Cry, the beloved country.
EPA/Sedat Suna
Politically unstable and bordering the world’s most violent and volatile region, Turkey is at risk of descending into civil war.
PA/Yui Mok
Here was an MP who dedicated herself to improving the world – focusing particularly on Syria. She had the right priorities.
İzmir, Turkey’s third largest city, is a pit stop for Syrians headed to Europe – but for more and more of them, it’s becoming a home.
Bashar al-Assad.
EPA/SANA
Syria’s chemical weapons were supposedly all destroyed in 2014, but news reports indicate that nerve gas may have been kept back.
Syrian asylum seekers at a camp in Lesvos, Greece.
EPA
A Syrian asylum seeker has been permitted to stay in Greece on the grounds that Turkey is not safe for return. It could be a major blow for the EU’s controversial refugee strategy.
Antiquities seized in a raid on Islamic State fighters in Syria were returned to the Iraqi government by the United States.
Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters
Profit estimates have ranged from $4 million to $7 billion. But with the Paris attacks costing only $10,000, does a number even matter?
EPA/SANA
By striking deep in Bashar-al Assad’s heartland, Islamic State issued a reminder that his regime will never control all of Syria.
Syrians at a refugee camp in al-Dalhamiyyeh, in the Bekaa valley of Lebanon.
Wael Hamzeh/EPA
It’s the first global gathering to discuss humanitarian crises and opportunities – but talk and no action might still end up the order of the day.
Moria detention camp on Lesvos.
Orestis Panagiotou/EPA
A report from Lesbos, where thousands of refugees are living in inhumane conditions.
Woman at wreckage of deadly car bomb in Baghdad.
REUTERS/Wissm Al-Okili
Obama’s military strategy in Iraq and Syria hasn’t defeated the Islamic State, but it isn’t a total failure either. A retired major general and law professor looks at the successes and shortcomings.
The Sykes-Picot Agreement divided up the Asiatic provinces of the Ottoman Empire into zones of direct and indirect British and French control.
By Royal Geographical Society via Wikimedia Commons
Over the years the words Sykes-Picot have taken on two meanings – one significant, the other less so.
EPA/Zouhir al Shimale
The world has singularly failed to find a path forward for Syria – or to stop the Assad government flagrantly violating all efforts to stop the conflict.
The death toll from the Aleppo hospital bombing is climbing.
Abdalrhman Ismail/Reuters
Protecting humanitarian workers requires an understanding of their individual situation, not broad assumptions.
Ethiopians reading newspapers in the capital Addis Ababa. The country’s media is among the most repressed on the continent.
Reuters/Tiksa Negeri
Press freedom has changed little in the past decade. If the African Union is to commit to the principles of democracy, it needs to do more to uphold freedom of expression and protects its journalists.
Syria torn?
Shutterstock/Volodymyr Borodin
A Syrian town of Muslims and Christians stands united amid the country’s chaos.
The Iraqi army is in increasing need of the US’s help.
EPA/Nawras Aamer
The Obama administration likes to say it won’t put “boots on the ground” in Iraq – but that’s increasingly at odds with reality.
Omar Sanadiki/Reuters
Unpaid volunteers are negotiating with Islamic State and facing military attacks as they try to save Syria’s ancient cities.
EPA/Wael Hamzeh
Lebanon is host to well over 1m Syrian refugees, and their situation is getting ever more desperate.
Palmyra ruined.
ShutterstockAnton Ivanov
Political will could have rescued Palmyra. Here’s why it didn’t.
A depiction of the destruction.
Humam Alsalim and Rami Bakhos
Work is already underway to repair the damage to the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria, but we need to question if technology will take things too far.