Middle East

An Afghan official says the Taliban will attend a UN climate conference for the first time since their takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.

Iran has the capacity to produce nuclear weapons and is prepared to change its policies on using them if faced with an existential threat, an adviser to its supreme leader said Friday in the latest bellicose statement from the country amid its high-stakes tit-for-tat with Israel. 

Qamar Subuh, who was seen in the viral video, told NBC News she missed her dad “more than the moon” after the family was separated amid Israel’s assault on northern Gaza.

Three waves of pre-dawn strikes on military targets in Iran on Saturday completed Israel’s retaliation on Iran, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Israeli officials are weighing an Egyptian proposal for a small-scale cease-fire deal with Hamas aimed at trying to build momentum for a larger agreement, an Israeli official told NBC News.

The Israeli military hit bank branches across Lebanon overnight to target Hezbollah‘s finances, while the U.N. said Israel was making life “impossible” in northern Gaza.

Biden plans to send Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Israel early next week to discuss securing Gaza, recovering hostages and the future of the Palestinian people

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, accused of being the architect of the Oct. 7 terror attack, has been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced on Thursday.

The U.S. struck multiple Houthi weapons storage facilities in parts of Yemen that the Iranian-backed rebel group controls, a defense official said Wednesday evening.

In an interview with NBC News earlier this month, a co-founder of the group known as Samidoun called Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel “a brave and heroic operation.”

The U.S. has approved deploying THAAD anti-missile battery to Israel, a defense official told NBC News. 

President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have held their first call in weeks as Israel expands its ground incursion into Lebanon and considers how to respond to Iran’s recent ballistic missile attack.

Hezbollah has fired another barrage of rockets into Israel, and the militant group’s acting leader vows to keep up pressure that has forced thousands of Israelis from their homes near the Lebanese border.

A hospital director in southern Lebanon says Israel’s military struck outside its gates without warning on Friday, killing seven paramedics and forcing the facility to close.

U.S. arranged flights have brought about 250 Americans and their relatives out of Lebanon this week during escalated fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. That’s as thousands of Americans still there face airstrikes and diminishing commercial flights.

The region is bracing for further escalation as Israel vows to retaliate for Iran’s ballistic missile attack a day earlier.

Iran launched at least 180 missiles at Israel, though Israeli authorities said there were no injuries and scattered damage and fires from falling shrapnel.

Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel on Tuesday, the latest in a series of escalating attacks in a yearslong conflict between Israel and Iran and its Arab allies that threatens to push the Middle East closer toward a regionwide war.

The Pentagon says is sending a “few thousand” additional troops to the Middle East to bolster security and to be prepared to defend Israel if necessary.

The first apparent Israeli airstrike on central Beirut in nearly a year of conflict leveled an apartment building early Monday, hours after Israel hit targets across Lebanon and killed dozens of people as Hezbollah sustained heavy blows to its command structure, including the killing of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.