Middle East

Members of the armed group opposing former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime perform Islamic prayer at Aleppo Castle after they seized control of much of Aleppo's city center in Syria
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World
Latika M Bourke 

Why expecting peace in Syria’s like ‘praying for a miracle’

Syria is poised between peace or peril, with the international community worried the Sunni takeover could lead to more conflict.

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Dozens of Gazans have been killed in day of intense aerial bombardment from Israel.
Middle East
Staff Writers

Israel strikes kill 36 in Gaza, targeting Hamas aid hijackers

Israel says it was trying to protect an aid delivery from Hamas hijackers when it conducted two strikes in Gaza that killed 36 people.

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Syrian militants celebrate the fall of the Assad regime in Damascus on Monday.
Middle East
The Washington Post

After Assad, can Syria’s rebels rebuild a shattered state?

After sweeping into this capital city with ease, exposing the hollowness of the Assad regime after more than half a century of dictatorial rule, Syria’s rebels now face the more daunting task of governance.

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Rebel fighters stand next to the burning coffin of Syria's late president Hafez al-Assad at his mausoleum in the family's ancestral village of Qardaha.
World
Chris Pollard

‘He destroyed us’: Syrian rebels torch coffin of Assad dad

One man watching the burning of Hafez al-Assad’s coffin said he wanted ‘to take a look at these filthy people, because they oppressed the entire Syrian people’.

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Australia has voted in favour of a ceasefire in Gaza.
Politics
Nicola Smith

Israel division: Australia votes in favour of Gaza ceasefire

Australia has joined more than 150 countries at the United Nations to vote in favour of a ceasefire in Gaza and to support the mandate of humanitarian relief agency UNRWA. 

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There was no immediate claim of responsibility for a blast that killed an Afghan minister in Kabul.
World
Staff Writers

Bomb blast kills Taliban refugee minister

Afghan refugee minister Khalil Haqqani has been killed in a bombing in Kabul.

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The Israeli army says it has carried out a strike targeting militants in the Gaza Strip's north.
Middle East
Staff Writers

Israeli air strikes kill at least 38 across Gaza Strip

Israel says it has killed two senior Hamas commanders in air strikes while medics in the Gaza Strip say the attacks have left at least 38 people dead.

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Video
An aerial photo shows Syrian naval ships destroyed during an overnight Israeli attack on the port city of Latakia on December 10, 2024
World
Andy Jehring

Israel wipes out Syria’s warships in stunning offensive

Benjamin Netanyahu’s forces have wiped out Syria’s military and naval hardware, smashed its chemical weapons and seized the demilitarised Golan Heights in devastating overnight strikes.

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Eight people have died after an apartment building collapsed in Cairo's west.
Middle East
Staff Writers

Apartment building collapse kills at least eight people

At least eight people have been killed after an apartment building collapsed in the Egyptian capital of Cairo.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he can testify and lead the country at the same time. (AP PHOTO)
Politics
Staff Writers

Netanyahu assails media as he testifies in corruption trial

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has criticised the country's media while testifying at a corruption trial.

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Members of jihadist rebel groups have appeared on the streets of Damascus along with the police. (AP PHOTO)
World
Staff Writers

Rebel-backed figure named as Syria's interim PM

Mohammed al-Bashir, who previously governed a rebel enclave in northwestern Syria, has been declared Syria's interim prime minister.

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Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the leader of Syria's Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that toppled Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
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World
Latika M Bourke

Call to toss terror listing for Syrians who ousted Assad

Australia and Western allies should brush the Islamist rebel group’s past and form alliances with the new Syria, the head of one of the world’s leading NGOs advocating for Syrian democracy has said.

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Israeli soldiers on Monday along the border fence with Syria near the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the occupied Golan Heights.
World
The Washington Post

Israeli forces sweep into Syria after rebels oust Assad

Israel defended its actions as defensive in nature, securing the country from future attacks, while Arab countries said they amounted to an illegal occupation.

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A destroyed army checkpoint and abandoned tank.
World
The Washington Post

Joy, fear and confusion: Syrians welcome life after Assad

Rapturous celebrations in the streets of Damascus were tempered by trepidation over whether the Syrian capital’s new rebel caretakers could deliver a better future.

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DAMASCUS, SYRIA - DECEMBER 9: People are seen at the Sednaya Military Prison after armed groups, opposing Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime take control in Damascus, Syria on December 9, 2024. (Photo by Emin Sansar/Anadolu via Getty Images) Anadolu
Middle East
David Patrikarakos

Inside Syrian jails where inmates endure 72 types of torture

Nothing more completely embodied the barbarous sadism of Bashar al-Assad’s regime than his prisons.

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