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

The Israeli military on Wednesday ordered another evacuation in central Gaza ahead of an offensive in the area, even as Israel and the militant group Hamas appeared to inch closer to a ceasefire in the 14-month war. “This is an advance warning ahead of an offensive,” Israeli...

AP PHOTOS: Majdal Shams, Israeli-controlled home to the Druze, perches uneasily at the edge of war

MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights (AP) — High in the mountains of the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, the town of Majdal Shams is home to members of one of the Middle East’s most insular religious minorities: the Druze. With its roots in 10th century Ismailism, a branch of Shiite...

As wars rage around them, Armenian Christians in Jerusalem's Old City feel the walls closing in

JERUSALEM (AP) — As the war in Gaza rages, Syria's government transforms, and the Israeli-occupied West Bank seethes, Armenian residents of the Old City of Jerusalem fight a different battle — one that is quieter, they say, but no less existential. One of the oldest communities...

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...

After Assad's fall, the task of unearthing the dead from Syria's mass graves is just beginning

NAJHA, Syria (AP) — Bones are visible here and there among the mounds of earth in a field south of Damascus, one of the mass graves around Syria believed to hold the bodies of tens of thousands of people killed under Bashar Assad’s rule. With his ouster, residents, forensic teams and...

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...

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

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

Greek authorities rescue 23 people near Lesbos and warn pressure on migration routes is rising

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities say 23 migrants were rescued from a dinghy near the island of Lesbos in the eastern Aegean Sea on Tuesday. Rescue teams also recovered two more bodies after a boat carrying migrants sank off of Gavdos over the weekend, bringing the death toll to seven. ...