Shia militias have abducted and murdered scores of Sunni civilians in Iraq in crimes committed in retribution against the actions of ISIL, according to a new report by Amnesty International. 　　The London-based rights group on Tuesday published what it said was evidence that Shia militias abducted civilians in Baghdad, Samarra... More

　　Israeli police have detained more than 100 Palestinians in East Jerusalem since July for allegedly "throwing stones" at trains. 　　In a Tuesday statement, police said that more than 100 Palestinians had been arrested since July – when a Palestinian teenager was murdered by suspected Jewish settlers – for pelting passing... More

　　Seven Palestinians were killed and 350 others, including three journalists and an ex-female prisoner, detained by Israel during October, a Palestinian NGO said Saturday. 　　Ahrar Center for Prisoners and Human Rights Studies said the seven dead victims included four teenagers less than 15 years of age. 　　The center added in... More

　　A staggering 1,917 people have died of torture, starvation and lack of medical treatment in Syrian prisons this year, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said. 　　The Britain-based observatory said on Sunday it had documented nearly 2,000 deaths since the start of 2014. 　　The dead include 27 children under... More

　　For months, the streets of mainly Arab East Jerusalem, in the shadow of the Old City but where tourists seldom venture, have been ablaze, with daily clashes between armed Israeli police and Palestinians throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails. 　　The roots of the unrest are many: from the killing in July... More

　　After months of unrest, municipal officials in Jerusalem have begun a widespread crackdown on the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, enforcing the finest points of the law in what rights groups have dubbed an act of "collective punishment". 　　Small businesses have been shuttered for unpaid bills, or for lacking the... More

　　As racially motivated attacks and growing incitement gripped Israel over the weekend, 23-year-old Waad Ghantous, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, was not surprised at being verbally accosted in this mixed city, home to both Arabs and Jews on Israel's northern coast. 　　"The racism is always present, but it's much worse... More

　　Razan al-Halaqawi was too ill to spend weeks waiting for Egypt to open the Gaza Strip's main crossing in Rafah. 　　The crossing has been closed to residents looking to exit Gaza since October 25; in the intervening days, Egypt has opened the crossing just once in one direction for two... More

　　More than 15,000 Israelis moved to Jewish-only settlements located in the Israeli-occupied West Bank over the course of 2014, an Israeli official said Friday. 　　"Interior Ministry figures, showing that Judea-Samaria [the Jewish name for the West Bank] currently has nearly 400,000 Israelis, demonstrates [that] settlement in Judea-Samaria is an irreversible... More

　　At least 7,000 people were killed in Yemen in 2014, including at least 1,200 civilians, three times the level of deaths from when the current turmoil began in 2011, according to a Yemeni think-tank's report. 　　It is now thought that Shia Houthi fighters are controlling about 70 percent of army's... More

　　Lebanese youth in Tripoli suburbs are becoming increasingly used to conflict in rising sectarian distrust and violence. 　　"People get used to war. During the last battle, children were still coming to play. Can you imagine, a seven-year-old boy running through the bullets just to play video games," says Mohammad Darwish,... More

　　Human Rights Watch says it has evidence that Syrian regime forces have carried out hundreds of indiscriminate attacks over the past year with air-delivered munitions, including improvised weapons such as barrel bombs. 　　The US-based group says the attacks have had a devastating impact on civilians, killing or injuring thousands of... More

　　Scores of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have made homes out of mountain caves on the outskirts of Al-Khalil (Hebron) city, as Israel continues to prevent them from building homes on territories earmarked for Jewish-only settlements. 　　"We have tried to build homes with bricks and cement, but the Israeli... More