Syria
Members of the Geneva branch of Ukrainian society in Switzerland protest during a rally to urge International Olympic Committee to reconsider their decision of participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes under white neutral flag at the next 2024 Paris Olympic Games, in front of the IOC headquarters, in Lausanne, Switzerland, Saturday, March 25, 2023. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)
UN expert advising IOC gives views on Russians at Olympics

By Graham Dunbar Mar. 27, 2023 06:43 AM EDT

Lasha Talakhadze of Georgia celebrates after winning gold in the men's +109kg weightlifting event, at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Talakhadze breaks weightlifting records, Syria wins medal

By James Ellingworth Aug. 04, 2021 10:16 AM EDT

Katarina Johnson-Thompson, of Britain, reacts after falling during a heat in the heptathlon women's 200-meter at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Olympics Latest: World champ Dutch out in women's handball

Aug. 03, 2021 07:59 PM EDT

The refugee team carry the Olympic flag during the opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 23, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (Dylan Martinez/Pool Photo via AP)
EXPLAINER: How team of refugee athletes made it to Olympics

By James Ellingworth Jul. 25, 2021 03:17 AM EDT

Athletics compete during women's table tennis singles preliminary round matches at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, July 24, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
ITF Georgia 03A, Women Singles

Jul. 23, 2021 08:54 PM EDT

Syrian refugee Ibrahim al-Hussein, an amputee swimmer who lost his leg during the war in Syria, prepares to dive during a training at the Olympic Aquatic Centre, in Athens, on Wednesday , June 30, 2021. Ibrahim al-Hussein will be part of a Refugee Paralympic Team for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games as the International Paralympic Committee announce Wednesday. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Syrian refugee swimmer makes his mark at the Paralympics

By Theodora Tongas And James Ellingworth Jul. 14, 2021 07:12 AM EDT

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, accompanied by Italy's Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, right, speaks during a news conference at Fiera Roma in Rome, Monday, June 28, 2021. Blinken is on a week long trip in Europe traveling to Germany, France and Italy. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)
US warns that Islamic State extremists still a world threat

By Matthew Lee Jun. 28, 2021 06:49 AM EDT

Russia says Syria can deliver aid, Turkey not essential

By Edith M. Lederer Jun. 22, 2021 07:11 PM EDT
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia’s foreign minister says Moscow disagrees that there is no alternative to deliver humanitarian aid to Syria’s rebel-held northwest...

Supporters of Iranian president-elect Ebrahim Raisi celebrate after he won the presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 19, 2021. Initial results released Saturday propelled Raisi, a protege of the country's supreme leader, into Tehran’s highest civilian position. The vote appeared to see the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Hard-line judiciary head wins Iran presidency in low turnout

By Jon Gambrell Jun. 19, 2021 02:21 AM EDT

FILE - In this Jan. 23, 2016, file photo, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, left, poses for photographers with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, prior to their meeting at Yildiz Mabeyn Palace in Istanbul. Biden and Turkish counterpart Erdogan have known each other for years, but their meeting Monday, June 14, 2021, will be their first as heads of state. And it comes at a particularly tense moment for relations between their two countries. (Kayhan Ozer/Presidential Press Service, Pool via AP, File)
Erdogan and Biden meet at a tense moment for Turkish-US ties

By Suzan Fraser Jun. 13, 2021 10:56 AM EDT

FILE - In this April 19, 2020 file photo, shows a large refugee camp on the Syrian side of the border with Turkey, near the town of Atma, in Idlib province, Syria. Millions of Syrians risk losing access to lifesaving aid, including food and COVID-19 vaccines if Russia gets its way at the Security Council by blocking the use of the last remaining cross-border aid corridor into northwestern Syria, an international rights group said Thursday, June 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed, File)
Watchdog warns of aid disaster in Syria; shelling kills 11

By Sarah El Deeb Jun. 10, 2021 12:43 PM EDT

FILE— In this Dec. 11, 2006, file photo, top cleric Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, center, speaks during a conference on the Holocaust with Rabbi Moishe Arye Friedman, left, from Austria, and Rabbi Ahron Cohen, right, from England, in Tehran, Iran. Mohtashamipour, a Shiite cleric who as Iran's ambassador to Syria helped found the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and lost his right hand to a book bombing reportedly carried out by Israel, died Monday, June 7, 2021, of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
Iran cleric who founded Hezbollah, survived book bomb, dies

By Jon Gambrell Jun. 07, 2021 05:21 AM EDT

FILE - In this Friday Dec. 11, 2020, file photo, exterior view of the United Nations-backed Lebanon Tribunal where the court handed down it's sentencing on Salim Jamil Ayyash, a member of the Hezbollah militant group who was convicted of involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 21 others 16 years ago, in Leidschendam, Netherlands. Ayyash is not in custody and is unlikely to serve any sentence. A U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri said Wednesday, June 2, 2021 it is facing a severe funding crisis and will not be able to operate beyond July without immediate assistance. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
UN tribunal for Lebanon may fold due to funding crisis

By Bassem Mroue Jun. 02, 2021 07:51 AM EDT

US envoy heads to Turkey seeking to ensure aid to Syrians

By Edith M. Lederer Jun. 01, 2021 07:56 PM EDT
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.S ambassador to the United Nations headed to Turkey late Tuesday seeking to ensure that humanitarian aid can be delivered to Syria...

Asian World Cup qualifiers to be moved from China to UAE

Jun. 01, 2021 02:23 AM EDT
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — China’s COVID-19 travel restrictions have forced World Cup qualifying matches scheduled for the eastern city of Suzhou to be...

Asian World Cup qualifiers to be moved from China

May. 31, 2021 04:02 AM EDT
BEIJING (AP) — China’s COVID-19 travel restrictions mean World Cup qualifying matches scheduled for the eastern city of Suzhou this week will likely be...

Syrian President Bashar Assad supporters hold up national flags and pictures of Assad as they celebrate at Omayyad Square, in Damascus, Syria, Thursday, May 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Syria's Assad wins a fourth term in a predictable landslide

May. 27, 2021 04:58 PM EDT

UN envoy: Syrian people face ìmmense humanitarian suffering

By Edith M. Lederer May. 26, 2021 01:43 PM EDT
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. special envoy for Syria said Wednesday it’s “a tragic irony” that ordinary Syrians are facing “immense and growing humanitarian...

Syrian students dance as attend to votes at a polling station during the Presidential elections in the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, May 26, 2021. Syrians headed to polling stations early Wednesday to vote in the second presidential elections since the deadly conflict began in the Arab country. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Syrians vote in election certain to give Assad new mandate

By Albert Aji May. 26, 2021 02:12 AM EDT

UN official: Conflicts make controlling COVID more difficult

By Edith M. Lederer May. 25, 2021 09:02 PM EDT
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Despite last year’s U.N. call for global cease-fires to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, many conflicts never stopped including in Syria,...