2023 in photos: Unforgettable images capture Middle East in turmoil
War and natural disasters ravaged an increasingly unsettled Middle East throughout 2023, further straining countries already hit by worsening economic conditions and affected by extreme weather fueled by climate change. Here are the images that told the story of a region in turmoil.
Antonio Macías' mother cries over her son's body covered with the Israeli flag at Pardes Haim cemetery in Kfar Saba, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. Macias was killed by Hamas militants while attending a music festival in southern Israel earlier this month. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system fires interceptors at rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel. Thursday, May 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
Israelis evacuate a site struck by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A Palestinian wounded in Israeli bombardment waits for treatment in a hospital in Deir al-Balah, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
Mourners gather around the graves of British-Israelis Lianne Sharabi and her two daughters, Noiya,16, and Yahel,13, during their funeral in Kfar Harif, Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. Lianne Sharabi and her two daughters were killed by Hamas militants on Oct. 7 in Kibbutz Be'eri near the border with the Gaza Strip. More than 1,400 people were killed and some 200 captured in an unprecedented, multi-front attack by the militant group that rules Gaza. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Israeli security forces inspect charred vehicles burned in the bloody Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas militants, outside the town of Netivot, southern Israel. The vehicles were collected and placed in an area near the Gaza border after the attack, in which 1,400 people were killed and some 240 people were taken hostage. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
A firefighter and a paramedic deliver oxygen to an injured cat rescued from a building struck by a rocket fired from Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Palestinians inspect the rubble of the Yassin Mosque destroyed after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike at Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, early Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. Israel's military battled to drive Hamas fighters out of southern towns and seal its borders Monday as it pounded the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)
Kenzi al Madhoun, a four-year-old who was wounded in Israeli bombardment lies at Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir al Balah City, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
An Israeli soldier hugs his partner near the border with the Gaza Strip, southern Israel, Friday, Oct. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Palestinians flee to northern Gaza as Israeli tanks block the Salah al-Din road in the central Gaza Strip on Friday, Nov. 24, 2023, as the four-day cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war begins as part of an agreement that Qatar helped broker. (AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman)
A general view of the city of Derna is seen on Tuesday, Sept. 12., 2023. Mediterranean storm Daniel caused devastating floods in Libya that broke dams and swept away entire neighborhoods in multiple coastal towns, the destruction appeared greatest in Derna city. (AP Photo/Jamal Alkomaty)
Lebanese army soldiers scuffle with protesters during a demonstration in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza, near the U.S. embassy in Aukar, a northern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Palestinians pray over bodies of people killed in the Israeli bombardment who were brought from the Shifa hospital before burying them in a mass grave in the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman)
Palestinian woman collects seawater to wash clothes at the beach in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Thursday, November 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
An off-duty member of Israel's security forces joins worshippers at the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, in the Old City of Jerusalem, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023. Tens of thousands of Israeli reservists have been called up for action for the war against Hamas, while other security personnel have begun to carry weapons in public, following the Islamic militant group's deadly cross-border attack on Oct. 7. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Retired members of the Lebanese security forces and other protesters scuffle with Lebanese army after they removed a barbed-wire barrier in order to advance towards government buildings during a protest in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, April 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Police detain a supporter of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan in Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, May 10, 2023. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
Lebanese special forces soldiers, right, remove their comrade who fainted from tear gas during a protest for retired army soldiers and other protesters who are demanding better pay, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 22, 2023. Lebanese security forces are firing tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters who tried to break through a fence leading to the government headquarters in downtown Beirut. The protest comes amid widespread anger over the harsh economic conditions in the country. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Israeli women's rights activists dressed as characters in the popular television series, "The Handmaid's Tale," protest plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to overhaul the judicial system in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, March 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Afghan volunteers clean up rubble after an earthquake in Zenda Jan district in Herat province, western Afghanistan, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Afghan girls and women carry donated aid to their tents, while they are scared and crying from the fierce sandstorm, after an earthquake in Zenda Jan district in Herat province, western of Afghanistan, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Ultra-Orthodox Jews mourn over the body of Rabbi Shimon Baadani during his funeral, in Bnei Brak, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A demonstrator sits next to a bonfire as others occupy the Ayalon Highway to protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to overhaul the judicial system in Tel Aviv, Thursday, July 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
An Israeli activist dressed as a clown runs with border police as Israelis protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to overhaul the judicial system block a free way in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, March 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
An Afghan refugee rests in the desert next to a camp near the Torkham Pakistan-Afghanistan border, in Torkham, Afghanistan, Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
War and natural disasters ravaged an increasingly unsettled Middle East throughout 2023, further straining countries already hit by economic and climate woes. Here are the images that told the story of a region in turmoil.
Defense secretary remains hospitalized as details emerge about delays in notification, even to Biden
The Pentagon is releasing new details about Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s nearly weeklong hospitalization.
Selective outrage sends a dangerous message that some people's lives matter more than others, the group's executive director said.
Enemy drone that killed US troops in Jordan was mistaken for a US drone, preliminary report suggests
WASHINGTON — U.S. forces may have mistaken an enemy drone for an American one and let it pass unchallenged into a desert base in Jordan where it killed three U.S. troops and wounded dozens more, officials said Monday.
Israeli forces disguised as civilian women and medics stormed a hospital Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, killing three Palestinian militants in a dramatic raid that underscored how deadly violence has spilled into the territory from the war in Gaza.
A war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah could be the most destructive either side has ever experienced and is a terrifying prospect for people on both sides of the border.
The U.S. launched an air assault on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds force Friday, the opening salvo of retaliation for the drone strike that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan last weekend.
The strikes follow an air assault in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for the drone strike that killed three U.S. service members.
During the cooler weather between November and February, millions of people attend weddings every week. People call it Decemberistan.
Ibrahim Hasouna was staying with a friend when Israeli airstrikes struck the house where his family was staying. When he rushed home, he found his entire family dead.
The families, many clutching photos of their loved ones and small bunches of tulips, arrived in buses.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has delivered some of the Biden administration’s strongest public criticism yet of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza.
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other officials apparently has crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of his country.