Middle East

Afghan service members head toward the site of the plane crash Monday in the eastern Afghan province of Ghazni. Mustafa Andalib/Reuters hide caption

Omani Sultan Qaboos bin Said, seen during a 2010 ceremony in Muscat, died at the age of 79 after suffering for years from an undisclosed illness. After a half-century reign, he has been succeeded by Haitham bin Tariq Al Said. Chris Jackson/Getty Images hide caption

At the White House on Wednesday, national security adviser Robert O'Brien hears President Trump address the nation on the ballistic missile strike that Iran launched against Iraqi air bases housing U.S. troops. Alex Brandon/AP hide caption

Iranian demonstrators hold posters of slain Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani (center) and the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during a rally Friday in the capital, Tehran. The U.S. strike on the military leader in Baghdad has elicited warnings of retaliation from Iran. Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

A vehicle burns outside a factory that was apparently hit with rocket fire Tuesday in the southern Israeli town of Sderot. Israel's military announced it had killed a commander of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad in an early morning strike on his home in the Gaza Strip, prompting retaliatory barrages from Gaza. Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

The late ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in an undated picture released this week by the Pentagon. Defense.gov hide caption

Speedboats from Iran's Revolutionary Guard circle the British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero on Sunday, July 21 in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, after it was seized in the Strait of Hormuz two days earlier. Morteza Akhoondi/AP hide caption

Iranian officials are defending the seizure of British-flagged tanker Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz near Iran's coast on Friday. Stena Bulk/AP hide caption

Two Syrian refugees, Narwal Alakayleh (left) and Lina AlAlssantin (right), prepare for a pop-up dinner of Levantine food at Newcomer Kitchen. Jessica Wright hide caption

American citizen and 61-year-old psychotherapist Majd Kamalmaz, disappeared on a trip to Syria two years ago and has been missing since. Courtesy of Maryam Kamalmaz hide caption

The Pentagon has "begun the process of our deliberate withdrawal from Syria," a military spokesman says. In this photo from Dec. 30, 2018, a line of U.S. military vehicles are seen at a checkpoint in northern Syria. Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo waits for his helicopter ride to the U.S. Embassy from Baghdad International Airport, during a surprise visit to the Iraqi capital. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan canceled a meeting with U.S. national security adviser John Bolton on Tuesday, in an apparent snub. Erdogan disagrees with U.S. calls to protect Kurdish militants in Syria who have helped in the fight against ISIS. Burhan Ozbilici/AP hide caption