Middle East

In a surprise announcement, the Defense Department disclosed Thursday that U.S. officials have doubled the number of American troops in Syria to support the fight ISIS, an increase that predates the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime this month. 

“My departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles,” according to a statement attributed to Assad and shared on Telegram.

United Nations chief António Guterres urged Israel to halt its aerial attacks and advance into Syrian territory after the overthrow of the Assad regime.

The brutal regime saw hundreds of thousands of political prisoners disappear into jails for decades before it was toppled by rebels Sunday.

A senior commander told NBC News that tanks had been used during the incursion and rebels had freed hundreds of prisoners.

Israeli forces carried out several new drone and artillery strikes in Lebanon on Tuesday, further shaking a tenuous ceasefire meant to end more than a year of fighting with Hezbollah.

Israel has unleashed its largest wave of airstrikes across Lebanon since agreeing to a ceasefire with Hezbollah last week, killing at least 11 people.

Turkey’s foreign minister says the recent rapid advance by opposition fighters in Syria shows that the country must reconcile and hold dialogue with the opposition.

The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah brought hope for normality back to many in southern Lebanon on Friday.

Islamist rebels breached neighborhoods in Syria’s second-largest city of Aleppo and clashed with government military forces after detonating two car bombs Friday.

Thousands of Lebanese displaced by the war between Israel and Hezbollah militants returned home on Wednesday as a ceasefire took hold, driving cars stacked with personal belongings and defying warnings from Lebanese and Israeli troops to stay away from some areas.

The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants has begun as a region on edge wonders whether it will hold.

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have arrested three individuals in connection with the murder of an Israeli Moldovan rabbi who was found dead in the country.

An Afghan official says the Taliban will attend a UN climate conference for the first time since their takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.

Iran has the capacity to produce nuclear weapons and is prepared to change its policies on using them if faced with an existential threat, an adviser to its supreme leader said Friday in the latest bellicose statement from the country amid its high-stakes tit-for-tat with Israel. 

Qamar Subuh, who was seen in the viral video, told NBC News she missed her dad “more than the moon” after the family was separated amid Israel’s assault on northern Gaza.

Three waves of pre-dawn strikes on military targets in Iran on Saturday completed Israel’s retaliation on Iran, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Israeli officials are weighing an Egyptian proposal for a small-scale cease-fire deal with Hamas aimed at trying to build momentum for a larger agreement, an Israeli official told NBC News.

The White House is making a new push to end the conflict in the Middle East even as the situation there appears to become more dire. A defense and anti-terrorism expert tells us how Defense Secretary Antony Blinken will try to broker a cease-fire.

The Israeli military hit bank branches across Lebanon overnight to target Hezbollah‘s finances, while the U.N. said Israel was making life “impossible” in northern Gaza.