Deborah Amos

Representatives of more than two dozen nations are in Paris, debating how to stop militants from the group the Islamic State. French President Francois Hollande says the group is a global threat.

The militants are running the Syrian city of Raqqa with relative efficiency, residents say. But many object to the ultra-strict rules, the segregation of men and women, and the public executions.

In a prime-time speech Wednesday, President Obama said the U.S. plans to "take out" the Islamic State "wherever they exist." Signaling a broadening of the American offensive so far.

Syrian President Bashar Assad is in the fourth year of a civil war against ISIS and other rebel groups. But some say he's let ISIS flourish so it can overwhelm more moderate, Western-backed rebels.

Stonehenge just got a lot bigger. Researchers have discovered evidence of many archaeological features surrounding the ancient stone formation. Robert Siegel talks with professor Vinc...

As Islamic State militants have marched across Syria and Iraq, oil smuggling has been a major part of their strategy. They have targeted oil fields and refineries and work with a range of middlemen.

A video released on Tuesday shows the killing of an American journalist by the Islamic State militant group. The group threatened to kill Steven Sotloff if the U.S. continued its offensive in Iraq.

Defeating the militant group Islamic State in the Middle East will depend on getting Sunni Muslims to reject it. And Sunnis, the region's majority religious sect, are divided, insecure and struggling over their identity.

The Obama administration is faced with a growing challenge by Islamist militants. The Islamic State controls parts of Iraq and Syria. How much can the U.S. really accomplish with airstrikes?

Syrians have flooded into neighboring countries, and now they are having babies. But the children are not receiving citizenship from either Syria or the country where they are born.

Rebels captured the eastern half of Aleppo, the country's biggest city, two years ago. Now President Assad's army looks likely to drive them out in what would be a major blow to the opposition.

Against the demands of the Assad regime, a covert cross-border operation has been getting aid to desperate Syrians in areas out of government control. A new U.N. resolution could expand these efforts.

The Islamist radicals who have declared an Islamic caliphate on land they control straddling Iraq and Syria are waging an audacious publicity stunt, according to some analysts.

While it may bring them even greater attention, it's also likely to be an overreach that will open rifts with its current partners, ...

Archbishop Emil Nona, the head of the Chaldean church in Mosul, Iraq, was out of town when ISIS captured his city. Now, he is going back to Mosul, as are some 50 Christian families. H...

As the Iraqi army crumbled before militants this month, the nation's ethnic Kurds are taking back long-sought areas and revisiting the dream of declaring themselves an independent state.

Both ISIS militants and the Iraqi government claim to control the country's largest oil refinery. But NPR's Deborah Amos reports that the rebels have closed in and are negotiating with the beleaguered forces inside.

Not all Sunnis are on board with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, even if they oppose the Iraqi government. One ranking Sunni cleric in northern Iraq hints at limits to the group's influence.

President Obama is sending 300 military advisers to Iraq to beef up intelligence efforts to try to counter insurgent activity in the northern part of the country.

While ISIS militants assault Iraq's largest oil refinery, the country's prime minister is vowing that his forces will turning back the insurgency.