Momentum that has swept Syrian rebels to a series of swift victories over President Bashar Assad appears to have slowed in two major attacks aimed at capturing the cities of Aleppo in the north and Deraa in the south. The reasons include a determined military effort by the government and its...

(Reuters)-   The latest series of WikiLeaks cables have once again embarrassed the Saudi government and forced it on to the diplomatic defensive. The cables, over half a million documents said to have come from the Saudi Foreign Ministry, contain titillating details about how Riyadh...

 By Menekse Toyay  The military agreement signed by Turkey and Qatar in December, whose details became public this month, has symbolic and material implications for security in the Gulf region. Some experts say the impetus behind the agreement were the conflicts in Iraq, Syria,...

The United States and its allies are weighing the possibility that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, under growing military pressure, may soon narrow his focus on defense of more limited areas of the country, the top U.S. general said on Wednesday. Losses in the north, east and south have put...