AT CHECKPOINTS across the country, Iraq’s many and various security forces cheer Russia’s arrival as an answer to their failure to turn the tide after 16 months battling the jihadists of Islamic State (IS) in north-western Iraq. “The US and its coalition did nothing,” says a...

Italy said Saturday that UNESCO has approved its suggestion to have the United Nation’s famous Blue Helmets protect heritage sites around the world from attacks by Islamist militants. “UNESCO has said yes to the Cultural Blue Helmets,” Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said in a...

Iran is to step up its military support for the Syrian regime in the form of advice on fighting terrorism, Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said Saturday. Abdollahian, quoted by state television, denied that his country had fighters on the ground in the Syrian conflict....

(Translation by Yusra Ahmed) Alwaer neighborhood of the central city of Homs has almost disappeared from the scene of the Syrian revolution, especially after the beginning of the Russian attacks on countrysides of Homs, Hama, Idlib and Aleppo two weeks ago, in conjunction with the start of...