The recent admission into hospital of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdelaziz has raised questions about the political succession in the oil-rich Gulf state. The 90-year-old ruler has been diagnosed with pneumonitis, making it necessary for hospital doctors to provide him with a tube to...

Al-Nusra Front has been a powerful player in the Syrian civil war for a long time now, and now al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria has become the dominant group in Idlib.  Earlier this month, it seized territory and weapons from rebel forces in the northwestern province. That...

The Saudi government, like the rest of the oil exporting countries, has lost 50 percent of its daily revenues ever since the price of the barrel dropped below $60. This shocker is only momentary. The Saudi government is wealthy enough to compensate for the shortfall and reduce some...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Deep into its fourth year of conflict, Syria looks less and less like a state than a patchwork of warring fiefdoms, making outside powers more reluctant to intervene even as it becomes more destabilizing for the region. The...