Deborah Amos

Deborah Amos, author of Eclipse of the Sunnis, talks about the extremist vision for establishing a new Sunni caliphate, as well as what it might look like if a group like ISIS managed to do so.

The takeover of much of Iraq — one of the hubs of the Middle East — by extremist militants has shaken the region. How do Iraq's neighbors see the conflict rippling throughout the area?

A popular, British science-fiction TV show about a time-traveler would seem to have few parallels with the Syrian civil war. But one Syrian activist sees some apt comparisons.

When Syrian President Bashar Assad was re-elected for a third term in office this week — in a tightly controlled election in ...

Robert Ford served as the U.S. ambassador to Syria until late February. Ford says as the uprising became a civil war, he was frustrated by limited U.S. support for rebel forces.

Bashar Assad is certain to cruise to victory Tuesday in a vote that's been widely condemned. But the point is not the voting. Rather, it's an attempt to show he still controls parts of the country.

There was some anticipation this week that President Obama might endorse stronger measures to give training to Syria's rebels. The president told NPR the rebels might be better able to use U.S. aid.

Earlier this year, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution calling for more humanitarian access in Syria. Even that, though, has had not eased the suffering of civilians.

Nasrin Sotoudeh, one of Iran's most prominent human rights lawyers, says President Hassan Rouhani has opened a space for dissident voices, but the country is still a "big prison."

In Iran, hardline critics are waging a campaign against President Hassan Rouhani to limit his campaign pledge of opening Iran to more social and cultural freedoms.

The "culture wars" are as old as the Islamic revolution that swept conservative clerics to power more than three decades ago. The latest chapter ...

Iran has been a close ally of Syria for decades and a staunch supporter in Syria's current war. But a growing number of Iranians are questioning the costs of backing President Bashar Assad.

After bouncing all over the Internet, the iconic photo is coming to big screens in Times Square. It shows a sea of desperate people waiting for food in the devastated refugee camp of Yarmouk.

Three years into Syria's civil war, a resigned stability and a sense of permanence are taking hold at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan.

The Syrian uprising started three years ago this week with protests and eventually a military crackdown that led to all-out civil war. More than 130,000 people have died.

For months, a military stalemate has defined the war in Syria. Now, a new strategy is emerging as Western allies and Gulf states step up support for rebels in southern Syria.

Along Jordan's northern border, Syrian rebels say they are unifying their fractious ranks, urged to unite by Western and ...

Samuel Beckett's drama is playing before full houses in the Iranian capital Tehran. Some view it as an allegory of their desire to see change that never seems to come.

A new bloom of activist movements have been spurred by the election of President Hassan Rouhani. And women — many of them educated but without job prospects — are at the forefront.

NPR's Deborah Amos had a recent run-in with the "morals police" in Tehran. Her three-hour confinement revealed the gap between the enforcers and a generation chafing under strict behavior codes.

For eight days, the Syrian regime and an opposition delegation sat face-to-face, but were not on speaking terms in Room 16 of the Palais des Nations in the sprawling complex of United Nations headquarters in Geneva.

Round one demonstrated the bitter divide with no breakthrough on the core issues of ...

Can a meeting in Switzerland, known as Geneva-2, solve the crisis in Syria?

The expectations are low. The warring parties are reluctant. Some of the most important players, including powerful armed rebel groups, are not on the invitation list.

The superpower hosts, the U.S. and Russia, fully back the peace ...

There are differing versions of what happened to the Greek Orthodox nuns of Maaloula, who left their convent north of Damascus earlier this month. Some say the nuns are being held hostage by Islamic radicals. Others say they were under missile assault by the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad ...