Issouf Sanogo / AFP - Getty Images

People gather near an armored vehicle as French soldiers arrive in the city of Diabaly on Jan. 21. Today, French and Malian troops recaptured the Malian towns of Diabaly and Douentza from Islamist fighters, France's defense minister said. Diabaly has been the center of air strikes and fighting since being seized by Islamists a week ago.

Joe Penney / Reuters

French soldiers stand guard in front of charred pickup trucks in Diabaly, Mali, on Jan. 21.

Jerome Delay / AP

A Malian soldier checks identity papers in the center of Diabaly, Mali, approximately 320 miles north of the capital Bamako on Jan. 21. French and Malian troops were in the city whose capture by radical Islamists prompted the French military intervention.

Issouf Sanogo / AFP - Getty Images

A Malian soldier holds a French and Malian flag after arriving in the city of Diabaly on Jan. 21.

By Bate Felix, Reuters

French and Malian armored columns rolled into the towns of Diabaly and Douentza in central Mali on Monday after the al Qaida-linked rebels who had seized them fled into the bush to avoid air strikes. 

France said the advance was a significant step in its campaign to break Islamist fighters' grip over Mali's vast desert north, a presence raising fears of the region becoming a an African launchpad for international militant attacks.

The stakes in Mali rose dramatically last week when Islamist gunmen cited France's intervention as the reason for attacking a gas plant in neighboring Algeria, seizing hundreds of hostages and sowing fears the conflict would spill across borders. Continue reading the full story.

Issouf Sanogo / AFP - Getty Images

A girl looks at Islamists pickup trucks destroyed during aerial strikes in Diabaly, Mali, on Jan. 21. Today, French and Malian troops recaptured the Malian towns of Diabaly and Douentza from Islamist fighters, France's defense minister said.

Joe Penney / Reuters

Malian soldiers carry a box of ammunition after searching through debris at a Malian military camp in Diabaly, Mali, on Jan. 21. French air strikes hit the camp a week ago after it was taken over by al Qaeda-linked rebels.

Joe Penney / Reuters

Malian soldiers stand guard at a checkpoint in Diabaly, Mali, on Jan. 21. Diabaly was retaken by French and Malian forces after al Qaeda-linked rebels took over the town a week ago.

GRAPHIC WARNING: Contains images which some viewers may find disturbing.

Musadeq Sadeq / AP

A victim is transported to a hospital following a militant attack in Kabul, on Jan. 16.

S. Sabawoon / EPA

Afghan security officials inspect the scene of a suicide bomb attack that was targeting the office of the Afghan intelligence agency in Kabul on Jan. 16.

By Mirwais Harooni and Hamid Shalizi, Reuters

Six suicide bombers launched a coordinated attack on Afghanistan's spy agency in Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least two and wounding 22 others, Afghan officials said.

The attack started at around noon (0730 GMT) when the first assailant detonated a large car bomb near the entrance to the National Directorate of Security (NDS), the Kabul police chief's office said in a statement.

Five others strapped with explosives and driving a minivan were shot dead as they tried to enter the NDS compound, it said. Two NDS guards were killed by the first bomber and 22 others wounded, security and health officials said. Continue reading.

Shah Marai / AFP - Getty Images

An Afghan woman with her child move to safety as security personnel secure the site of a suicide attack near the Afghan intelligence agency headquarters in Kabul on Jan. 16.

Shah Marai / AFP - Getty Images

A truck driver peers through the broken windshield of his vehicle at the site of a suicide attack near the Afghan intelligence agency headquarters in Kabul on Jan. 16.

Ahmad Jamshid / AP

Security men with the Afghan intelligence services talk on their cell phones at the scene of a bombing in Kabul on Jan. 16.

Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

Aref Karimi / AFP - Getty Images

More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

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Previously on PhotoBlog:

• White House releases photo from President Obama's 2012 visit to Kabul, Afghanistan
• Children wait for winter aid in Afghanistan
• Snow, extreme weather threaten 2 million Afghans
• Fire sweeps through Kabul cloth market
• Afghan refugees prepare for another winter

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters run across a street in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus on Jan. 15, 2013.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter rest as another fighter aims his rifle in the Zamalka neighborhood of Damascus on Jan. 15, 2013.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters walk in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus on Jan. 15, 2013.

Slideshow: Syria uprising

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A look at the violence that has overtaken the country.

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As the Free Syrian Army continues to battle government forces in Damascus, Reuters photographer Goran Tomasevic has become one of the first independent photojournalists to reach rebel-held areas of the Syrian capital.

Syria's civil war is unleashing a "staggering humanitarian crisis" on the Middle East as hundreds of thousands of refugees flee violence including gang rape, the New York-based International Rescue Committee said on Monday.

-- Reuters

Related content:

• Goran Tomasevic's photos of the battle for Aleppo
• 'We escaped death': Syrian refugees struggle with cold, hunger and uncertainty
• Syria rebels form their own secret police
• Video: Dozens killed in Syria air attacks

Hussein Malla / AP

Syrian refugees stand under electricity cables outside their tents, at a temporary refugee camp, in the eastern Lebanese Town of Al-Faour near the border with Syria, on Jan. 8.

By The Associated Press

Two Syrian refugee encampments in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa valley were completely immersed in water Tuesday after the Litani river flooded and the water came pouring into tents. The flood forced dozens of Syrian refugees to leave in search for alternative shelter along with their water-soaked and muddied belongings.

In a Jordanian camp, Syrian refugees attacked aid workers with sticks and stones on Tuesday, frustrated after cold, howling winds swept away their tents and torrential rains flooded muddy streets. Continue reading.

Related: One million Syrians going hungry as fighting rages, says UN

Hussein Malla / AP

Syrian refugees wade through flooded water at a temporary refugee camp, in the eastern Lebanese Town of Al-Faour near the border with Syria, on Jan. 8.

Hussein Malla / AP

A Syrian refugee boy carries his belongings as he makes his way in flooded water at a temporary refugee camp, in the eastern Lebanese Town of Al-Faour near the border with Syria, on Jan. 8.

Mohammad Hannon / AP

Syrian refugees make their way on water and mud, at Zaatari Syrian refugee camp, near the Syrian border in Mafraq, Jordan, on Jan. 8. Syrian refugees in a Jordanian camp attacked aid workers with sticks and stones on Tuesday, frustrated after cold, howling winds swept away their tents and torrential rains flooded muddy streets overnight. Police said seven aid workers were injured.

Ali Jarekji / Reuters

A Syrian refugee fixes his tent after heavy rain at the Al-Zaatari refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, near the border with Syria, on Jan. 8

Hussein Malla / AP

Syrian refugee children watch television at a temporary shelter, after their tents flooded from the rain, at a refugee camp, in the eastern Lebanese Town of Al-Faour near the border with Syria, on Jan. 8.

Slideshow: Syria uprising

Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

A look at the violence that has overtaken the country.

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Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Assad gives defiant speech as Syrian rebels edge closer to Damascus
• Syrian children attend school in Aleppo despite continued bombardment, bloodshed
• Reuters cameraman wounded by Syrian sniper

Majdi Mohammed / AP

Surrounded by Israeli border police, Jewish settlers from the Esh Kodesh settlement outpost sit in a field in an attempt to prevent Palestinians from farming land in the northern West Bank, on Jan. 2. Both the settlers and Palestinians living in the area claim ownership of the disputed land.

Reports state that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas insists that talks cannot proceed without a construction freeze on Israeli West Bank settlements, a precondition that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects.

-- The Associated Press, European Pressphoto Agency

Alaa Badarneh / EPA

An Israeli soldier runs to stop a Jewish settler as she tries to prevent a Palestinian farmer from ploughing his fields near the West Bank village of Jaloud on Jan. 2.

Alaa Badarneh / EPA

Israeli soldiers prepare to remove a Jewish settler as she tries to stop a Palestinian farmer from ploughing his fields near the West Bank village of Jaloud near Nablus on Jan. 2.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Palestinians rally, celebrate as UN upgrades their status
• Palestinians clash with Israeli soldiers over prisoners
• Israel authorizes additional permits for Palestinian workers
• West Bank cities erupt in violent protests over escalating prices
• Jewish settlers voluntarily evacuate West Bank enclave

Muzaffar Salman / Reuters

A girl looks up to the sky after hearing the sound of shelling as she sits on a toy pony in the playground of Al-Tawheed school in Aleppo, Syria on Jan. 1.

Muzaffar Salman / Reuters

Children play in the playground of Al-Tawheed school in Aleppo on Jan. 1.

Muzaffar Salman / Reuters

Children play with a toy car in the playground of Al-Tawheed school in Aleppo on Jan. 1.

Muzaffar Salman / Reuters

Children sit on school benches at Al-Tawheed school in Aleppo on Jan. 1.

Muzaffar Salman / Reuters

Children attend a class at Al-Tawheed school in Aleppo on Jan. 1.

By Oliver Holmes, Reuters

Government war planes bombed opposition-held areas of Syria and President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels fought on the outskirts of the capital Damascus on New Year's Day on Tuesday.

A year ago, many diplomats and analysts predicted Assad would leave power in 2012. But despite international pressure and rebel gains, he has proved resilient.

The air force pounded Damascus's eastern suburbs on Tuesday and rebel-held areas of Aleppo, the second city and commercial capital, as well as several rural towns and villages, opposition activists said.

Related links:

• See more images of the conflict in Syria in PhotoBlog
• Syrian government forces go on attack on first day of year
• Reuters cameraman wounded by Syrian sniper

Slideshow: Syria uprising

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

A look back at the violence that has overtaken the country

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Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

Ayman al-Sahili, a Reuters cameraman, receives first aid after he was shot in the leg by a sniper loyal to Syrian President Bashar el-Assad while filming on the front line in Syria's north city of Aleppo on Dec. 31.

By Reuters

A Reuters television cameraman was shot in the leg and wounded while filming on the front line in Syria's northern city of Aleppo on Monday.

Ayman al-Sahili, a Libyan citizen working as part of a Reuters multi-media reporting team, was hit by a rifle bullet fired from a distance. He was treated in Syria and then driven across the border to Turkey. His injury was not life-threatening.

The ambulance transporting Sahili to Turkey encountered an air strike in Aleppo and maneuvered into an alley until it was safe to continue the journey.

Syria was by far the most dangerous country for journalists in 2012, with 28 killed there during the year according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a watchdog group. Read the full story.

Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

Ayman al-Sahili is carried on a stretcher after he was wounded by a sniper loyal to Syrian President Bashar el-Assad in Syria's north city of Aleppo on Dec. 31.

Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

Ayman al-Sahili is carried away in Syria's north city of Aleppo on Dec. 31.

Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter pulls a boy off the street as a sniper fires during fighting with forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar el-Assad in Aleppo city on Dec. 31.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Israeli airstrike hits media building in Gaza, killing leading militant
• Photographers join together to raise money for a fallen colleague
• Three photojournalists killed as Mexico drug cartels target media
• Colleagues mourn TV cameraman shot dead on Lebanon-Syria border
• The work of photographer Remi Ochlik, killed in Syria
• Attacks in Syria kill several, including French journalist

Slideshow: Syria uprising

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

A look back at the violence that has overtaken the country

Launch slideshow

Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter comes out of a tunnel which they said that the Syrian Army was using, at the front line in Aleppo on Dec. 26.

Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters take their position during a fight with forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at the front line in Aleppo on Dec. 26.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sent a senior diplomat to Moscow on Wednesday to discuss proposals to end the conflict convulsing his country made by international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, Syrian and Lebanese sources said.

Brahimi, who saw Assad on Monday and is planning to hold a series of meetings with Syrian officials and dissidents in Damascus this week, is trying to broker a peaceful transfer of power, but has disclosed little about how this might be done.

More than 44,000 Syrians have been killed in a revolt against four decades of Assad family rule, a conflict that began with peaceful protests but which has descended into civil war. Continue reading.

-- Reuters

Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter smiles in a bunker they use to take shelter from fighter jet air strikes in Aleppo on Dec. 26.

Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters watch smoke rising from buildings from their position during a fight with forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al Assad at the front line in Aleppo on Dec. 26.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Heartache at funeral for Syrian rebel fighter
• New Syria rebel chief tries to unite anti-regime militias for final push against Assad
• Cold weather comes to refugee camp in Azaz, Syria
• Destruction and resistance: Window into war-torn Aleppo
• Winter brings more troubles for displaced Syrians

Slideshow: Syria uprising

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

A look back at the violence that has overtaken the country

Launch slideshow

Athar Hussain / Reuters

Family members of Nasima Bibi, a female worker of an anti-polio drive campaign who was shot by gunmen, mourn at a hospital morgue in Karachi on Dec. 18.

Rehan Khan / EPA

A rescue worker ties the feet of one of the Polio vaccination workers at a mortuary.

Reuters -- Gunmen shot five health workers on an anti-polio drive in a string of attacks in Pakistan on Tuesday, officials said, raising fears for the safety of workers immunizing children against the crippling disease.

It was not clear who was behind the shootings, but Taliban insurgents have repeatedly denounced the anti-polio campaign as a Western plot.

Health officials suspended the immunization campaign in Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city of 18 million people. Continue reading.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Demonstrators get fired up at the chance to make their 'voices count' on Human Rights Day
• Pakistan's lone beer maker seeks overseas business
• Pakistani girls endeavor for education

Rizwan Tabassum / AFP - Getty Images

A Pakistani mother mourns over her daughter, who was killed while on the job as a polio vaccination worker, at a hospital morgue following an attack by gunmen in Karachi on Dec. 18. Gunmen on motorbikes shot dead five female Pakistani polio vaccination workers on Tuesday, police said, highlighting resistance to the country's immunization campaign. Four were killed in three different incidents in the sprawling port city and the fifth in the northwestern city of Peshawar, on the second day of a nationwide three-day drive against the disease, which is endemic in Pakistan.

Fareed Khan / AP

Pakistani rescue workers carry the dead body of a female polio worker, killed by unknown gunmen, at the morgue of local hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, on Dec. 18. Gunmen killed several people working on a government polio vaccination campaign in two different Pakistani cities on Tuesday, officials said. The attacks were likely an attempt by the Taliban to counter an initiative the militant group has long opposed.

Slideshow: Pakistan: A nation in turmoil

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.

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NBC News producer Ghazi Balkiz is traveling in northern Syria with NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel. He took these photographs in Aleppo within the past week.

Ghazi Balkiz / NBC News

Rebels in Aleppo's old city sit 20 yards from Syrian army troops. The fighting in these narrow streets and alleys has reached a stalemate with neither side advancing or retreating. Rebels at this location told NBC News that they were so close to the enemy that they sometimes talk with the Syrian army soldiers.

Ghazi Balkiz / NBC News

Aleppo's Dar Al-Shifa hospital stands in ruins next to the rubble of a building that used to be next to it. Members of the Free Syrian Army told NBC News that the hospital was targeted because it was treating anti-Assad forces. 

Rebels prevented NBC News from filming the outside of all functioning hospitals in the city because, they said, the government would use the images to target the buildings. They allowed NBC News to film Dar Al-Shifa because the hospital was no longer being used.

Ghazi Balkiz / NBC News

A nurse treats a Free Syrian Army fighter who had been shot by a sniper. The nurse uses a head torch because there is no electricity in the hospital. NBC News saw many wounded people being turned away from this hospital and sent to other clinics.

A doctor told NBC that the hospital was running low on all sorts of medicines, and had even performed an amputation without anesthetic.

Ghazi Balkiz / NBC News

A crater scars the yard outside a bombed school in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and commercial center. Some residents told NBC News that the school was targeted by President Bashar Assad’s forces in an effort to destroy all aspects of normal life and force people to turn against the rebels. Other residents said that the Syrian army bombed it because the rebels had taken shelter in it.

During past visits to Syria, NBC News saw evidence that the Syrian army was taking over schools and using them as temporary bases. 

Ghazi Balkiz / NBC News

A textbook with a picture of former Syrian President Hafez Assad, father of current President Bashar Assad, sits on the ground amid garbage and other debris in the schoolyard of the bombed school.

Ghazi Balkiz / NBC News

A doorway stands in Aleppo’s Old City, classified as a world heritage site by UNESCO. The ancient walls and alleyways of the city, once renowned as a tourist attraction, are now riddled with bullet holes. 

Related content:

• Syrian army defector: 'Violence has become part of my children's lives'
• Obama says US recognizes Syrian opposition coalition
• Who are the Syrian rebels?
• Slideshow: Behind Syrian rebel lines
• More photos from Syria on PhotoBlog
• Slideshow: Syria uprising

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Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters

Female Afghan National Police (ANP) officers aim their weapons during a drill at a training center near the German Bundeswehr army camp Marmal in Mazar-e-Sharif, northern Afghanistan on Dec. 11.

Female Afghan National Police (ANP) officers trained alongside men at a training center near the German Bundeswehr army camp of Marmal in Mazar-e-Sharif, northern Afghanistan on Tuesday. German police are mentoring the training program for ANP, as part of an ongoing International Security Assistance Force mission, according to Reuters. Woman make up only 9 percent of the police force, according to The New York Times, as many husbands and provincial commanders are uncomfortable with women in such a role.

Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters

A female ANP officer receives her weapon for a drill at a training center near the German Bundeswehr army camp Marmal in Mazar-e-Sharif, northern Afghanistan on Dec. 11.

Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters

A German police instructor talks to female ANP officers before a drill at a training center near the German Bundeswehr army camp Marmal in Mazar-e-Sharif, northern Afghanistan on Dec. 11.

Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters

Male and female ANP officers line up before a drill at a training center near the German Bundeswehr army camp Marmal in Mazar-e-Sharif, northern Afghanistan on Dec. 11.

Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters

Male and female ANP officers take part in a drill at a training center near the German Bundeswehr army camp Marmal in Mazar-e-Sharif, northern Afghanistan on Dec. 11.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Michigan gun enthusiasts protest arrest in Birmingham
• Piecing together a fractured Afghanistan one limb at a time
• Relentless Afghan conflict leaves traumatized generation
• Afghan women learn literacy through mobile phones
• Staying up-to-date on beauty tips, even in Afghanistan

Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

Launch slideshow