrian army position and killing three soldiers in an airstrike overnight Sunday, the first such allegation of its kind since the United...

Iraqi forces supported by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes advance their position during clashes with Islamic State group in the western suburbs of Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's Anbar province.

Many in Iraq see U.S. as an Islamic State ally

June 23, 2019 at 7:56 p.m.

On the front lines of the battle against the Islamic State, suspicion of the United States runs deep. Iraqi fighters say they have all seen the videos purportedly showing U.S....

Migrants protest their wait for buses in Istanbul to the Turkey-Greece border on Sept. 15, 2015.

‘Syria is emptying’

June 24, 2019 at 1:43 p.m.

A new exodus of Syrians is fueling the extraordinary flow of migrants and refugees to Europe as Syria's four-year-old war becomes the driving force behind the greatest migration of people...

Egyptian security forces check a car outside the conference hall where the Arab League Summit will be held on March 28, 2015, in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.

How the Yemen conflict risks new chaos in the Middle East

June 21, 2019 at 3:42 p.m.

The meltdown in Yemen is pushing the Middle East dangerously closer toward the wider regional conflagration many long have feared would arise from the chaos unleashed by the Arab Spring...

Western-backed Syrian rebels are in danger of collapse before help arrives

June 20, 2019 at 1:07 a.m.

The main al-Qaida affiliate in Syria is extending its control over a swath of territory that was until recently held by the collapsing moderate opposition, jeopardizing U.S. plans to form...

2nd day of bomb attacks kills 21 at Baghdad lab

August 23, 2021 at 12:58 a.m.

A suicide bomber plowed into an Iraq Interior Ministry building in the capital's center Tuesday, killing 21 people and wounding more than 80 in an attack that raised fears extremists...

NATION & WORLD

August 23, 2021 at 12:52 a.m.

New name for forces in Iraq In bow to reality, U.S. drops 'multinational' moniker CAMP VICTORY, Iraq -- Military officials on Friday inaugurated a new name for the U.S. force...

All Stories