EPA
News from Syria that the ancient town has been taken back from Islamic State is good news – but especially for Putin and Assad.
The world can only expect more attacks such that that took place in Brussels, as Islamic State continues to decline and lash out.
EPA/Christophe Petit Tesson
Although not an intuitive conclusion, the Brussels attacks are actually indicative of Islamic State’s growing decline and desperation.
Georgios Giannopoulos
European leaders are confident that sending migrants back is legal – but is it?
EPA/Russian Defence Ministry
The Russian president is proving he has learned what America didn’t: to quit while ahead.
Syrians seeking protection.
UNHCR/I Prickett
Refugees will continue to flee the war-torn country and Europe must do more to help.
EPA/Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik
The Russian president’s announcement he will be pulling troops out of Syria has taken everyone by surprise.
He’s off, and he’s burning bridges.
EPA/Larry W. Smith
Speaking to The Atlantic, the president didn’t leave anything out – except the bit where thousands died and millions lost their homes.
A makeshift cemetery in Turkey’s Suruc Province, set up for Kurdish soldiers killed in Syria fighting against Islamic State.
AAP/Gail Orenstein
Death toll data from the war in Syria should be treated with great caution. It’s nearly impossible to provide precise numbers and assigning blame for the casualties is harder again.
A Syrian child sleeps on the street in Kos.
EPA/Yannis Kolesidis
In-depth research with refugees and migrants reveals that deterrent measures will not solve the crisis.
Without the perfect-storm conditions of post-invasion insurgency, this most potent expression of al-Qaedaism yet would never have risen to dominate both the Middle East and the world in the way that it does.
Reuters/Stringer
The final article of our series on the historical roots of Islamic State examines the role recent Western intervention in the Middle East played in the group’s inexorable rise.
The summit of Mt Zagaras north of Athens.
Jason König
In ancient times, they were the shrines and ritual sites to the Greek gods. These days, they’re astonishingly unloved and neglected.
The aftermath of a twin bomb attack in Homs.
EPA
Stopping the conflict in Syria means solving a horrible array of intertwined, intractable problems.
Asylum seekers are held at the Macedonian border.
EPA/Georgi Licovski
As the philosopher once described, states obsessed with the health of their own people often create the conditions for others to die.
Free Syrian Army fighters on their smartphones.
Jalal Al-mamo/Reuters
As usage continues to grow in the region, what’s the ongoing dynamic between the Middle East and social media? It’s complicated.
Yazidi women who fled the Iraqi town of Sinjar.
Reuters/Youssef Boudlal
Domestic and sexual slavery are being used as weapons of war – and the victims are too often forgotten.
The Free Syrian Army standing lookout.
Abdalrhman Ismail/Reuters
On February 11 a Syrian ceasefire was signed in Munich. Few are optimistic it will hold. Why? Because, argues one Middle Eastern scholar, world leaders are ignoring key realities.
The new normal.
Reuters/Khalil Ashawi
The idea that the use of force should be a last resort is at the core of the world’s security balance – and it’s being trashed.
Reuters/Abdalrhman Ismail
The agreement so enthusiastically received by the world is less a leap forward than a cynical act of self-preservation.
Waiting to escape.
Reuters/Osman Orsal
While the world struggles to even get to the negotiating table, the Syrian refugee crisis is still getting worse.
Right on queue? Migrants can help European business overcome challenges.
REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
How useful can new migrants be to corporations hoping to grow?