Organisation indicates that women and children account for 70% of fatalities from death toll of almost 47,000

Binyamin Netanyahu’s aim of returning 200,000 Israelis to southern and northern communities abandoned during war is unlikely until Gaza has been pacified by political means

Nawaf Salam seen as a man of change who could secure reforms required for the country to access $20bn in international funds to rebuild its shattered economy and war-ravaged regions

Regional and western ministers along with senior diplomats pursue ways to advance country’s recovery

UN official calls on new president to appoint a prime minister, after two years of caretaker cabinet

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has held talks with European and US officials, as well regional government ministers

War means there will be little visitor presence in the birthplace of Jesus this Christmas

HRW says dehydration and malnutrition ‘undermine people’s abilities to heal from wounds and disease, leading to infections, illnesses and deaths’

Yemen-based Houthis are the only full-strength survivors of Tehran’s axis of resistance

President Erdogan determined to further his nation’s regional interests by helping to ensure the transition to a stable new political regime in Syria

Politicised in 2000 by the second Palestinian intifada, the man who helped get rid of Bashar al-Assad started thinking about ‘defending a people who are oppressed by occupiers and invaders’

Arab leaders and analysts surprised and shocked by Assad’s sudden fall and flight

Anarchy could spill over into neighbouring Lebanon and Jordan and destabilise the eastern Arab world

Israel has repeatedly denied genocide allegations and cites right to defence against Hamas attacks

Israeli government yet to indicate whether it supports the move