Larry Kaplow

The United Nations says 22 children were killed in an airstrike and puts the blame on the Saudi-led forces intervening in the civil war.

With the tariffs, sanctions and insults, these longtime allies are looking like anything but. As the Turkish lira falls, you may wonder what's going on here — and why it matters. We have answers.

The move on Monday of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem endorses Israel's view of the city — where it has reshaped the map to solidify its hold.

Ahead of President Trump's announcement, here's a look at what the sanctions do, what a U.S. pullout would mean, and possible reaction in Iran and around the world.

Presidents Trump and Obama both have had to decide whether to take action against the Assad government after civilian deaths.

Tensions are high as Palestinians are staging big "March of Return" rallies along the border for the next six weeks, in advance of the 70th anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel.

President Rouhani's re-election bid has hit a steep challenge from hard-liner Ebrahim Raisi. Though Ayatollah Khamenei will remain supreme leader, the choice still marks a crossroads. Here's a primer.

What could "extreme vetting" mean in practice? For some who've helped form President Trump's refugee policies, it's not about stricter security screening. It's about something else.

A day after criticism and chaos for some caused by his executive order temporarily banning Muslims from seven countries, the president took to Twitter Sunday morning to defend himself.

West Bank settlements have expanded under every Israeli government over the past half-century. Nearly 10 percent of Israel's Jewish population now lives on land captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.

It used to be the most populous city and the business capital of Syria. Now it's a symbol of urban devastation that's the focus of the country's five-year-old war.

Turkey is currently battling Syrian President Bashar Assad, the Islamic State and Kurdish separatists in southeast Turkey. All the battles are draining the country, and none is going well.

#NPRreads is a weekly feature on Twitter and on The Two-Way. The premise is simple: Correspondents, editors and producers from our newsroom share the pieces that have kept them reading, using the #NPRreads hashtag. Each weekend, we highlight some of the best stories.

Elissa Nadworny, ‎NPR Ed Producer & ...

The Islamic State's claim of responsibility for a trio of major attacks, including the assault on Paris, has led to a rapid reassessment of the extremist group and its aspirations.

Until a couple of weeks ago, ISIS appeared focused on building its self-declared caliphate, or Islamic empire, in its core ...

The United Nations says more than 300,000 migrants have set out from North Africa and the Middle East on the Mediterranean Sea for Europe this year so far — 40 percent more than in all of last year.

On any given day now, hundreds of people, ...

Haider al-Abadi is an affable Shiite politician who has been close to the center of power in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. He may soon be the most important political figure in the troubled country.

Iraqi President Fuad Masum, whose position has traditionally been ceremonial, on Monday nominated ...

The most influential man in Iraq has been speaking up again after a period of relative quiet. It's not Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, or the head of the ISIS militants who are taking over much of the west and north of the country. It's an aged cleric, the ...

The extremist Islamist group ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, shocked the world this week by conquering the northern city of Mosul, one of Iraq's largest cities and home to some 2 million people.

ISIS is also a key player in the Syrian civil war, fighting both the ...

Just three years after protesters and the Egyptian military drove Hosni Mubarak from power, the revolution hasn't delivered what many Egyptians expected, and hopes are fading that it ever will.

Military commander Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is widely expected to announce his candidacy for president any day now. The charismatic strongman ...

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki last came to the U.S. in 2011 as American troops were pulling out of his country. But with violence again on the rise in Iraq, there's much at stake as he prepares to sit down with President Obama at the White House on Friday.

Here's ...