Yulia the endangered seal did not seem phased by the rockets from Gaza, let alone the missiles heading in the opposite direction. About six feet long and two decades old, Yulia heaved herself last Friday onto a sandy beach in Jaffa, an ancient city immediately south of Tel Aviv. ItContinue Reading

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Built on the ashes of 10 years of war in Syria, an illegal drug industry run by powerful associates and relatives of President Bashar al-Assad has grown into a multi-billion-dollar operation, eclipsing Syria’s legal exports and turning the country into the world’s newest narcostate. Its flagship productContinue Reading

U.S. and Russian warplanes operating in the eastern Mediterranean Sea flew dangerously close to each other in three separate incidents last weekend, including one in which the aircraft came within about five feet of each other, Pentagon officials said on Wednesday. The close calls, which occurred in international airspace onContinue Reading