Middle East

President Biden was giving a campaign speech at Mother Emanuel AME church in Charleston, S.C., when protesters interrupted with calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza interrupted Biden's campaign speech

3:19pm January 08, 2024

by Asma Khalid

President Biden has firmly allied himself with the Israeli government after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. But the progressive wing of his party is increasingly critical about civilian deaths in Gaza.

Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian activists take part in a National March to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza on December 9, 2023, in London, United Kingdom.

Why watermelons are a symbol of Palestinian solidarity

2:58pm January 08, 2024

The watermelon now symbolizes unofficial Palestinian solidarity amid reports of online censorship and the ongoing civilian deaths in Gaza.

Queue Listen Now

Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, on Sunday.

World News

Israeli strike kills elite Hezbollah commander as fears of another regional war grow

9:20am January 08, 2024

by The Associated Press

Wissam al-Tawil is the most senior militant in the secretive armed group Hezbollah killed since Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. The killing in southern Lebanon is the latest Gaza-linked escalation.

Besides Israel's war in Gaza, there's a possible wider front with Lebanon

7:16am January 08, 2024

People in northern Israel are living through a low-level war. Israeli troops are trading fire with Hezbollah in nearby Lebanon. What's adding to the risk of a wider conflict?

Queue Listen Now

Politics & Government

Morning news brief

5:07am January 08, 2024

More Israeli soldiers head north toward the border with Lebanon. Congressional leaders reach deal to fund the government. The president is told days later after the defense secretary was hospitalized.

World News

A series of attacks in the Middle East this past week are raising alarms

8:10am January 07, 2024

by Ayesha Rascoe

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks to Firas Maksad, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute about the increasing volatility in the Middle East after high-profile attacks in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Iran.

World News

All eyes are on the Israel-Lebanon border after the killing of a Hamas leader in Beirut

8:10am January 07, 2024

The latest from the Israel-Lebanon border, where tensions have been rising after a Hamas leader was killed in Beirut last week and Hezbollah retaliated by firing rockets into Israel on Saturday.

World News

A memorial in Tel Aviv honors victims who were at the music festival on October 7

8:10am January 07, 2024

by Jason DeRose

An exhibit in Tel Aviv is memorializing the victims of the October 7 Hamas terror attacks at the Nova music festival. Nearly 400 young men and women were killed or kidnapped at the festival that day.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, meets with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman, Jordan, on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024.

World News

Blinken meets Jordan's king on Mideast mission to prevent Gaza war spreading

7:01am January 07, 2024

by The Associated Press

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Sunday with Jordan's king as he pressed ahead with an urgent Middle East diplomatic mission to prevent Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza from spreading.

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip take shelter at European Gaza Hospital in Rafah on Saturday.

World News

Hezbollah fires rockets at northern Israel in response to killing of a Hamas leader

9:07am January 06, 2024

by The Associated Press

The militia fired dozens of rockets at northern Israel, warning that the barrage was its initial response to the targeted killing of a top leader from the allied Hamas group in Lebanon's capital.