Secretary of State Antony Blinken has made a last-minute case for a plan for the post-war reconstruction and governance of Gaza as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appears tantalizingly close to completion.

For the first time in 50 years, the question of how Syria will be governed is wide open.

Iran’s president accused Israel of seeking a wider war in the Middle East and laying “traps” to lead his country into a wider conflict.

Democratic Party leaders are publicly standing by President Joe Biden after a disjointed debate performance.

Congress is now considering doing something it hasn’t done since the Vietnam War — repealing authorizations for the use of military force.

The Senate has voted to repeal the decades-old congressional measure that greenlighted the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell says he opposes repeal of the 2002 and 1991 authorizations of force against Iraq, arguing that that authority “bears directly on the threats we face today in Iraq and Syria from Iran-backed terrorists.”.

The October 2002 votes in the House and Senate to authorize war with Iraq were grave moments in American history that would have reverberations for decades.

Two decades ago, U.S. spy agencies wrongly believed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

The Senate has voted overwhelmingly to continue congressional authorization for the use of military force in the global fight against terror, turning back an effort by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul to repeal the 2001 measure.

The Senate has taken a first step toward repealing two measures that give open-ended approval for military action in Iraq.

Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid says he wants the world to know that his country now is at peace, nearly 20 years after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

The Senate will vote this month to repeal two decades-old measures that approved American military action in Iraq.

The Biden administration is toughening its language toward NATO ally Turkey.

A custom wristwatch from Cambodian leader Hun Sen at the ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh, a foot-long dagger at the G-20 meetings in Bali, and cricket ice cream and Thai noodles with worm sauce at the APEC talks in Bangkok.

They show up at the first signs of protest in Iran — men in black, riding motorcycles, often wielding guns or batons.

There are moments in history that appear as critical to the world as they are terrifying.

Iraq witnessed bloody street violence for nearly 24 hours spurred by loyalists of a powerful Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, that was the culmination of a 10-month power struggle.

President Joe Biden has arrived in South Carolina to begin what's expected to be at least a seven-day vacation with members of his family.

Marcus Eliason, a journalist whose insightful reporting, sparkling prose and skillful editing graced Associated Press news wires for almost a half-century, has died.

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have held a mass prayer called for by an influential Shiite cleric in Baghdad, a highly symbolic move amid an unprecedented political crisis roiling Iraq.

Residents of the impoverished Baghdad suburb of Sadr City say they support an influential Shiite cleric who called on thousands of his followers to storm Iraq's parliament.

The U.S. drone strike that killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri is intensifying global scrutiny of Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis are attending a mass prayer in Baghdad called for by an influential Shiite cleric.

The contest to succeed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has begun after he announced he is resigning as Conservative Party leader.

Nuclear Russia's pillaging of non-nuclear Ukraine is rattling what's already a destabilizing moment in nuclear nonproliferation efforts.

When Joe Biden was running for president, he wasn't shy about calling out dictators and authoritarian leaders.

Iraq still doesn’t have a government, eight months since national elections took place, and there seems no clear way out of the dangerous deadlock.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson managed to narrowly win a no-confidence vote from his own Conservative Party, but the result dealt a heavy blow to his authority.

A U.S. Embassy tweet of a rainbow-flag-festooned message by President Joe Biden in support of Pride Month has drawn a diplomatic protest from Kuwait.

Former President George W.

Secret intelligence is playing an unusually public role in the war in Ukraine.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s death from cancer this week sparked American women to reflect on the 84-year-old diplomat’s sweeping influence on their lives, 25 years after Bill Clinton made her the United States’ representative to the world.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is being remembered as a woman of conviction and determination who liked to say she told things like they were and not the way she might like them to be.

Madeleine Albright fled the Nazis as a child and climbed to the summit of diplomacy and foreign policy in the United States.

A U.S. official says Russia has asked China for military equipment to use in its invasion of Ukraine.

President Joe Biden’s national security adviser has warned a top Chinese official about China’s support for Russia in the Ukrainian invasion — even as the Kremlin denies anew that it has requested Chinese military equipment.

As Russia intensifies its assault on Ukraine, it is getting a helping hand from China in spreading inflammatory and unsubstantiated claims that the U.S. is financing biological weapons labs in Ukraine.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has brought up deep divisions in the Middle East, where Moscow has made itself a key player.

The U.N. Security Council has voted unanimously to end Iraq’s requirement to compensate victims of its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, with Baghdad having paid out $52.4 billion to 1.5 million claimants.

While the U.S. warns that Russia could invade Ukraine any day, the drumbeat of war is all but unheard in Moscow, where pundits and ordinary people alike don’t expect President Vladimir Putin to launch an attack on the ex-Soviet neighbor.

President Joe Biden's administration has refused to share evidence for national security claims in recent days, and officials have even accused reporters of buying into foreign propaganda.

The leader of the Islamic State group killed in a U.S. raid overnight in northwest Syria was largely a mystery, with almost no known photos, never appearing in public or in the group’s videos.

War kept him away from his beloved homeland for decades.

Thousands of mourners have poured into the streets of Iranian cities for the mass funeral of 250 victims of the Iran-Iraq war — remains recently recovered in a testament to the brutal conflict’s scale and enduring legacy after 35 years.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels seized a ship in the Red Sea, armed drones targeted Baghdad’s international airport, and hackers hit a major Israeli newspaper.

They both carved out sterling reputations as military and political leaders over years of public service.

Bill Richardson’s success in helping secure the release of journalist Danny Fenster from a Myanmar prison is the latest demonstration of the former New Mexico governor’s knack for flying into some the most closed societies on earth and persuading those in charge to do Washington a favor.

Kuwait has temporarily handed its crown prince some of the ruling emir’s constitutional duties.

A memorial service for Colin L.

A child of working-class Jamaican immigrants in the Bronx, Colin Powell rose from neighborhood store clerk to warehouse floor-mopper to the highest echelons of the U.S. government.

For many Iraqis, the name Colin Powell conjures up one image: the man who as U.S. secretary of State went before the U.N. Security Council in 2003 to make the case for war against their country.

Preliminary results in Iraq's elections show an alliance of pro-Iran candidates emerging as the biggest loser in the country's national elections.

Iraqis have voted in parliamentary elections held months ahead of schedule as a concession to a youth-led uprising against corruption and mismanagement.

The family of Raymond T.

Iraq’s elections on Sunday come with enormous challenges: Iraq’s economy has been battered by years of conflict, endemic corruption and more recently, the coronavirus pandemic.

Iraqi security forces are casting ballots, two days before the rest of the nation votes in parliamentary elections.

Not long after 9/11, the Bush administration shifted its attention to Iraq, saying it was part of an “axis of evil” that pursued anti-American policies.

Young Sikh Americans still struggle with discrimination a generation after Sept. 11 unleashed bias against them and their older relatives, ranging from school bullying to racial profiling to hate crimes.

Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim, one of Iraq’s most senior and influential Muslim Shiite clerics, has died, members of his family said.

More than 82,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan since the Taliban seized the capital Kabul on Aug. 14.

President Joe Biden’s vacation plans, like those of so many Americans during this national summer of uncertainty, keep changing.

President Joe Biden should be heading out on vacation and a traditional August break from Washington.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has voted to finally repeal two decades-old measures giving open-ended approval for military action in Iraq.

For all the International Olympic Committee talks of staying neutral, its games have long proven to be essentially and sometimes overtly political.

The Biden administration is encouraging Senate lawmakers to finally repeal an Iraq war authorization crafted when Saddam Hussein was still alive.

Iraq's government says over 17,000 pieces of priceless antiquities have been recovered from the United States and other countries and handed over to the culture ministry.

President Joe Biden says the U.S. military’s combat mission in Iraq will conclude by the end of the year.

New York Times opinion columnist Gail Collins, Associated Press Editor at Large John Daniszewski and journalist Katherine Boo have been elected as co-chairs of the Pulitzer Prize Board.

French President Emmanuel Macron has made American civil rights leader Jesse Jackson a commander of the Legion of Honor, France’s highest award.

News of the death of former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has hit far differently in Baghdad than in the U.S. capital.

Calling Donald H.

The family of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he has died.

The Democratic-led House has passed legislation to repeal the 2002 authorization for use of military force in Iraq.

The White House and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are endorsing efforts to terminate the 2002 authorization of military force against Iraq.

Iran’s judiciary chief and a prominent hard-line cleric has registered to run in the country's June presidential election.

Khodeir Majid, who covered Iraq’s numerous conflicts as a video producer and cameraman for The Associated Press for over 17 years, has died at the age of 64.

Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark has died.

Iraq’s top judicial council says a retired judge who presided over the trial of the late dictator Saddam Hussein has died after battling the coronavirus.

FILE - This March, 13, 2019 handout file photo from the office of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, shows senior Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf. The pontiff and ayatollah will meet in al-Sistanis modest home in the Iraqi city of Najaf. (Office of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, via AP, File)One highlight of Pope Francis' historic visit to Iraq is his meeting Saturday with a revered religious leader for Shiite Muslims, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. ___The 90-year-old al-Sistani is the top Shiite cleric in Iraq and a powerhouse in the Shiite world. After the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein, al-Sistani emerged as a powerful voice in Iraq’s political process — a symbol of the ascent of Iraq's Shiite majority after the war.

Iraq was estimated to have more than 1 million Christians before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. Iraq was estimated to have nearly 1.5 million Christians before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. AdHere’s a look at disasters Iraq’s Christians have endured, from Saddam's ouster to the brutal campaign by Islamic State militants:U.S. It was the deadliest single assault ever recorded against Iraq’s Christians. To this day, the memory of the massacre is etched in the minds of Iraq’s Christian community.

A U.S. airstrike targeting facilities used by Iran-backed militias in Syria appears to be a message to Tehran delivered by a new American administration still figuring out its approach to the Middle East. Kirby said the operation in Boukamal, Syria, sends an unambiguous message: President Biden will act to protect American and coalition personnel. In the meantime, relations with Iran have been further strained as the country's proxies become more assertive, with Iran-backed militias increasingly targeting U.S. interests and allies. Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby said the operation in Boukamal, Syria, sends an unambiguous message: “President Biden will act to protect American and coalition personnel. By striking Syria, Biden joins every American president from Ronald Reagan onward who has ordered a bombardment of countries in the Middle East.

Iraqi Christians place a cross on a church in Qaraqosh, Iraq, Monday, Feb. 22, 2021. Iraq's Christians are hoping that a historic visit by Pope Francis in March will help boost their community's struggle to survive. Iraq’s Christian communities in the area were dealt a severe blow when they were scattered by the IS onslaught in 2014, further shrinking the country's already dwindling Christian population. Many hope their struggle to endure will get a boost from a historic visit by Pope Francis planned in March. The Chaldean Catholic Patriarch, Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, estimated that 1 million Christians have left Iraq since 2003 and about 500,000 remained.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a media conference, after a meeting of NATO defense ministers in video format, at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. And training activities will now include more Iraqi security institutions, and areas beyond Baghdad,” Stoltenberg told reporters after chairing a meeting of NATO defense ministers. NATO’s training mission was launched in 2018 to help the conflict-ravaged country develop new academies and military schools for its armed forces. Ad“We will increase the geographical presence of the NATO training mission, beyond the greater Baghdad area, but again, step by step,” Stoltenberg said. After the invasion, the temporary U.S.-led administration disbanded the Iraqi army, leaving tens of thousands of trained personnel jobless and bitter.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi speaks during the opening ceremony of the American University in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)BAGHDAD – From afar, the sprawling complex of the newly inaugurated American University in Baghdad appears like a floating mirage. Government officials maintain that the American University in Baghdad, which opened this week, is critical to shoring up the country’s flailing state of higher education. Liberal arts is a novel concept in Iraq, Mulnix said. Most of the students have very basic English skills, not enough to meet the rigorous demands of the university, Mulnix said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi speaks during the opening ceremony of the American University in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)BAGHDAD – From afar, the sprawling complex of the newly inaugurated American University in Baghdad appears like a floating mirage. Government officials maintain that the American University in Baghdad, which opened this week, is critical to shoring up the country’s flailing state of higher education. Liberal arts is a novel concept Iraq, Mulnix said. Most of the students have very basic English skills, not enough to meet the rigorous demands of the university, Mulnix said.

FILE - In this Sept. 25, 2007 file photo, an Iraqi traffic policeman inspects a car destroyed by a Blackwater security detail in al-Nisoor Square in Baghdad, Iraq. On Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020, the Trump administration pardoned four military contractors convicted of killing 14 Iraqi civilians in a public square 13 years ago. At the time, the Blackwater firm had been contracted to provide security for U.S. diplomats in Iraq. Five years after Abbas' death, Fadel took over the role of family breadwinner. Asked what would bring him peace of mind over a decade since his brother's killing, Fadel said only a death sentence for the contractors could bring solace.

FILE - This combination made from file photo shows Blackwater guards, from left, Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Nicholas Slatten and Paul Slough. “The infamous Blackwater company killed Iraqi citizens at Nisoor Square. The 2007 killings in the Baghdad traffic circle were among many attacks, large and small, hitting civilians that served to turn even some initial Iraqi supporters of Saddam Hussein's overthrow against Americans. The case against the Blackwater guards ping-ponged across courts in Washington, with a federal appeals court at one point overturning the first-degree murder conviction of one defendant, Nicholas Slatten, and sharply reducing the prison sentences of the three others. In Iraq, said Ford, the former diplomat, the pardons will “necessarily give some ammunition to those who say get the Americans out now."

FILE - In this March 27, 2020 file photo, U.S. soldiers stand guard during the hand over ceremony of Qayyarah Airfield, Iraqi Security Forces, in the south of Mosul, Iraq. A U.S.-led coalition provided crucial air support as Iraqi forces, including Iran-backed militias, regrouped and drove IS out in a costly three-year campaign. Senior Iraqi military officials in Baghdad say the withdrawal of 500 American troops will have little, if any, impact. “It’s true we have a stronger army, stronger security forces,” said Najm Jibouri, the governor and former head of provincial operations in Nineveh, which includes Mosul. A significant drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq — while popular at home — could reduce his leverage.

For fifty years, the Assad family has controlled Syria, overseeing transformations, modernization, uprisings and upheaval while becoming among the most divisive figures of their time. Yet 50 years later, Hafez Assad’s family still rules Syria. But Hafez’s son, Bashar Assad, has an unquestioned grip on what remains. Like his father, Bashar Assad elevated family to insulate his power — a younger, more modern generation, but one seen by many Syrians as more rapacious in amassing wealth. The Assad family’s gravest challenge came with the Arab Spring uprisings that swept the region, reaching Syria in March 2011.

In this picture released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addresses the nation in a televised speech marking the birthday of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. Irans supreme leader mocked Americas presidential election in a televised address. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)TEHRAN – Iran's supreme leader mocked America's presidential election Tuesday in a televised address, quoting President Donald Trump's own baseless claims about voter fraud to criticize the vote as Tehran marked the 1979 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis. Our policy is clear and well-calculated and people coming and going will have no impact on it.”Khamenei, 81, as supreme leader has final say on all matters of state in Iran. The supreme leader accused France of harboring “terrorist” groups targeting the Islamic Republic after earlier supporting Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during his 1980s war against Iran.

FILE - In this Oct. 25, 2005 file photo, veteran British Middle East news journalist, Robert Fisk, gestures during a press conference for the launch of the French version of his book "The Great War for Civilisation: the Conquest of the Middle East," in Paris, France. Born in Kent, in the United Kingdom, Fisk began his career on Fleet Street at the Sunday Express. He went on to work for The Times, and was based in Northern Ireland, Portugal and the Middle East. And yet it cannot run its currency, supply its electric power, cure its sick or protect its people,” Fisk wrote. Fisk wrote several books, including “Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War” and “The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East."

DUBAI – Kuwait's Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah became the oil-rich nation's new ruling emir Tuesday night, reaching the highest post in the country after decades in its security services. Sheikh Nawaf, 83, had served as the crown prince since 2006, jumping a traditional order of alternating rule between the Al Jaber and the Al Salim branches of the country's ruling family. State television carried an address by Anas Khalid al-Saleh, Kuwait's interior minister and deputy prime minister, announcing Sheikh Nawaf had taken the position just hours after Sheikh Sabah's death. He became the crown prince under Sheikh Sabah in February 2006. He hasn't been known for making any major political decisions while serving as crown prince.

FILE - The U.S. Embassy is seen from across the Tigris River in Baghdad, Iraq Jan. 3, 2020. The Trump administration has signaled it could close its diplomatic mission in Baghdad if measures are not taken to control rogue armed elements responsible for a recent spate of attacks against U.S. and other interests in the country, Iraqi and U.S. officials said Monday, Sept. 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed, File)

FILE - The U.S. Embassy is seen from across the Tigris River in Baghdad, Iraq Jan. 3, 2020. As news of the warning sent shockwaves across Baghdad, Iraq's military said a Katyusha rocket hit near Baghdad airport, killing five Iraqi civilians and severely wounding two others. “America will observe what measures the government of Iraq takes within two months,” one senior Iraqi official said. The rocket may have been targeting the international airport but struck a residential home close by instead, Iraqi security officials said, requesting anonymity in line with regulations. Also on Monday, a roadside bomb targeted a convoy carrying materials destined for U.S. forces southwest of Baghdad, two Iraqi security officials said.

UK was a small child when his parents fled Myanmar, leaving him and his siblings to be cared for by their maternal grandmother. Through its citizenship classes, the International Rescue Committee has helped around 6,000 refugees and other newcomers become Americans each of the last few years. Born in Iraq and now a U.S. citizen living in Jacksonville, Florida, Alawee said she also plans to cast her first presidential ballot Nov. 3. “I can't wait.”___BAWI UK was a small child when his parents fled Myanmar, leaving him and his siblings to be cared for by their maternal grandmother. The family resettled in Phoenix, where they all became U.S. citizens.

WASHINGTON The United States plans to reduce its military force in Iraq from the current 5,200 to about 3,500 by November, U.S. officials said Friday. Trump met last week at the White House with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Pompeo said after meeting last week with Iraqs foreign minister that Washington was committed to helping Iraq regain and maintain security. Tensions spiked between the U.S. and Iraq in January after a U.S. drone strike near the Baghdad airport killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Angry Iraqi lawmakers, spurred on by Shiite political factions, passed a nonbinding resolution to oust all U.S.-led coalition forces from the country.

Playing a prominent role in American foreign policy, Scowcroft served as national security adviser to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, the only national security adviser to two different administrations. He served as national security adviser to Bush, by then a close friend, during the four years of the Bush administration, 1989-93. A year later he became deputy assistant for national security under Henry Kissinger, Nixons national security adviser. He accepted a return engagement as national security adviser when he realized he would be at the presidents side instead of running the massive bureaucracy at the Defense Department.

In the Mideast, wave after wave of war, disease and economic collapse leaves this generation feeling hopeless. She was preparing to leave to England, where she would spend a year working on her masters degree in pharmacy. Even before the pandemic, in 2019 youth employment in the Arab region was estimated at 26.4%, compared to a global rate of 13.6%, according to estimates by the International Labor Organization. A U.N. report this week expected some Arab economies to shrink by up to 13% this year, compounding the suffering of those affected by armed conflict. Working at the pharmacy in Baghdads Karrada district, al-Diwani encounters people suspected of being infected with the virus every day.

DUBAI Kuwait's 91-year-old ruling emir left Thursday morning for the United States to seek further medical care after recently undergoing surgery, its state-run news agency reported. Kuwait has yet to elaborate on what required Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah to seek a previously unannounced medical treatment beginning Saturday and a surgery Sunday. However, Sheikh Sabahs sudden surgery could inspire a renewed power struggle within Kuwaits ruling family. That same Airbus had flown to Rochester, Minnesota, and New York City before returning to Kuwait just days before Sheikh Sabah's surgery. Sheikh Sabah, a widely beloved ruler in this OPEC-member nation, took power in 2006 just nine days into the rule of the ailing Sheikh Saad Al Abdullah Al Sabah.