"He told me to either leave or they would beat me very terribly." Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region has long had a reputation in the West as a bastion of stability in a chaotic region plagued…
In late June, the first Saudi women to legally drive a car in the kingdom started their engines and took off down the road. The lifting of Saudi Arabia’s ban on female drivers was a…
Omid Rezaee’s work on a university magazine led to his arrest In 2009, incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won Iran’s disputed election against Mir-Hossein Mousavi, The results led to public outrage and the formation of the…
In late June, the first Saudi women to legally drive a car in the kingdom started their engines and took off down the road. The lifting of Saudi Arabia’s ban on female drivers was a…
The Kurds have played a key role in the Syrian war. With U.S. military aid, a Kurdish militia called the YPG has done a large share of the ground fighting that has led to the…
"They robbed me of my life, my job, so they're going to have to pay for it." Fréderike Geerdink had made a home for herself in Turkey. The Dutch journalist moved to Istanbul in 2006 to become a foreign…
"We’re self-destroying our heritage." Amid reports that the Islamic State was generating millions of dollars by looting and selling antiquities from Syria and Iraq in 2015, archaeologist Mark Altaweel decided to conduct an experiment. Altaweel,…
Conflict in the Middle East and elsewhere has fueled a booming trade in looted antiquities from archaeological sites and museums. Millions of dollars worth of artifacts have disappeared, with some resurfacing for sale in Europe…
Since the start of the Syrian war, a remarkable 100,000 people have gone missing - a distinct figure from the estimated 400,000 confirmed killed. Of the missing, some may be alive and held secretly in…
Assad's government seeks to 'wipe memories' of those who survive Syria's secret prisons Since the start of protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the 2011 Arab Spring, Assad's regime has detained thousands of protesters, opposition…