Middle East

World News

Untangling The Roots Of Recent Flare-Ups In Lebanon

1:17pm October 28, 2014

Fighting in Lebanon is spurring concerns over the country's stability. Renee Montagne checks in with New York Times Beirut bureau chief Anne Barnard to discuss why America needs to pay attention.

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Companies from Jordan, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran were among the more than 100 Internet startups at this year's Startup Istanbul event on Sept. 30. It was Iranian entrepreneurs' first time competing on an international stage.

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Iranian Entrepreneurs Make Pitches That Are Just Practice, For Now

6:25pm October 27, 2014

by Deborah Amos

Young Iranians are brimming with ideas for tech startups. But extensive financial sanctions facing their country prevent them from entering the global marketplace.

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A voter raises her ink-stained finger after voting in Tunis Sunday. Tunisians voted in parliamentary elections that bring full democracy finally within their reach, in the cradle of the Arab Spring.

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Many Tunisians Vote In Key Test Of Arab Spring's Legacy

3:59pm October 26, 2014

by Bill Chappell

Voter turnout has been reported at around 60 percent of the electorate, as Tunisians cast votes in their country's first full parliamentary election Sunday.

Reyhaneh Jabbari, seen here during a 2008 court date in Tehran, was executed in Iran Saturday. She had said she acted to defend herself from a potential rapist.

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Iran Executes Woman Who Said She Stabbed Man Who Attacked Her

2:19pm October 26, 2014

by Bill Chappell

Reyhaneh Jabbari's execution had been postponed several times since 2009. She was arrested in 2007 over the death of a man who once worked in Iran's Ministry of Intelligence.

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Line Between Islamist Militants And ISIS Blurs In Egypt

8:55am October 26, 2014

Among more extreme Islamists, sympathies for the so-called Islamic State are growing — especially in Egypt, where some Islamists are being arrested and accused of terrorism by the police.

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A small solar-powered tree, invented by Israeli energy entrepreneur Michael Lasry, stands at the edge of natural greenery.

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Israel's Solar-Powered 'Trees': For Smartphones And Community

7:35pm October 25, 2014

by Emily Harris

The man-made trees are designed to create a public space where people can gather and re-charge a battery — their own and their smartphone's.

The pillars at Gobekli Tepe resemble those at Stonehenge — but predate them by several thousand years.

In Southeast Turkey, A Long History Of Bloodshed And Worship

7:46pm October 24, 2014

by Peter Kenyon

A vast plain near Syria is no stranger to military carnage. But a place known as "Potbelly Hill" holds ruins built in ancient times, possibly for ritual purposes, long before organized religion.

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Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon delivers a statement at the Israel Defense Forces headquarters in Jerusalem in June.

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Israel's Defense Minister: Mideast Borders 'Absolutely' Will Change

3:40pm October 23, 2014

by NPR Staff

The blunt-talking Moshe Ya'alon says that Syria, Iraq and Libya have all been shattered by fighting in recent years and that the future map of the Middle East will look very different.

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Syrian Kurdish fighter Delkhwaz Sheikh Ahmad, 22, sits with his wife Siham, 23, and their two sons, Dilyar and Ibrahim, at his brother's house on the Turkey-Syria border on Friday. He was preparing to leave for Kobani, Syria, to rejoin the fighting agains

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Understanding The Kurds' Different Roles In Different Conflicts

7:16pm October 22, 2014

by NPR Staff

The Kurds are deeply involved in the current conflicts in Syria and Iraq. But their roles vary in countries throughout the region, so we wanted to step back and take a broader look at the Kurds.

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Pentagon Says It Will Investigate Stray Arms Drop Over Syria

2:55pm October 22, 2014

by Scott Neuman

The self-declared Islamic State has released a video purporting to show its fighters rifling through a crate of grenades airdropped by a U.S. military cargo plane.