President Ashraf Ghani is being pushed to the sidelines as the Taliban ignores his overtures for peace and negotiates instead with his friends, and enemies, over the future of Afghanistan. From Doha to Moscow, the insurgents are meeting an array of envoys with competing interests in...

Hezbollah’s secretary-general castigated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday for claiming that Iran controls Lebanon's new government through his group. The new Lebanese government consists of political forces, and Hezbollah is part of this formation, Hassan Nasrallah said...

One Palestinian was martyred and one wounded when Israeli forces opened fire Monday on two Palestinians on a motorcycle close to a checkpoint in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent officials. In a statement the group said the body of the Palestinian was received by Red...

Some 150 Syrians including women and children left Turkey on Monday to return to their homeland, recently liberated from terrorists by Turkish anti-terror operations. The Syrians, who had fled the civil war in their country for refuge in Turkey, got the necessary documents to return to...

Syrian regime forces and Iran-backed terrorist groups violated the Sochi ceasefire agreement several times last month by striking opposition positions in Idlib’s de-escalation zone, reportedly leaving dozens of civilians dead. According to the White Helmets civil-defense agency, regime...

The EU warned Tehran over its ballistic missile programme and interference in the Syria conflict Monday, while welcoming a new mechanism to trade with Iran while bypassing US sanctions. In a long-awaited statement on Iran that has been the subject of more than a week of wrangling in...

The United States urged other countries Monday to bring home hundreds of Islamic State sympathizers captured in Syria, a delicate issue for allies such as France as Washington withdraws troops. After allies grappled for weeks on what to do with the extremists left in Syria, the United...

Iraqi President Barham Salih said on Monday that President Donald Trump did not ask Iraq’s permission for U.S. troops stationed there to “watch Iran.” Speaking at a forum in Baghdad, Salih was responding to a question about Trump’s comments to CBS about how he would ask troops stationed in...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday accused the United States of maintaining a "silence" on the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who killed by a Saudi hit team in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate. "I cannot understand America's silence... We want everything to be...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said his government maintained "low-level" contact through its spy agency with the Syrian regime despite being one of its most fervent critics Ankara fell out with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad following the 2011 crackdown on...

The U.S. would return its forces to Syria if Daesh makes a comeback in the war-torn country, President Donald Trump said Sunday. Asked about a possible resurgence of the terror group, Trump told CBS News “we’ll come back if we have to.” “We have very fast airplanes, we have very good...

Egyptian lawmakers on Sunday tabled proposed constitutional changes that would allow President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to extend his rule beyond 2022, two of them said. The bill submitted to speaker Ali Abdel Aal calls for several amendments to the constitution, including on the duration of...

A Palestinian died Sunday from gunshot wounds inflicted by Israeli soldiers during violent protests along the Gaza Strip's border, the enclave's health ministry said. Ahmed Abu Jamal, 30, was wounded during clashes in Beit Lahiya in the north of Gaza on January 29, said ministry spokesman...

The U.S.-led coalition combatting Daesh terrorists in Syria hit a regime post on Sunday and wounded two soldiers. Colonel Sean Ryan told the U.S. media that the coalition forces were fired by a regime post stationed in the western bank of the Euphrates River. The coalition forces...

Syrian state media, citing a military source, said U.S.-led coalition jets hit a Syrian army position near the battle front against Islamic State pocket late on Saturday, causing damage and injuries. A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, which is fighting a last Islamic State pocket east...

On a rooftop near the front line with the Islamic State group's collapsing caliphate in eastern Syria, a US-backed fighter and his comrades sip tea as they await orders to restart the battle. The Syrian Democratic Forces halted their ground assault on IS's final shreds of territory last...

The Israeli Defense Ministry on Sunday announced it has begun building the overground part of barrier around the blockaded Gaza Strip.  The Defense Ministry, in a statement said, the construction started on Thursday.  “The barrier will be 65 kilometers long and will be...

Egypt's largest bloc in parliament, Support Egypt Coalition, on Sunday submitted a request to the assembly to amend the country's constitution, according to the official MENA news agency.  Abdelhadi al-Qasabi, head of the bloc which holds 317 seats in the 596-member assembly, lodged...

Turkey will provide around $5 billion in loans for the reconstruction of Iraq, the foreign minister said on Sunday. “We made the biggest commitment to Iraq,” Mevlut Cavusoglu told a meeting organized by the Beyoglu Municipality in Istanbul. “We will provide $5 billion credit,” Cavusoglu...

Delegations from Palestinian resistance groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad left the Gaza Strip for Cairo on Sunday for talks with Egyptian officials.  Led by group leader Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas delegation crossed the Rafah border crossing into Egyptian territory, a Palestinian security...