One of the strikes hit the building where I used to live, and another one hit one block over from my current apartment. Both in very normal residential neighborhoods. Israel strikes central Beirut without warning after saying Iran ceasefire doesn't apply there: apnews.com/article/isra...

Live updates: US and Iran agree to a two-week ceasefire (lots of details still unclear, including how this will play out in Lebanon) apnews.com/live/iran-wa...

Kidnapped American journalist Shelly Kittleson, who had been held by the Kataib Hezbollah militias, has been released, an Iraqi official tells the AP Via Qassim Abdul-Zahra apnews.com/article/jour...

The AP @apnews.com is now calling Israel’s military actions in southern Lebanon an invasion. Here's why we made that decision: apnews.com/article/iran...

Lebanese fear another occupation as Israel threatens to use Gaza tactics in the south By @chehayebk.bsky.social and Julia Frankel, who have also mapped developments in the war in southern Lebanon with our graphics team apnews.com/article/leba...

Israeli strike destroys a key bridge on the route between the coastal cities of Saida (Sidon) and Sour (Tyre) in southern Lebanon, part of a stepped-up campaign targeting infrastructure and transportation routes youtube.com/watch?v=AvHT...

Israel hopes that this round will finally enable it to defang the threat on its northern border. Hezbollah sees it as an existential struggle. Whatever the outcome, the war will have far-reaching consequences in Lebanon and throughout the region.

What to know about the resurgent war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon apnews.com/article/leba...

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan tells the AP his country will not be provoked into joining the war in the Middle East.

AP Exclusive: Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan talks diplomatic efforts as regional war rages Fidan told us that there is no serious initiative to resume negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, but he believes Iran is open to back-channel talks: apnews.com/article/turk...

War has already displaced nearly a million Lebanese, and aid groups warn of a humanitarian crisis Via @chehayebk.bsky.social and Malak Harb apnews.com/article/leba...

Photos of a central Beirut district struck by Israeli bombs apnews.com/photo-galler...

Months before Israel staged a commando operation aimed at finding the remains of a long-disappeared Israeli pilot in Lebanon, a retired Lebanese security officer vanished. His family thinks Israel abducted him as part of the Ron Arad case Via @bmroue.bsky.social apnews.com/article/leba...

Evidence suggests the deadly blast at an Iranian school was likely a US airstrike Via Julia Frankel apnews.com/article/iran...

Officials with one of the armed Kurdish Iranian dissident groups based in northern Iraq told @AP they are not planning an imminent cross-border attack on Iran but would join a ground invasion if the U.S. were to launch one Via Stella Martany apnews.com/article/kurd...

Israel strikes Beirut’s southern suburbs after issuing a blanket evacuation order apnews.com/article/leba...

Kurdish dissident groups say they are preparing to join the fight against Iran with US support apnews.com/article/kurd...

Lebanese civilians fled from the country’s south and from Beirut’s southern suburbs on Monday, seeking refuge in schools in Lebanon’s capital following a new and deadly escalation between Israel and the Iran-allied Lebanese militant group Hezbollah apnews.com/article/leba...

Blow after blow to the power of Iran and its allies and proxies in the region set the stage for US-Israel attacks apnews.com/article/iran...

President Donald Trump says the U.S. has begun “major combat operations in Iran” after Israel launched strikes despite ongoing nuclear talks: apnews.com/article/iran...

Public rift erupts between, Reza Pahlavi, son of Iran's last shah, and Kurdish Iranian dissidents With Stella Martany apnews.com/article/iran...

Ramadan in the Arab world is a time of fasting and prayer, but it brings another beloved tradition: the much-anticipated TV drama series shot each year to be aired during the holy month. I delved into Syria's TV industry as it seeks its footing in the post-Assad order: apnews.com/article/syri...

Kurdish-majority neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud in Syria's Aleppo recovers from clashes with hope for the future apnews.com/article/syri...

Village in southern Lebanon buries a child and father killed in Israeli drone strike apnews.com/article/leba...

U.N. peacekeepers with UNIFIL patrolling southern Lebanon have faced a dramatic surge of “aggressive behavior” by Israeli forces over the last year, including drone-dropped grenades and machine-gun fire, according to an internal report seen by @apnews.com apnews.com/article/isra...

Lebanon's relations with Syria have made a dramatic positive shift post-Assad, deputy PM Tarek Mitri says apnews.com/article/leba...

Stranded in Egypt for the past two years, Raed Belal has had to watch helplessly as his wife and children in the Gaza Strip endured bombardment, displacement and hunger. Now he finally has hope he might return to them apnews.com/article/rafa...

After months of stalled negotiations, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces lost most of their territory to a government offensive in a matter of days. They may have miscalculated by counting on U.S. support.

Several countries have said they will sign onto Trump’s Board of Peace, while a few European nations have declined their invitations. Many have not yet responded to Trump’s invites. Here is a tally by The Associated Press on what countries are joining, which are not and which are undecided.

Analysts say the SDF miscalculated, taking a hard stance in negotiations with the new leaders in Damascus on the assumption that if a military conflict erupted between them, Washington would support the SDF apnews.com/article/syri...

Kurdish separatist group claims to have mounted ‘armed operations' in Iran to defend protesters With Stella Martany: apnews.com/article/iran...

Syria is on the list but was already under a ban anyway. Lebanon is newly added. Iraq is there as well. (As are many others, clearly, but I'm just naming the ones in my patch. Full list in the story) US to suspend immigrant visa processing from 75 countries apnews.com/article/trum...

Kurdish fighters evacuated from Aleppo after days of violent clashes apnews.com/article/alep...

Civilians flee Aleppo as clashes between Syrian government and Kurdish forces escalate apnews.com/article/syri...

Syrian and Israeli officials set to resume US-mediated talks in Paris apnews.com/article/syri...

List of aid groups working in Gaza that Israel is suspending. They include some of the world’s most prominent and outspoken aid organizations, including Doctors Without Borders: apnews.com/article/gaza...

Hundreds mourn in Syria's Homs after deadly mosque bombing apnews.com/article/syri...

Terribly sad story about the attack on a small congregation in June. Three men died jumping on a suicide bomber. In total, 25 died. Thana al-Masoud, widow of hero Boutros Bechara: “There’s no holiday, neither this year nor next year nor the one after it." “Our Lord chose them to be saints."

Syrian church marks Christmas and reaffirms faith months after deadly attack apnews.com/article/syri...

Clashes erupted between Syrian security forces and Kurdish fighters Monday as top Turkish officials visited Damascus ahead of a deadline to implement a deal between the government and the #SDF apnews.com/article/turk...

Israeli military raids in Syria raise tensions as they carve out a buffer zone Via @chehayebk.bsky.social apnews.com/article/syri...

The man who killed three U.S. citizens in Syria had joined Syria’s internal security forces as a security guard two months earlier and was recently reassigned amid suspicions that he might be affiliated with the Islamic State, a Syrian official told the @apnews.com apnews.com/article/syri...

Since the fall of Bashar Assad in Syria a year ago, dozens of women from the Alawite religious sect — to which Assad belonged — have been subjected to kidnappings and sexual assault. @bmroue.bsky.social e spoke with survivors, family members and rights groups: apnews.com/article/syri...

On anniversary of the fall of Bashar Assad, Syrians and their country struggle to heal apnews.com/article/syri...

US raid allegedly killed Syrian undercover agent instead of Islamic State official The case of Khaled al-Masoud, the apparent result of lack of communication between the US-led mission and Damascus, showed the limits of increased security coordination: apnews.com/article/syri...

Iraq’s government imposed and then retracted a terror designation for Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, saying was a mistake. Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Stella Martany report on the highly awkward situation the Iraq state has found itself in: apnews.com/article/iraq...

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Wednesday that his country was “far from” diplomatic normalization or economic relations with Israel, despite a move toward direct negotiations between the two countries aimed at defusing tensions apnews.com/article/leba...

Pope Leo XIV’s visit highlights Christian resilience in Lebanon despite regional turmoil Via @bmroue.bsky.social apnews.com/article/pope...

Israeli forces raided a Syrian village and opened fire when they were confronted by residents on Friday, killing at least 13 people, Syrian officials said, in the deadliest Israeli attack since its troops seized a swath of southern Syria a year ago. apnews.com/article/isra...

To many Lebanese, it feels like divine intervention is the only solution for their country. @chehayebk.bsky.social and I spoke to port blast survivors and Christians from the war-battered south about their hopes for Pope Leo XIV's upcoming visit to Lebanon apnews.com/article/leba...