As he bid farewell to Washington in January 2021, deeply unpopular and diminished, Donald Trump was already hinting at a comeback.
"Goodbye. We love you. We will be back in some form," Trump told supporters at Joint Base Andrews, where he'd arranged a 21-gun salute as part of a military send-off before boarding Air Force One. "We will see you soon."

Donald Trump will return to the U.S. presidency at a time of unprecedented conflict and uncertainty in the Middle East. He has vowed to fix it.
But Trump's history of strong support for Israel coupled with his insistence during the campaign that the war in Gaza should end quickly, the isolationist forces in the Republican party and his penchant for unpredictability raise a mountain of questions over how his second presidency will affect the region at this pivotal moment.

The U.S. Election Day is nearly upon us. In a matter of hours, the final votes in the 2024 presidential election will be cast.
In a deeply divided nation, the election is a true toss-up between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.

More than a month into its war with Israel, Hezbollah says it is ready for a truce, but there are limits to what it can accept after suffering devastating attacks, analysts say.
The Iran-backed group said Wednesday it would accept a ceasefire, if offered and if the terms were "suitable," acknowledging it had been dealt "painful" blows by Israel.

Cattle farmer Khairallah Yaacoub refused to leave south Lebanon despite a year of Hezbollah-Israel clashes. When full-scale war erupted, he and four others were stranded in their ruined border village.
Yaacoub is among a handful of villagers in the war-battered south who have tried to stay put despite the Israeli onslaught.

For weeks, Fatima Zayyoun has tended to her daughter Ivana, whose bandaged fragile body is in a Beirut hospital after an Israeli strike near their home engulfed her in flames.

The United States and other mediators are ramping up efforts to halt the wars in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, circulating new proposals to wind down the regional conflict during the Biden administration's final months.
Negotiations on both fronts have been stalled for months and none of the warring parties have shown any sign of backing down from their demands.

Ayman Jaber's memories are rooted in every corner of Mhaibib, the village in southern Lebanon he refers to as his "habibti," the Arabic word for "beloved." The root of the village's name means "the lover" or "the beloved."
Reminiscing about his childhood sweetheart, the 45-year-old avionics technician talks about how the young pair would meet in a courtyard near his uncle's house.

Dany Alwan stood shaking as rescue workers pulled remains from piles of rubble where his brother's building once stood.
An Israeli airstrike destroyed the three-story residential building in the quiet Christian village of Aito a day before. His brother, Elie, had rented out its apartments to a friend who'd fled here with relatives from their hometown in southern Lebanon under Israeli bombardment.

A Lebanese family was holding a Sunday gathering when an Israeli strike toppled their building.
It was Sunday, family time for most in Lebanon, and Hecham al-Baba was visiting his sister. She insisted he and their older brother stay for lunch, hoping to prolong the warm gathering in stressful times.
