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How to strike back after deadly drone attack? US has many options, but must weigh consequences

President Joe Biden has made it clear the U.S. will strike back after a deadly drone attack killed three service members and wounded more than 40 at a small base in Jordan over the weekend. What isn't yet clear is who will be hit, where, and how hard.

Biden has a wide array of options, but the U.S. must walk a fine line: A weak response will do little to deter further attacks by Iran-backed militia groups, while a major assault risks expanding the turmoil in the Middle East and drawing America into a wider conflict.

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How genocide officially became a crime, and why Israel is accused of committing it

In the aftermath of World War II and the murder by Nazi Germany of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust, the world united around a now-familiar pledge: Never again.

A key part of that lofty aspiration was the drafting of a convention that codified and committed nations to prevent and punish a new crime, sometimes called the crime of crimes: genocide.

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Israel vows to fight Hamas all way to Gaza southern border, fueling tension with Egypt

Israel faces a growing risk of damaging its peace with neighboring Egypt as its military pushes the offensive against Hamas further south in the Gaza Strip. Already, the two sides are in a dispute over a narrow strip of land between Egypt and Gaza.

Israeli leaders say that to complete their destruction of Hamas, they must eventually widen their offensive to Gaza's southernmost town, Rafah, and take control of the Philadelphi Corridor, a tiny buffer zone on the border with Egypt that is demilitarized under the two countries' 1979 peace accord.

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Here's what to know about Sweden's bumpy road toward NATO membership

Sweden's bid to join NATO — held up for almost two years — cleared its next-to-last hurdle when Turkey's parliament gave its go-ahead to let the Nordic country into the alliance.

All existing NATO countries must give their approval before a new member can join the alliance, and Hungary is now the only member that hasn't given Sweden the green light.

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How much influence does Iran have over Hezbollah, proxies?

By Sara Harmouch, American University and Nakissa Jahanbani, United States Military Academy West Point

From attacks by rebels in the Red Sea to raids in northern Israel and the Oct. 7, 2023, assault by Hamas, Western analysts have pointed a finger of blame toward Iran.

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Iran displays missile capability amid Gaza war

Iran's strikes this week in Pakistan, Iraq and Syria have brought back into the spotlight its ballistic missile program, which has ground forward over the past 40 years despite sanctions.

On Tuesday, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hit what it called "a spy headquarters" in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region and "terrorist" targets in Syria.

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Could it escalate? A look at what is behind Iran and Pakistan's airstrikes

This week's airstrikes between Iran and Pakistan that killed at least 11 people mark a significant escalation in fraught relations between the neighbors.

Long-running, low-level insurgencies on either side of the border have frustrated both countries, and the apparent targets of the strikes — Iran's on Tuesday and Pakistan's response on Thursday — were insurgent groups whose goal is an independent Baluchistan for ethnic Baluch areas in Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

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Who is Jaish al-Adl, the Sunni group that Iran targeted on Pakistani soil?

Iran's airstrike targeting an alleged outlawed separatist group in the Pakistani border province of Baluchistan has jeopardized relations between the two neighbors and potentially raised tensions in a region already roiled by Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The South Asian country recalled its ambassador to Iran on Wednesday in protest of the unprecedented attack, though both sides appeared wary of provoking the other. A military response from cash-strapped Pakistan is unlikely because the country's missile systems are primarily deployed along the eastern border to respond to potential threats from India.

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Dehumanizing Israeli rhetoric, a key component to South Africa's genocide case

Fighting "human animals." Making Gaza a "slaughterhouse." "Erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the earth."

Such inflammatory rhetoric is a key component of South Africa's case accusing Israel of genocide at the U.N. world court, a charge Israel denies. South Africa says the language — in comments by Israeli leaders, soldiers and entertainers about Palestinians in Gaza since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack sparked war — is proof of Israel's intent to commit genocide.

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How watermelon, symbol of solidarity with Palestine, spread around the planet

Over the past three months, on banners and T-shirts and balloons and social media posts, one piece of imagery has emerged around the world in protests against the Israel-Hamas war: the watermelon.

The colors of sliced watermelon — with red pulp, green-white rind and black seeds — are the same as those on the Palestinian flag. From New York and Tel Aviv to Dubai and Belgrade, the fruit has become a symbol of solidarity, drawing together activists who don't speak the same language or belong to the same culture but share a common cause.

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