The Japanese government is seeking information after reports a Japanese freelance journalist is being held hostage in Syria and has been threatened with execution, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Thursday. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said this week...

A close adviser to Syrian President Bashar al Assad said on Wednesday Damascus was ready to join U.N.-sponsored peace talks with its position bolstered by both Russian backing and the West's retreat from a hardline anti-Assad approach. Bouthaina Shaaban said her government...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian regime's barrel bombs have killed seven people from the same family in the southern province of Daraa, activists said Wednesday. Father, mother and their five children have lost their lives in Sheikh Miskeen after targeting their neighborhood with 4 barrel bombs. Syria...

Amnesty International said on Wednesday that nearly three months of Russian air raids in Syria have killed hundreds of civilians, many in targeted strikes that could constitute war crimes. Some strikes "appear to have directly attacked civilians or civilian objects by striking...