Russia has called on Syrian President Bashar Assad to stop his bombing campaign while peace talks take place this week, but a political breakthrough on the six-year war remains unlikely, the UN's envoy said Wednesday. Staffan de Mistura's comments came on the eve of a new round of talks in...

Iraqi forces readied on Wednesday for an assault on Mosul airport after blitzing extremist positions in a renewed offensive to retake ISIS' emblematic stronghold. Elite forces reinforced positions that were taken since a fresh push south of Mosul was launched on Sunday while hundreds of...

Turkey will lift a historic ban on female officers wearing the Islamic headscarf in the officially secular country's armed forces, state media said Wednesday. The military was the final Turkish institution where women were prohibited from wearing the headscarf, after reforms by the...

Iraq's government-sanctioned paramilitary forces, made up mainly of Shiite militiamen, have launched a new push to capture villages west of the city of Mosul from ISIS militants. The forces' spokesman, Ahmed al-Asadi, said Wednesday that the villages are located southwest of the town of Tal...