It is hard to imagine what a partitioned Syria would look like.
Reuters/Omar Sanadiki
There is no guarantee that a partitioned Syria would create a more stable environment. Many Syrians would reject partition and would attempt to reverse it.
Enough.
Reuters/Abdalrhman Ismail
The latest attempt to broker a peace in Syria faces even longer odds than previous ones.
Heightened security in Istanbul after the attack.
Reuters/Murad Sezer
Tensions at home and abroad make the latest attack by Islamic State particularly difficult to bear.
Siddhartha Dhar (far left) pictured in the UK in 2011.
PA/Gareth Fuller
The use of Brits in the terrorist group’s latest video is a deliberate strategy aimed at fuelling division.
Saudi-Iranian antipathy on the streets.
Reuters/Adnan Abidi
The war of words between the Gulf’s two biggest powers is hotting up, but they’ve been at loggerheads for decades.
Reuters
Syria and IS may have dominated the news this year, but the Middle East has plenty of other problems on its hands.
A Syrian refugee.
Muhammad Hamed/REUTERS
A look back at a year marked by terrorism, gun violence and clashes between police and African Americans.
Humanitarian aid arrives.
IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation
The sheer volume of major humanitarian disasters is stopping us from making genuine changes to the way we respond.
Don’t worry, I’m sure the others’ll be here soon.
SPA/EPA
When is a coalition not a coalition? When you don’t tell the founding members they’re in it.
After a missile hit in Damascus.
Bassam Khabieh/Reuters
Why there’s a slender – a very slender – chance for working out a settlement at upcoming talks in New York.
Soldiers of the Syrian Arab Army in the town of Marj al-Sultan, Damascus.
SANA/EPA
Australia has again failed to secure an invitation to a meeting of the International Syria Support Group that is trying to find a political solution to the conflict.
Muzaffar Salman/Reuters
The collapse of Syria’s health system is helping spread leishmaniasis but not in the way some media outlets have reported.
Australia’s current military involvement in the Middle East has not been properly scrutinised by parliament.
AAP/Australian Defence
Across the world, debates have emerged around the extent to which the legislative branch should be involved in – and even have the final say on – authorisation of military deployment.
Bringing the hammer down. How the legal system fails the world’s most vulnerable people.
Tori Rector
The British legal system is skewing the odds against some of the most vulnerable refugees.
Riot police prepare to move in on a protest against terrorism and espionage charges laid against two journalists who reported on Turkish weapon deliveries to Syria.
EPA/Tolga Bozoglu
Firmly back in control after winning snap elections, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his AKP government are reducing democratic process to a rubber stamp for their undemocratic project.
Reuters/Fabian Bimmer
Angela Merkel is entering her first proper war by joining the campaign against Islamic State.
Reuters/Pool/Dan Kitwood
Research shows that the UK’s defence budget remains one of the highest kin the world. Not that you would read that in the press.
The heroes of the Iliad … or the Labour front bench?
Wikimedia Commons
The House of Commons’ remarkable debate over air strikes really was a spectacle of heroic proportions.
USAF
With drones and modern radar technology it’s possible to target Islamic State’s oil tankers – and strike at the heart of their income stream.
RAF Tornados.
Reuters/Russell Cheyne
David Cameron wins vote with 397 votes for and 223 votes against the government.