Israel: Hezbollah undeterred after recent setbacks

SHTULA, Israel (AP) — A year after uncovering a network of cross-border Hezbollah tunnels, the Israeli military says the Lebanese militant group has beefed up its presence along the volatile frontier. Military officials say that neither the destruction of the tunnels, nor Hezbollah’s recent domestic...

US’s Afghan peace envoy makes surprise stop in Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Washington’s special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad was in the Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday to launch an “accelerated effort” to get Afghans on both sides of the protracted conflict to the negotiation table to plot a roadmap to a post-war Afghanistan. His...

Hamas leader travels to Egypt, first time since February

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Palestinian militant group Hamas says its leader is visiting Egypt for the first time since February, in a potential sign of stepped-up efforts to shore up a Gaza cease-fire. The Islamic militant group ruling Gaza said on Monday that its politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh would...

Trump thanks troops in Afghanistan, says Taliban want a deal

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (AP) — President Donald Trump paid a surprise Thanksgiving visit to Afghanistan, where he announced the U.S. and the Taliban have been engaged in ongoing peace talks and said he believes the Taliban want a cease-fire. Trump arrived at Bagram Air Field shortly after 8:30 p.m....

Trump says US and Taliban have been engaged in ongoing talks, says he believes Taliban open to ceasefire.

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (AP) — Trump says US and Taliban have been engaged in ongoing talks, says he believes Taliban open to ceasefire.

Israeli aircraft hit Hamas site after rocket fire from Gaza

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli aircraft attacked several sites for Gaza’s Hamas rulers early Wednesday in response to rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave. The Israeli military said the targets of the multiple airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip included a weapons manufacturing facility. There were...

Saudis free 200 Yemeni rebels as part of peace efforts

CAIRO (AP) — The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said Tuesday it has released 200 Houthi rebels to advance a U.N.-brokered deal aimed at ending the war in the Arab world’s poorest country. Coalition spokesman Col. Turki al-Malki said in a statement that the move was aimed at paving the way for...

Israeli military says rocket launched from Gaza

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says a rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel less than two weeks after a cease-fire halted hostilities with Palestinian militants. The army said Monday that it had identified a rocket launch from the Gaza Strip toward Israel. There were no immediate...

Pence works to reassure Kurdish allies in surprise Iraq trip

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence worked to reassure the United States’ Kurdish allies in an unannounced trip to Iraq on Saturday, the highest-level American trip since President Donald Trump ordered a pullback of U.S. forces in Syria two months ago. Flying in a C-17 military cargo...

Blast in Syrian town held by Turkey-backed gunmen kills 3

ISTANBUL (AP) — A car bomb exploded in a Turkey-controlled northern Syrian town on the border Saturday, killing at least three people, Turkey's Defense Ministry said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, put the death toll from the explosion in Tal Abyad at nine, saying...