Middle East

World News

ISIS Advances On Kobani With Additional Fighters, Weapons

6:52pm October 12, 2014

Outgunned Kurdish fighters continue to resist militants from the so-called Islamic State in the Syrian border town of Kobani. NPR's Arun Rath talks to correspondent Peter Kenyon, who's in the region.

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Iranian women look at the palace of King Darius of Achaemenid Persepolis, near Shiraz in southern Iran.

World News

Tourists Discover The Modern Attraction Of Ancient Iran

1:34pm October 12, 2014

by NPR Staff

Iran is experiencing a tourism boom. Travel agencies in the U.S. say they are planning more trips to the Islamic Republic. Kamin Mohammadi, an Iranian-born travel writer, shares some favorite places.

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Kerry Soliciting Aid Funds For Gaza Reconstruction

1:14pm October 12, 2014

Secretary of State John Kerry flies to Cairo to take part in an international conference on rebuilding Gaza, after Israel's latest military operation against Hamas militants there.

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U.N. Envoy To Syria Pleads For Action To Save Kobani

6:43pm October 10, 2014

by Alice Fordham

The town, which ISIS is fighting to take over, is mostly deserted, with only a few hundred elderly or immobile people remaining.

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Nobel Peace Prize Winners Share Connection In Advocating For Children

6:43pm October 10, 2014

by Julie McCarthy

Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India have been awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

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Turkey Agrees To Train, Equip Moderate Syrian Opposition

1:36pm October 10, 2014

by Scott Neuman

The pledge to create a force to assist in fighting the self-declared Islamic State comes a day after Ankara called for creating a buffer zone around its border with Syria.

World News

Gaza Donors Want Assurances Cycle Of War Is Broken

8:05am October 10, 2014

by Emily Harris

Palestinian officials will ask international donors for $4 billion to help rebuild Gaza after the recent war. That was the third deadly conflict in 6 years between Israel and the militant group Hamas.

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Kobani Kurdish Leader Appeals To Western Governments For Help

6:28pm October 09, 2014

Robert Siegel talks to Saleh Muslim, co-chair of the Democratic Union Party, the biggest Kurdish opposition party in Syria. He's working to keep his home town Kobani from being overrun by ISIS.

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For Turkey, Aiding In Kobani Fight Is Complicated

6:28pm October 09, 2014

by Peter Kenyon

A U.S. envoy, former Marine Gen. John Allen, was in Turkey on Thursday, attempting to drum up support for the fight against ISIS.

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Smoke rises after a U.S.-led airstrike in the Syrian town of Kobani on Wednesday. The Kurdish border town has been fiercely contested in a three-week assault.

World News

The War With No Name

1:24pm October 09, 2014

by Greg Myre

After two months, the U.S. bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria has not yet dealt a major blow to the Islamic State. And the Pentagon still hasn't come up with a moniker for the operation.