Middle East, Israel | featured news

The Israeli military says it has shot down an unmanned aircraft sent by the Hezbollah group into Israeli skies....

Syrian government forces have used chemical weapons - probably nerve gas - in their fight against rebels waging a two-year-old uprising, the Israeli military's top intelligence analyst said on Tuesday.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry worked Monday to build support for new Arab-Israeli peace talks that would establish an independent Palestinian state and settle many other old Mideast grievances.

In a carefully crafted address in Israel on Thursday that was stopped by continuous applause, President Obama made his case for a future Israel at peace with the Palestinians.

Iran's most powerful authority said the Islamic Republic would destroy the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa if Israel launched a military attack against it.

President Barack Obama plunged into the turbulent Middle East on a mission aimed primarily at assuring America's top ally in the region and its friends back home that it will not be forsaken amid bitter domestic political squabbles and budget crises in Washington.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry scolded Turkey’s leader Friday for likening Zionism to a “crime against humanity. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comment worsened his country’s rift with Israel and further complicated the U.S. relationship with Turkey, a key Muslim ally straddling the Middle East and Europe.

President Obama will visit Israel, the West Bank and Jordan in the spring, the White House said Tuesday, marking his first visit since becoming president.

Shouting condemnation and promises of retaliation, Syria, Iran and Hezbollah condemned Israel's decision to send warplanes into Syria, calling its airstrike a day before "inhuman" and "barbaric."

Israel voiced doubt on Tuesday about the accuracy of Syrian activists' reports that chemical weapons had been used against rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad.