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Jawad Rizkallah

Tuesday

Middle East

Clearing Syria of unexploded munitions from the civil war

During a brutal 14-year civil war, Syria's ousted regime dropped hundreds of thousands of bombs and munitions on its own civilians. Now Syria faces the challenge of clearing the unexploded munitions.

CLEARING SYRIA OF BOMBS

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Monday

Middle East

Western sanctions are holding Syria back from rebuilding, locals say

Western countries have imposed layers of crippling sanctions on Syria for decades. Syrians say the sanctions are impeding any hope of rebuilding a country shattered by civil war.

Western sanctions are holding Syria back from rebuilding, locals say

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Tuesday

World

A voice of the Syrian revolution was killed. But the man who wrote his anthems lives

The Syrian soccer player Abdel Basset Al-Sarout became the poster child for the Syrian revolution with his iconic protest anthems. In death, he has become its saint. But he didn't do it alone.

A voice of the Syrian revolution was killed. But the man who wrote his anthems lives

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Monday

A worker walks through the muddy streets of the Jaramana Camp on the edge of Damascus, Syria. About 13,000 Palestinian refugees live in the camp.

A worker walks through a mudd streets in the Jaramana Camp on the edge of Damascus, Syria. About 13,000 Palestinian refugees live in the camp. Greg Myre/NPR hide caption

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Greg Myre/NPR

Middle East crisis — explained

Palestinian refugees in Syria have a message for Gazans: Don't leave your land

Palestinians fled the 1948 Mideast War and took refuge in neighboring Syria. After 77 years, they're still waiting to go back. They are telling Palestinians in Gaza to stay put.

STUCK IN SYRIA

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Tuesday

Tuesday

In this photo, fruit is arranged on steps to create a fruit stand along a darkened street. The fruits include bananas, pineapples and mangoes.

A fruit stand is lit by a battery-powered lamp on a blackened street in Damascus, the capital of Syria. Ayman Oghanna for NPR hide caption

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Ayman Oghanna for NPR

World

Syria's new government is trying to rebuild. First it must keep the lights on

Syria's new de facto government faces a host of challenges. One of its most pressing is also one of its most basic: keeping the lights on.

KEEPING THE LIGHTS ON IN SYRIA

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Friday

Lebanese citizens return to their homes heavily damaged by Israeli attacks, after Israeli forces withdraw from the area in An-Naqoura, Lebanon, on Thursday.

Lebanese citizens return to their homes heavily damaged by Israeli attacks, after Israeli forces withdraw from the area in An-Naqoura, Lebanon, on Thursday. Ramiz Dallah/Anadolu via Getty Images hide caption

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Ramiz Dallah/Anadolu via Getty Images

Middle East crisis — explained

Lebanese long to return to war-damaged homes, but Israeli troops remain — for now

Lebanese residents waiting to return to their villages say the Israeli military has destroyed nearly everything.

ISRAEL WITHDRAWS SLOWLY FROM LEBANON

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TADAMON, Syria, 01/21/2025 Children carrying a haul of scrap found after rummaging through a mountain of trash in Tadamon. Tadamon still has no electricity or running water and many of its residents live in poverty. Ayman Oghanna for NPR

Children carry a haul of scrap found after rummaging through a mountain of trash in Tadamon, Syria, on Jan. 21. The suburb of the capital, Damascus, has no electricity or running water and many of its residents live in poverty. Ayman Oghanna for NPR hide caption

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Middle East crisis — explained

As Syrians rebuild, hope collides with painful memories in a Damascus suburb

After the fall of Syria's despotic Assad regime, life is slowly returning to one Damascus suburb, where the violence and painful memories of the past are being unearthed.

As Syria rebuilds, hope collides with painful memories in one Damascus neighborhood

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Tuesday

Thursday

People gather to celebrate after Lebanese parliament elects army chief Joseph Aoun new president, on Thursday, in Beirut, Lebanon.

People gather to celebrate after Lebanese parliament elects army chief Joseph Aoun new president, on Thursday, in Beirut, Lebanon. Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty Images hide caption

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Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty Images

World

Lebanon chooses a new president after two years without one

Lebanon's parliament chose the head of the country's armed forces, Joseph Aoun, to be its next president, a post that's been vacant since October 2022.

Lebanon chooses new president after two years without one

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Wednesday

Middle East

With Assad regime out, Syrians grapple with what comes next

Under Syria's president, a vast jail complex in the capital Damascus was known as a place where Syrians were disappeared without trial. Now it's crowded with with families searching for loved ones.

SYRIA'S SEDNAYA PRISON

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Monday

Rafaat Nasrallah smokes a cigarette in his village on the Syria-Lebanon border. “We are at the border,” he says, “our roads lead to Syria, because for us Syria is my country as well as Lebanon.”

Rafaat Nasrallah smokes a cigarette in his village on the Syria-Lebanon border. "We are at the border," he says, "our roads lead to Syria, because for us Syria is my country as well as Lebanon." Ayman Oghanna for NPR hide caption

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Ayman Oghanna for NPR

Middle East crisis — explained

In Lebanon, villagers on the border watch Syria's revolution with unease

While Syrian refugees in Lebanon return home, many Lebanese remain on edge. Years of conflict have left the Syria-Lebanon borderlands scarred, and fears grow that instability could spill over again.

Tuesday

Middle East

To many residents in southern Lebanon, life doesn't feel like there's a ceasefire

Israel's military has imposed a curfew and created a no-go zone where villagers are prohibited from going home to villages across southern Lebanon. NPR speaks to residents inside.

LEBANON-LIFE UNDER CURFEW

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Thursday

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area on the outskirts of the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek, in the Bekaa Valley, on Thursday.

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area on the outskirts of the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek, in the Bekaa Valley, on Thursday. Nidal Solh/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Nidal Solh/AFP via Getty Images

Middle East crisis — explained

Israel strikes Lebanon’s ancient city of Baalbek, as tens of thousands of people flee

As Israel intensified attacks in the Lebanese city of Baalbek, residents fled to an ancient Roman temple, hoping the site’s UNESCO status might save them.

Wednesday

In this photo, an ambulance believed to be carrying wounded people drives down a street in a southern suburb of Beirut on September 18, 2024. The ambulance is white with a blue light on top that spans the width of the vehicle. Men stand on the sides of the street, which is lined with buildings.

An ambulance believed to be carrying wounded people — after multiple explosions were heard during the funeral of four Hezbollah fighters who were killed Tuesday after their pagers exploded — drives down a street in a southern suburb of Beirut on Wednesday. Bilal Hussein/AP hide caption

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Bilal Hussein/AP

Middle East crisis — explained

Another wave of blasts hits Lebanon, as Hezbollah reels from pager explosions

Following Tuesday's stunning attack via pagers, Lebanon was hit by another deadly wave of exploding communications devices on Wednesday.