World Middle East
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Assad's move: After Aleppo, could Idlib be next?
The war in Syria is far from over, and the anti-Assad rebels have vowed to fight on. Many are congregated in Idlib province. But before the Syrian president elects to go after them, he has other options to consider.
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Syrian general says Aleppo offensive in final stages
Rebel defenses collapsed on Monday, leaving insurgents in a tiny, heavily bombarded pocket of ground.
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Syrian activists say IS has recaptured Palmyra
The Islamic State's new push came hours after government troops and Russian air raids pushed the group out the city.
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Turkey hunts for answers, buries dead after blasts kill 38
The twin car-and-suicide bombings Saturday night near the Besiktas stadium enraged top officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who vowed to hunt down the perpetrators.
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ISIS recaptures Palmyra: A fresh assault on heritage sites? (+video)
The self-proclaimed Islamic State group has overtaken most of Palmyra in a surprise advance.
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Cover Story The ISIS breakers: How moderate Muslims are countering extremism
New voices rise across the Arab world to prevent a lost generation from answering the jihadists' militant call in a message war crucial to the region’s balance of power.
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Against ISIS, Jordan has a big gun: social cohesion
Fearing 'another Mosul,' residents of Karak rushed to join a battle against Islamic State militants. Jordanians have joined ISIS abroad, but at home, a sense of civic duty has made the country hostile territory for the extremists.
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Iraqis fighting ISIS show unity: why that still eludes their politicians
Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish forces are together battling the ISIS stronghold in Mosul. But political leaders are far from overcoming the fear-mongering stemming from decades of sectarian violence.
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First Look Bana al-Abed, the 7-year-old Syrian Twitter star, escapes from Aleppo
Bana al-Abed, the young girl who documented her life in war-torn Aleppo on Twitter, was evacuated from the city early Monday.
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Surge in Israeli donations to their sworn enemies – Syrians
Among those who have donated is a Tel Aviv journalist who saw echoes of his grandfather's experience in the Birkenau concentration camp.
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As Aleppo falls, Russia and Iran see Mideast influence surge at US expense
Assad's key allies say the victory over rebels in Syria's second city advances their standing globally and in the region. But with no quick end to the conflict, they are likely to push for a political solution, analysts say.
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Fall of Aleppo could tip Syria from civil war to insurgency
Syrian rebels say the fall of Aleppo to government forces will change the war. A full-blown insurgency is one of three options they're considering.
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Turkey talking to Russia on ceasefire, evacuation from Syria's Aleppo
Rebel defenses in Aleppo collapsed on Monday, leading to a broad advance by the Syrian army across more than half of the remaining insurgent pocket in the city.
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December 22, 2016
Photos of the day 12/21
Jade (l.) and Camden Evans sit on the lap of their dad, Heath Evan, as they watch an elaborate display of Christmas lights flash and blink to a soundtrack of holiday music at a home in Jenks, Okla.
More Middle East
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ISIS falling: Detainee recounts a lost battle in Iraq, and what it cost him
Hunched and handcuffed in a dimly lit concrete room, the Sunni former commander of a captured ISIS cell admits to targeting civilians in the fight against Baghdad. Now, he is remorseful.
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Arab democracy? How Morocco's grand experiment went wrong
Heralded as a 'third way' amid the uprisings and crackdowns of the Arab Spring, Morocco introduced a new constitution and other reforms.
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As US and Iran knock heads again, Tehran hard-liners feel vindicated
The votes in Congress to extend US non-nuclear sanctions against Iran have hard-liners in Tehran fuming. And the Trump team isn’t likely to improve matters.
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With Mosul under siege, an unlikely chance to save ISIS-enslaved Yazidis?
When Iraqi forces moved on Mosul, IS moved enslaved Yazidis back to Syria, frustrating activists trying to free them. But their relocation might make it easier to find and rescue them.
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For Iraqi family, son's role in battling ISIS speaks to hopes for national unity
A soldier's life and his death in Mosul is a profile of Iraqi determination to fight ISIS, and a lesson in why even a Shiite from southern Iraq is willing to shed blood to liberate a predominantly Sunni city to the north.
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First Look Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal makes plea to allow women to drive
One of the most outspoken members of Saudi Arabia's royal family urged the kingdom to let women drive as more working-class women carve more rights for themselves.
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With Aleppo poised to fall, Syria's Assad is set to rise
A victory would put the regime in a potentially advantageous position to recapture the 'essential Syria' – the western half of the country.
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First Look Aleppo exodus: How can 16,000 people be helped?
The United Nation's Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator said in a statement Tuesday that he was 'extremely concerned' about the fighting in Aleppo, as government and allied forces seek to take back the city from rebels.
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Their town now liberated, Iraqi Christians talk of life under ISIS
The historic heartland of Assyrian Christians in Iraq was seized by the militants in 2014, and nearly all fled in the face of demands to convert, pay a tax, or die.
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Focus Why schools have become a battleground in Turkey
Turkey's education system has long been shaped by secular tradition. But July's coup attempt has given President Erdoğan new license to remold an institution he sees as central to his goal of further Islamizing Turkish society and the state.
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