Jane Arraf

Protests have gripped areas in southern Iraq for several days. The government has cut off access to the Internet, making it more difficult to get accurate information.

NPR recently visited the base, where 150 U.S. soldiers and Marines provide support for Iraqi and U.S.-backed Syrian forces.

A U.S. major general tours a remote outpost of troops along the Iraq-Syria border, where U.S. Marines and soldiers fire into Syria to hit ISIS targets and help secure the relative calm in Iraq.

NPR travels with a U.S. general as he tours the remote border of Iraq and Syria, where U.S. troops are shelling ISIS targets and trying to secure Iraq.

About 3,800 objects purchased by Hobby Lobby were returned to Iraq in May. Some come from an ancient Sumerian city, Irisagrig, and indicate that life there was "pretty good," an archaeologist says.

Antiquities that had been smuggled into the U.S. and bought by Hobby Lobby, the craft store giant, are headed back to the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, Iraq's main archeological museum.

Homosexuality isn't illegal in Egypt but human rights groups say other laws have been used to target LGBT Egyptians. "Prison killed me. It destroyed me," says an Egyptian woman jailed after a concert.

The battle that the United Nations and aid agencies have feared in the Yemen civil war has begun. A Saudi-led coalition began its attack on a major port city with hundreds of thousands of inhabitants.

The U.S.-backed coalition says it aims to oust Iranian-sponsored Houthi rebels, but aid groups warn of potentially high civilian casualties.

The U.N. pulled foreign staff from Hodeidah amid efforts to avert an attack by pro-government forces backed by the United Arab Emirates. A shutdown of the port could put hundreds of thousands at risk.

The United Nations has withdrawn its international aid workers from Hodeidah amid intense negotiations to avert a devastating attack by Emirati-backed pro-government forces.

More than 500 foreign women are accused of being married to ISIS fighters and are standing trial in Iraq. The women have more than 1,100 young children. All face a perilous future.

King Abdullah appointed economist Omar Razzaz as his new prime minister. It will be up to Razzaz to defuse a crisis over a plan that would levy income tax even on those earning $11,000 a year.

Protesters were out in cities across Jordan demonstrating against IMF-backed austerity measures that include a new income tax. In the capital Amman, protesters are demanding a new government.

Tax and price hikes in Jordan are shaking the Middle East kingdom and increasing tensions in the country that's a key ally for the U.S.

Ahmed Alaa describes hoisting a rainbow flag at a concert in Cairo as the "best five minutes of his life." Now he faces years in prison and says his family and his life have been destroyed.

Two weeks after parliamentary elections delivered a surprise win for allies of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, Iraq's divided political leaders are scrambling to put together a coalition government.

Former U.S. foe Muqtada al-Sadr appears to be the new face of reform in Iraq. The Shia cleric's bloc won the most votes in this month's parliamentary election.

Iraqis voted in their first election since the military defeat of ISIS over the weekend. While final results have not been issued, one near-certain result is the political rise of Iraq's Shiite militias.

The major winner could be an alliance linked to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, known for leading attacks on U.S. troops after the invasion of Iraq, while Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi loses support.