(Reuters) - Hardline Islamists fighting side-by-side with groups backed by the United States have made gains in northern Syria in recent weeks while showing rare unity, which some fear may be short-lived. An Islamist alliance calling itself Army of Fatah, a reference to the...

When the late King Abdullah appointed his half-brother, Moqren bin Abdul Aziz, as deputy crown prince last year, he added an unusual rider. The decree stated: “Nobody can change this decision”. Well, his successor King Salman just has. I wrote at the time of the decree : “ There...

Hundreds of Syrian rebels are approaching the start of U.S. training to battle Islamic State, without knowing whether or how Washington would come to their aid on the battlefield and as other rebel leaders say the proxy army could spark opposition infighting. The U.S. plan to train and...

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has officially announced the end of its "Decisive Storm" operation in Yemen and the beginning of a new operation, given the optimistic name "Renewal of Hope". The decision comes after weeks of air strikes targeting key military bases, military supply capabilities,...

The leader of the most powerful rebel group operating around Damascus, Zahran Alloush, has arrived in Istanbul as regional efforts to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad intensify. “[Alloush] will hold meetings with rebels and other personalities, and their goal is to lift the siege...

(By Dr. Awad Al Sulaiman; Translation by Yusra Ahmed) “Complete destruction of insurgent-held areas in general and Aleppo in particular, supported by Suadi Arabia, Qatar, is what I demand in the name of Syrian people” Ahmad Hassoun, Syria's Grand Mufti Ahmed Badr al-Din al-Hassoun said...

(By Ali Eid; Translation by Yusra Ahmed) Hauran, southern region of Syria, has never been a host for extreme or deviated principles, as people there do not need militants to teach them Islamic and religious principles. However, what is going on these days between the Free...

 Western-backed fighters in southwestern  Syria , the one part of the country where they are strong, have spoken out this week against al Qaeda, a sign of friction that could lead to new fighting among opponents of President Bashar al-Assad. Four years into a civil war,...

Beirut (AFP) - Across the Middle East, fierce rivalry between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran is heightening sectarian tensions, even in conflicts that analysts say are primarily political. But analysts say their rivalry is driven largely by politics, with sectarian sentiment more a...

Here is a new Iraqi paradox: whatever progress the Shi’ite Muslim-dominated Baghdad government makes against jihadi insurgents occupying large swathes of north-western Iraq, it is simultaneously undermining what is left of the Iraqi state, whose frailty and malfunctions created the...

  Absi Smeisem By Absi Smeisem The city of Idlib has fallen completely under the control of opposition fighters as the armed Syrian opposition factions yesterday tightened their grip on neighbourhoods in Idlib and managed to enter the city centre....

By Bushra al-Maqrari (al-Araby al-Jadeed)- Yemeni optimism was short-lived after President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi escaped house arrest in Sanaa and travelled to Aden. Hadi's actions shook up the political scene stagnant since the Houthi...

By Abdulllah Al Ghadawi; Translaiton by Yusra Ahmed (Zamnan Al Wasl)- Speculations are mounting in regard to the possible opening of a new page in the relations between Saudi Arabia and Turkey after the King Salman Bin Abdul-Aziz assumed power in the...

By Ora Szekely (Reuters)- Over the last year, Islamic State has presented the rest of the world with a steady stream of atrocities: An attempted genocide against the Yazidi people in Iraq, massacres and bombings of Shi’ite civilians in Syria, and gruesome executions of...

(Reuters) - The images match the worst of Islamic State's atrocities: black-clad fighters and an English-speaking jihadist taunt the West before slaughtering their victims in orange jumpsuits on a Libyan beach. Their masked leader turns to the Mediterranean and points a...

The grisly killing of Jordanian pilot Mouath al-Kasaesbeh by burning him alive sent shock waves across the globe and brought heaps of condemnation from political and religious leaders of all stripes against the new heights of macabre of which Islamic State proved capable . Horror...

(Reuters) - Islamic State's defeat in Kobani and other recent setbacks in Syria suggest the group is under strain but far from collapse in the Syrian half of its self-declared caliphate. Islamic State's high-profile defeat by Kurdish militia backed by U.S.-led air strikes...

As Jordan mourns the young pilot who was burned alive by ISIS , questions are mounting over what the government knew about the fate of Lt. Muath al-Kasasbeh — and more important, when. Rumors of al-Kasasbeh's death have been circulating for weeks....

By Abdullah Al Ghadawi; Translation by Yusra Ahmed (Zaman Al Wasl)- The mutual relations between Saudi Arabia and Turkey have cautiously started recovering, especially after the death of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz when the Turkish President Recep...

By Angelina Jolie KHANKE, Iraq — I HAVE visited Iraq five times since 2007, and I have seen nothing like the suffering I’m witnessing now. I came to visit the camps and informal settlements where displaced Iraqis and Syrian refugees are desperately seeking shelter from the fighting...