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More than 20 reportedly injured after blast in shopping area in city of Azaz, which is held by pro-Turkish forcesA bomb has exploded in a shopping area in a northern Syrian city held by pro-Turkish forces, killing at least eight people, a war monitor said.Another 23 were wounded when the car bomb exploded in the middle of a popular market in Azaz, Aleppo province,...

Rallies take place in Idlib region, held by rebels against Bashar al-Assad, whose repression sparked civil war in 2011Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Syria’s rebel-held north-west to mark 13 years since pro-democracy protests swept the country, chanting against President Bashar al-Assad and the region’s jihadist rulers.The government’s brutal suppression of the 2011 uprising triggered a civil war that has killed...

Less well-off residents in the southern city of Antakya feel left out of the city’s rebuilding efforts• Read more: A year in the aftermath of Turkey’s earthquake – a photo essayRows of bright white marble gravestones dot a hillside on the outskirts of Antakya, some bearing the words “martyr of the earthquake”. The final resting place for the city’s dead will soon be overshadowed...

The carefully planned raids were the largest yet against Iran’s proxies and are likely to continue until threats to US personnel are neutralisedMiddle East crisis – live updatesUS retaliation, when it came, was broad and deep, and telegraphed five days in advance.The White House, the Pentagon and state department had spent the best part of a week talking about the response to Sunday’s drone...

Iranian backed militia took credit for attack that injured 34 troops and killed first US soldiers since start of Gaza conflictThe spectre of a direct US-Iranian military conflict drew closer on Sunday when the US president Joe Biden announced three US servicemen had been killed and more than 34 injured following a drone attack on a US service base on the border of Jordan...

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it has lost four members in strike on Syrian capitalMiddle East crisis – live updatesA suspected Israeli strike killed the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ espionage chief for Syria and three other guard members on Saturday, Iran has said, in an attack that destroyed much of a multistorey residential building in Damascus.The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said six people...