Alice Fordham

An extremist group that has taken over large parts of Syria has stormed into the major Iraqi city of Mosul. There are concerns that a crucial oil refinery could fall into their hands too.

Extremists have taken over most of the Iraqi city of Mosul, a key commercial hub. Hundreds of thousands are fleeing as the group, known as ISIS, is capturing weapons caches and government buildings.

Some Syrians fear that after the elections, President Bashar Assad's regime will get worse. They suspect that truces will evaporate, arrests will increase and more of the country will be partitioned.

Despite the civil war, Syria is holding a presidential election on Tuesday. President Bashar Assad is expected to win another seven-year term.

Tuesday's elections in Syria are sure to result in another term for President Bashar Assad, even as the international community says his regime is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians.

The opposition is railing against his inevitable triumph.

At a demonstration Friday by some of the ...

Syrian refugees in Lebanon are already voting in an election that's seen as Bashar Assad's rigged bid for legitimacy. Many refugees believe that if they don't vote, they'll never be allowed back home.

The country's spectacular antiquities are being plundered by rebels, organized criminal groups and desperate civilians. Many items go across the border to Lebanon.

The Holiday Inn was a landmark that towered over glittering Beirut in the 1970s. The Lebanese civil war ravaged the city and the hotel. The debate over the hotel's carcass carries on to this day.

Iraq's election didn't make a huge splash in the U.S., but the results of the April 30 vote were released this week, and the outcome has important ramifications for Iraq and the wider region. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's party came out way ahead.

Iraq has faded from the American radar, ...

The Iraqi Cabinet has approved the measure and sent it to Parliament for a vote. Opponents say it would be a major setback for a country that has mostly secular laws.

Syrian rebels have pulled out the central city of Homs, which was known as the birthplace of the uprising against the government. Forces backing President Assad have retaken the town.

Syrian rebels have surrendered Homs, the city known as the birthplace of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad. It marks the end of a long siege and a huge blow to the rebels.

The beginning of the end of the two-year siege of Old Homs came as green buses full of fighters bounced down uneven streets Wednesday — a scene that was captured in a photo that was retweeted hundreds of times.

More than 1,000 rebels were left of those who clung onto ...

The Syrian regime may be on the verge of an important gain in its civil war. Rebels say they have agreed to a conditional retreat from areas they hold in the city of Homs.

Opposition negotiators there, reached by Skype, say that under the deal they would leave battle-broken ...

A deal is in the works to draw the long battle at Homs to a close. The deal would let the rebel fighters evacuate their stronghold in the Syrian city, at which point the Syrian government would enter.

Iraqis are voting for Parliament Wednesday for the first time since American soldiers withdrew more than two years ago. Without their support, and amid intense violence, the poll will test Iraq's fragile democracy to its limits.

The election is for the 328-seat Parliament and offers more than 9,000 candidates on ...

On Wednesday, Iraq will hold the first national election since U.S. troops withdrew in 2011. The front-runner is the party of current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

In the first national election since U.S. troops withdrew in 2011, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is the frontrunner for a third term in office. Despite criticism for mistreatin...

Low to the dusty ground, by a reed-fringed river and a lush date palm orchard, is the farmhouse where Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, grew up.

The place is Junaja, one of hundreds of poor, Shiite Muslim farming towns in southern Iraq. Donkey carts jog alongside battered buses. No monument, ...

Alice Fordham has covered the Arab world for more than five years. Her work has taken her from the bookshops of Baghdad to the sand dunes of Algeria - and back again. Now settling into her new posting for NPR as a correspondent in Beirut, she reflects on ...