Courts and the law

This handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency on Aug. 18, 2026, shows Judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan (C) during the sentencing of Wassim al-Assad.

In first, Lebanon to hand over former Syrian general to Sharaa government

The decision comes as Syria's new authorities move to prosecute former regime figures over alleged crimes committed during the country's civil war.

US sanctions International Criminal Court president, top lawyer

The sanctions come a month after Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed to dismantle the court "brick by brick."

FADEL itani / AFP via Getty Images

Explainer

Who benefits from Lebanon’s amnesty law and why it is controversial

The law, initially intended to ease prison overcrowding, could see the release of Islamists accused of killing soldiers and allow Lebanese exiled to Israel return to the country.

ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images

Culture

Lebanon becomes first Arab country to abolish death penalty

Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc walked out of Tuesday’s session in protest of the measure.

Latest News

Syrian court sentences Bashar al-Assad, brother to death for war crimes

Bashar Al Assad

Analysis

How Turkey's PKK amnesty law entwines Kurds' hopes with Erdogan's ambitions

Fighters with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) line up to put their weapons into a pit during a ceremony in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, on July 11, 2025.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Lebanon’s Riad Salameh hospitalized as arrest roils Beirut: What to know

JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images

Iran hangs 2 over alleged Mossad ties as executions mount: What to know

This photograph shows a banner featuring photos of Iranian protesters allegedly killed by the regime during a demonstration at the Ergife Palace Hotel to condemn the silence of Western governments in the face of the growing wave of Iranian political executions, in Rome, on July 16, 2026.

Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Turkey detains top execs of defense firm Assan in military espionage probe

The company’s 10 subsidiaries have been placed under the control of Turkey's state-run Savings Deposit Insurance Fund.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media after he visited the damaged Adass Israel Synagogue on Dec. 10, 2024, in Melbourne, Australia.

Australia expels Iran envoy, accuses Tehran of directing antisemitic attacks: What to know

Iran was responsible for the arson attack against a kosher cafe in Sydney as well as the firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, according to Australian intelligence services.

DEM Party co-chair Tuncer Bakirhan speaks during a group meeting in Ankara, on May 13, 2025.

Turkey’s parliamentary body on solving Kurdish issue bars Kurdish language speech

Two Kurdish women invited to address the parliamentary committee were told they could not speak Kurdish during the session.

MOUNEB TAIM/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

US sanctions 4 ICC officials over Israel case

The sanctions against four of the court's officials come as Israel prepares for a military offensive in Gaza City.

Protesters hold up placards and rainbow flags as they take part in the LGBTQ Pride March in Istanbul, June 25, 2023.

Turkey blocks Instagram account of leading LGBTQ+ group Kaos GL

The ban targeting the group, a leading LGBTQ+ organization, follows earlier bans affecting its website and X account.

Jordanian security forces deploy during a demonstration near the US Embassy in the capital Amman in solidarity with the people of Gaza on Dec. 15, 2023.

Jordan to resume conscription in 2026, call up 6,000 men: What to know

In 2026, 6,000 men born in 2007 will be drafted for a three-month training program.

A picture taken on Jan. 17, 2022, shows "The Enigma," a 555.55-carat black diamond, at Sotheby's in the Gulf emirate of Dubai.

UAE police arrest three suspects in attempted $25M diamond heist

Three men were arrested after attempting to smuggle a 21.25-carat pink diamond from Dubai, now a major global diamond hub.

United Arab Emirates

Security forces loyal to the interim Syrian government stand guard at a checkpoint previously held by supporters of deposed president Bashar al-Assad, in the town of Hmeimim, in the coastal province of Latakia, on March 11, 2025.

UN: Syria's March violence saw ‘likely’ war crimes by Damascus, Assad remnants

The United Nations noted deliberate targeting of Alawite civilians in its report on the killings along the Syrian coast and called on the government to expand its efforts in taking steps toward accountability.

A protestor holds a placard of Istanbul's detained Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as they listen to the leader of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Ozgur Ozel during a rally protesting the 100th day of his detention at Sarachane Square in Istanbul on July 1, 2025. (Photo by Yasin AKGUL / AFP) (Photo by YASIN AKGUL/AFP via Getty Images)

Turkey detains 30 as government crackdown on opposition deepens: What to know

Detainees include officials from Istanbul and Antalya municipalities and their family members as part of an ongoing corruption investigation into the Republican People’s Party (CHP) that critics say is politically motivated.

TOPSHOT - A voter casts her ballot at a polling station in a school in the district of Agouza in the Egyptian capital's twin city of Giza on the first day of the 2025 Egyptian Senate elections on August 4, 2025. Egypt's two-day vote beginning on August 4 will elect 200 of the 300 seats in the upper chamber of parliament, with the remaining third appointed directly by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former army chief who came to power after ousting Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. (Photo by Khal

Egypt holds second Senate vote as pro-Sisi parties dominate: What to know

The Senate elections, dominated by pro-Sisi government parties, feature fewer party list and individual candidates compared to elections held in 2020.

Flags of Jordan and the Muslim Brotherhood are waved with other protest signs denouncing the US-led Middle East economic conference in Bahrain, in the Jordanian capital, Amman, on June 21, 2019.

Jordan summons suspects accused of holding Muslim Brotherhood assets: What to know

The Hashemite Kingdom has taken a number of legal actions against the Islamist organization since banning them in April.

Iranians cross a street by a billboard with a portrait of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Enqelab Square, Tehran, July, 9, 2025.

Iran executions double to 625 as parliament mulls harsher espionage penalties

The United Nations said executions so far this year stand at 625, at the least, more than double the number for the same period last year.