(Zaman Al Wasl)- The US-backed Syria democratic Forces took new array of villages from ISIS in the northern countryside of Raqqa on Thursday, pressing rapid advances the will encircle the group’s de facto capital in very few days. The Kurdish-led SDF seized control of  15  villages...

 The UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said Wednesday he was "not expecting a breakthrough" at peace talks this week but voiced hope that rival sides could build "momentum" towards a deal. "Am I expecting a breakthrough? No, I am not expecting a breakthrough," de Mistura told reporters...

The Syrian regime army and its allies took a small district on the outskirts of Aleppo from rebels on Wednesday, a war monitor and a military media unit run by Damascus ally Hezbollah said. The advance was the army's first from its lines in Aleppo city since rebels departed their enclave there...

A Syrian asylum seeker went on trial in Austria on Wednesday accused of killing 20 government soldiers fighting for President Bashar Assad near the city of Homs, a court spokesman said. Austria has jailed several people for "belonging to a terrorist organisation", a charge usually levelled...