A Saudi-sponsored conference meant to unify as many Syrian political and armed opposition factions as possible around a common agenda is convening in Abha within ten days, ahead of forthcoming negotiations with the Syrian regime, slated for January 1, 2016. Earlier reports had suggested Riyadh...

The Lebanese army has reportedly released the ex-wife of Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as part of a prisoner swap deal brokered by Qatar. Saja Dulaimi, who was married to the militant commander six years ago, has been handed over to the al-Qaeda linked Nusra Front group,...

Iraq's interior ministry blamed Iranian authorities on Monday for allowing tens of thousands of Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims to storm a border crossing and enter the country without visas, in a rare public confrontation between the two neighbors. The ministry said in a statement that...

By Barak Mendelsohn (Foreign Affairs)- The October bombing of a Russian airliner above Sinai , followed quickly by the November Paris attacks , created a broad international consensus that the Islamic State ( ISIS ) is on the march and must be stopped. The United States had...