Middle East

As Lebanon approaches its 101st birthday, there are fears that its Gordian knot could cost the tiny Mediterranean state everything.

Lebanon’s water supply system is on the verge of total collapse, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in the latest development in the country’s slide into chaos.

Read CNN’s Fast Facts about the life of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most influential Shiite cleric.

The Middle East and North Africa is witnessing a surge in Covid-19 cases aggravated by the Delta variant of the virus — and it may get worse over coming weeks — according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Lebanon’s Prime Minister designate Saad Hariri has stepped down nearly nine months after he was tasked with forming the crisis-ridden’s next government.

More than 90 people were killed and at least 50 others injured in a hospital fire in the Iraqi city of Nasiriya, which is believed to have been caused by the explosion of an oxygen tank.

Street protests over water shortages in southwest Iran continued for a sixth night on Tuesday amid rising violence, while residents in the capital of Tehran chanted anti-government slogans, according to videos posted on social media on Wednesday and Iranian news outlets.

A former top adviser to Jordan’s king and a member of the country’s royal family have been sentenced to 15 years in prison during a landmark sedition trial that centered on former Crown Prince Hamzah bin al-Hussein.

When there’s news out of Jerusalem, reports often point to recent history to explain how such a complex web of communities came to reside in the Holy City. But as historians describe in the CNN Original Series “Jerusalem: City of Faith and Fury,” the capital’s history of religious and political tension reaches far beyond the 20th century. It goes back millennia.

ISIS have claimed responsibility for an explosion that ripped through a busy market in the Iraqi capital on Monday, killing at least 30 people and wounding 50.

Three rockets landed in two different areas near the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday morning, as President Ashraf Ghani joined other high ranking officials for prayers to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

The scenes of Israeli forces firing stun grenades and tear gas inside Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque earlier this year had a galvanizing effect on Palestinian public opinion.

Russian mercenaries have been accused of grave human rights abuses that in some cases could amount to war crimes. One Syrian refugee is hoping to bring his brother’s killers to justice.

Read CNN’s Fast Facts about Lebanon, a Middle Eastern country with a history of civil war and political instability.

At least three people have been killed during violent protests over water shortages in Iran, according to state media.

A 12-year old Palestinian boy has died after being shot by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.

A Palestinian man has died after being shot by Israeli forces in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, during large clashes that broke out during the funeral of a 12-year old boy who was shot by Israeli soldiers a day earlier.

Israel’s Prime Minister has announced a program to roll out a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine to people over the age of 60, becoming one of the first countries in the world to make such a move.

Two crewmembers died when a tanker connected to an Israeli billionaire was attacked off the coast of Oman, the ship’s management firm said Friday.

Heavy fighting between the Taliban and Afghan government forces has continued in the capital of Helmand province, Lashkar Gah. The Taliban now control several districts of the city, according to local journalists contacted by CNN.

Maritime tensions are escalating in the Middle East following the deadly attack on a tanker connected to an Israeli billionaire in the Arabian Sea.

Read Fast Facts from CNN about Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq.

Read CNN’s Fast Facts about the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War, an international conflict codenamed Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.

More than 200 people were killed and thousands were injured after a massive explosion in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on August 4, 2020.

A Palestinian campaign against the settlement of Givat Evyatar had been going on for two months when settlers left. The locals call their protest Irbak al Layli, usually translated as “night confusion” — disruption techniques taken from Gaza. The Israeli army calls them violent riots.

The Turkish authorities said they were investigating the causes of fires that killed at least six people and threatened popular tourist destinations.

A reluctant celebrity, she was thrust into the spotlight after his brutal death, and created a foundation in his memory to promote cultural understanding.

Nearly 3,000 miles from Tehran where mass executions were carried out in 1988, a murder trial in Sweden could produce new revelations that complicate life for Iran’s president-elect.

Here is a look at the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season.

Israel’s Jewish and Palestinian communities looked past each other until violence and bloodshed forced a reckoning.

“‘Why do you think that, at 67, I would start a career as a dictator?’” President Kais Saied said in a meeting with The New York Times, quoting Charles de Gaulle. He vowed to preserve hard-fought rights.

The effort by President Kais Saied threatened the only democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring protests a decade ago, and his opponents called it a coup.

Both sides have much to lose if a delicate negotiation over limiting Iran’s activities in return for a lifting of sanctions falls short.

Drones carried out the attack on a tanker managed by an Israeli-led firm, killing two people, officials said — apparently the latest in a series of maritime clashes between Iran and Israel.

In his first meeting with a foreign journalist in a decade, Seif al-Islam described his years in captivity — and hinted at a bid for Libya’s presidency.

في أول مقابلة له مع صحفي، بعد اختفاء دام عشر سنوات، يصف سيف الإسلام القذافي سنواته المأساوية في الأسر ويلمّح الى احتمال الترشح للانتخابات ليصبح الرئيس القادم للبلد.

Whether booster shots are needed by older citizens is an issue that is far from settled among scientists.

“Trust in the West does not work,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, signaling further problems with stalled negotiations to salvage the country’s nuclear agreement.

The military doctor, who was among the influx of refugees who entered Germany from Syria, is accused of torturing opponents of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Despite a fan base of just 1,400 people, the Wadi al-Nis club was a perennial West Bank powerhouse. But the team — most of whose players are related — could not defeat the coronavirus.

The deal appears to be the latest effort by the Iraqi prime minister to balance the needs and demands of the country’s two closest allies: the United States and Iran.

The differences in how President Biden has handled the wars offer insight not only into America’s strategic interests, but also in how he views the two conflicts.

Najib Mikati, who has served as prime minister twice before, will try to form a government that can please Lebanon’s politicians and address its financial meltdown. His two predecessors failed.

Ali Adil reached out to President Biden in video from his hot, dusty rooftop. The video brought millions of likes. It also left him afraid to leave his house.

A Jew and a Palestinian sling slurs at each other, giving voice to hidden prejudice with the aim of overcoming it.

A prolonged drought worsened by climate change and government mismanagement has added a volatile new element to the swirl of challenges in Iran, ranging from the pandemic to U.S. sanctions.

Once one of the world’s most powerful travel documents, the might of the United States passport has been diminished during the pandemic. With US Covid-19 cases now past the 32.4 million mark, some nations continue to view vacationers warily even as more Americans get vaccinated.