NATO defence ministers agreed Wednesday to expand the alliance's training mission in Iraq, responding to US President Donald Trump's demand for more action from allies in the Middle East. The idea is for NATO, which runs a 500-strong mission to train Iraqi forces, to take on personnel from...

Israel has pitched the controversial US Middle East peace plan as an offer for a future, "pragmatic" Palestinian leader, saying it was always going to be rejected by president Mahmud Abbas. But Israeli officials may be disappointed if they think an Abbas successor will look more favourably...

 Russia on Wednesday has killed four civilians in fresh airstrikes on northwestern Idlib province, topping the death toll to 50 in the past 48 hours, activists said. The heavy aerial bombing on last rebel stronghold came as Syrian regime forces pushed on with their offensive,...

In northeastern Syria, prisons and detention camps hold thousands of men, women and children whose lives are in limbo nearly a year after the final defeat of Islamic State to which they once belonged. The area around Qamishli city is mainly controlled by Kurdish fighters who helped defeat...