Michael Georgy

IS has switched tactics since the collapse of its "caliphate."

Gaza schoolgirl Rama Abu Seif longs to return to a classroom to study but it is now a dormitory for families displaced by war. Her books were burned to light fires in clay ovens. Her school bag is stuffed with clothes in case she needs to flee an Israeli bombardment quickly.

The killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in airstrikes in a Beirut suburb has put the spotlight on the man widely regarded as his heir, Hashem Safieddine.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei remains in a secure location after Tehran fired missiles at Israel, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday.

Iran views the Group of Seven (G7) condemnation of its attack on Israel as "biased and irresponsible", Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Thursday.

Basim Faiz Mawat stood in the Damascus cell that his fellow prisoners used to call the "death dormitory", struggling to believe that the system that abused him for so long had been overthrown and his suffering had ended.

Libya's Saif al-Islam Gaddafi went from his notorious father's heir apparent to a decade of captivity and obscurity in a remote hill town before launching a presidential bid that helped derail an attempted election.

The United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Saturday, plunging the Middle East into a new conflict that President Donald Trump said would end a security threat to the United States and offer Iranians a chance to topple their rulers.

Ayatollah Alireza Arafi has emerged as a central figure in Iran’s power structure at a moment of unprecedented ​turmoil, propelled into a leadership role from the ranks of top clerics after the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The U.S. and Saudi Arabia have struck Iran-backed Shi'ite armed groups in Iraq, which the allies said were responsible for drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities.