Middle East latest: Israel orders another Gaza evacuation ahead of an offensive

The Israeli military on Wednesday ordered Palestinians to evacuate another section of central Gaza ahead of an offensive in the built-up Bureij refugee camp, even as Israel and the Hamas appeared to inch closer to a ceasefire in the 14-month war. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said...

Families of hostages endure uncertainty even as hopes rise for a ceasefire in Gaza

KIRYAT GAT, Israel (AP) — Ilana Gritzewsky is fighting a battle against time to save her boyfriend from Hamas captivity. While there appears to be progress toward a deal to free the remaining captives in phases, Matan Zangauker would likely not be released in the first stage since...

Israel's borders have shifted throughout its history. Action in Syria may reshape them again

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, entered Syrian territory Tuesday and said Israeli troops would remain in the area indefinitely, blurring the border with its northern neighbor. Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has never had fully recognized...

Middle East latest: Israel plans an extended occupation of Syrian buffer zone

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli troops will occupy a buffer zone inside Syria for the foreseeable future. Israel’s recent capture of the buffer zone has sparked condemnation, with critics accusing Israel of violating the 1974 ceasefire and possibly exploiting the chaos in...

Netanyahu says Israeli troops will occupy a buffer zone inside Syria for the foreseeable future

JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israeli forces will stay in a buffer zone on the Syrian border, seized after the ouster of Syria's President Bashar Assad, until another arrangement is in place “that ensures Israel's security.” Netanyahu made...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tours a buffer zone inside Syria that was recently seized by Israeli forces

Middle East latest: Assad says he wanted to stay in Syria but Russia evacuated him

Ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad says he had no plans to leave the country after the fall of Damascus a week ago but the Russian military evacuated him from their base in western Syria after it came under attack. “I did not leave the country as part of a plan as it was reported...

Trump says he's a 'believer' in polio vaccine, and other news conference takeaways

President-elect Donald Trump on Monday held a wide-ranging news conference in which he said he would preserve access to the polio vaccine but equivocated on other vaccines, pledged to look at bringing down the costs of pharmaceuticals and expressed doubts that his daughter-in-law might be Florida's...

Christians in Syria mark country's transformation with tears as UN envoy urges an end to sanctions

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — In churches across long-stifled Syria, Christians marked the first Sunday services since the collapse of Bashar Assad 's government in an air of transformation. Some were in tears. Others clasped their hands in prayer. “They are promising us that government...

A diminished Hezbollah is made even weaker by the toppling of Assad in Syria

BEIRUT (AP) — A severely hobbled Hezbollah was in no position to help defend former Syrian President Bashar Assad, a longtime ally, from the lightning-fast insurgency that toppled him. With Assad gone, the militant group based in Lebanon is even weaker. Hezbollah was dealt a major...