As Syria’s civil war rages on, Israel worries about the consequences of chaos and bets that Bashar Assad’s forces are stretched too thin to retaliate
Middle East
Viewpoint: Cash for Karzai — Don’t Blame the CIA for Flushing Money Down the Drain
There are few hard and fast rules in espionage, but this is one of them: Never admit to taking CIA money.
Syria’s Opposition Hopes to Win the War by Selling Oil
Given the many resolutions on Syria that have hit a brick wall at the U.N. Security Council, and the endless wrangling among Western leaders over how to end the calamitous two-year war, the April 22 decision by E.U. foreign …
Tapping the Promised Land: Can Israel Be an Energy Giant?
In 2009 an Israeli geologist discovered oil embedded in rock in the ground southwest of Jerusalem. There’s lots of it — and it could change the Middle East forever
Aleppo: Scenes from a City of Ruins
Italian photographer Alessio Romenzi has been chronicling the Syrian civil war for months. The following pictures of his are from a few days in mid-April spent in the battle-scarred city of Aleppo. They include a glimpse of a …
No Exit: Syria’s War Through the Eyes of a Fighter on Both Sides
When Siraj heard the news earlier this month that al-Qaeda had embraced Jabhat al-Nusra, a jihadist group recognized in Syria for its discipline and fighting prowess, but deemed a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department, he …
Inside Aleppo: Why a Pacifist Teacher Keeps Going to School
Aleppo’s first trick of the day is to make it feel like a beautiful morning anywhere on earth. It is 8 o’clock in the morning and the feeble sunlight has not yet managed to dissolve the blanket of fog covering the city‚ the remnants of the night just passed. The sky is distant. And so are the airplanes. “If we don’t see the …
Syria’s Survival: Heads of U.N. Agencies Make Joint Plea to International Community
It takes a major crisis for the U.N.’s humanitarian agencies, often rivals, to speak with one voice. But the calamitous death and destruction in Syria prodded five chiefs of U.N. organizations to issue a desperate joint plea on …
The Daily Worry: How I Learned to Live With Bombs in Turkey and Israel
TIME’s Jerusalem bureau chief describes life under strict security regimes in Turkey and Israel — and how it quickly becomes normal. Are there lessons for the U.S.?
Why Reports of Chemical Weapons Attacks in Syria May Never Be Confirmed
Updated April 13, 2013
One witness said he smelled chlorine. Another remembered the scent of rotting garbage. There were photos of dead farm animals in a yard, and video footage of survivors struggling to breathe. But of the …
The Executioner’s Tale: A Talk With One of Yemen’s Designated Killers
As the latest global figures show a downward trend in carrying out the death penalty, one of Yemen’s executioners reflects on what he does to make extra money
10 Years After the Fall of Baghdad: A Cautionary Tale
TIME International Editor Bobby Ghosh talks about witnessing a dangerous misstep at Saddam’s Presidential Palace and how it foreshadowed things to come.
WATCH LIVE: TIME Correspondent Rania Abouzeid Discusses Syria’s War
TIME’s Rania Abouzeid has been an intrepid chronicler of the war in Syria, journeying at great personal risk to the frontlines of the conflict to cover the rebel advances in ravaged locales like Idlib and the ancient, historic city of Aleppo. Following PBS’s airing of a special Frontline broadcast about the grueling civil war—”Syria …