A barrage of rockets fired from Lebanon targeted Israel, a day after clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians inside Islam's third-holiest site drew warnings of retaliation. Israel's army said it had "identified 34 rockets that were fired from Lebanese territory into Israeli territory" and that 25 were intercepted by Israeli...
Iran hands down death sentences to two over Shiraz shrine attack
TEHRAN, IRAN - An Iranian court sentenced two people to death over an October attack on a shrine in the southern city of Shiraz that cost over a dozen lives, the judiciary said Saturday. The pair were convicted of assisting in "corruption on earth, armed rebellion and acting against national security",...
Iraq landslide disaster throws spotlight on informal shrines
Hundreds of smaller shrines opened up in Iraq -- many outside the purview of the religious authorities, which are often reluctant to proactively check building standards for fear of offending believers. The Shiite revival was driven not by institutions but by "pilgrim practices which evolve from the grassroots, from the...
Iraqi boy evades security, boards Iran-bound plane
Iraqi aviation authorities have been left red-faced after a 10-year-old boy on his own boarded an Iran-bound plane from a busy airport in a Shiite shrine city after several security checks.
Iran buries second cleric killed in shrine stabbing attack
Iran on Friday buried a second Shiite Muslim cleric killed in a suspected jihadist attack at a revered shrine in the country's north, state television reported. Sadegh Darai, a middle-ranking cleric, died Thursday from wounds sustained in the stabbing attack earlier this week in Mashhad, Iran's second-largest city. Another cleric,...
