Jane Arraf

The coronavirus pandemic has done what even war did not — bring Jordan's vital travel industry to a halt, and with it, the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of workers.

Giving to the poor is an essential part of the holy month, which began Friday, and with so many people thrown out of work, observers say it's particularly needed now.

Ramadan has begun for Muslims around the world. In the Middle East, the month of fasting and prayer is deeply altered by restrictions intended to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The small Jordanian kingdom is mounting an intense effort to control the coronavirus, as seen in a look at their crisis center.

In a country at war and already seeing widespread malnutrition, Yemen's troubles are compounded by the threat of the coronavirus.

Five years of fighting has left the country in ruins. "We are bracing for the worst," a U.N. official said. The country is already dealing with war, poverty and malnutrition.

The virus is upending burial traditions across cultures, from the washing of the body of a loved one in Iraq to the gathering of mourners in Israel.

The elaborate funeral pyres of India, the seven-day mourning among Jews in Israel and the sacred body washing of Muslims in Iraq, are all important rituals of death now in disarray amid the pandemic.

The Middle Eastern kingdom says 26 people tested positive for the virus after the large gathering, reportedly including a guest who flew in from Canada.

The Middle Eastern kingdom has forced most people to stay indoors, banned driving and even temporarily shut down grocery stores and pharmacies.

"It is a very, very sad thing when my son says to me, 'Mum, I don't want to die,'" says Etab Hadithi, a 41-year-old mother of two. "We are all suffering ... from a dangerous life."

Twenty miles from the Turkish border, families in the Syrian city of Ariha face an agonizing choice of whether to stay, hoping a ceasefire holds, or leave.

The struggles of one woman, who's a professional and a mother in Idlib, reflect the hardships faced by millions of Syrians as their city came under a new round of attacks.

A rare view from inside Idlib, Syria, where a fragile cease-fire is holding so far. One million displaced people have to decide whether they trust it enough to return to what is left of their homes.

On Friday, Russia, the Syrian regime's main military backer, and Turkey announced a cease-fire in northwest Syria.

A cease-fire in Syria's Idlib province, helped along by a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, appears to be holding.

The powerful protests, which led a prime minister to resign, are reeling since influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr turned on the movement.

Anti-government protests in Iraq have been nearly halted as security forces clamp down. Protesters confronting security forces are being killed or wounded almost every day.

The fallout from the U.S. drone strike on prominent Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani continues in Iraq, as a group of Iraqis marked 40 days of mourning with anti-U.S. protests.

Christians have been worrying since Turkish troops entered the area in November to attack Kurdish forces, after U.S. forces moved troops out of the way. Some Christians vow to stay no matter what.