Razan Zaitouneh, a prominent Syrian human rights lawyer who went into hiding for her widely publicized work on atrocities committed by President Bashar al-Assad's forces, has been kidnapped in a rebel-held town, activists said on Tuesday. Zaitouneh is a key figure in the...

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern over the targeting of people based on their religion, community or ethnic affiliation in Syria, after a group of nuns went missing from the town of Maaloula. Ban, in a statement released Monday, said he "remains deeply troubled by the...

The Palestinian Hamas movement has "resumed" relations with Iran after a temporary falling out over the Syrian conflict, a senior member of the Islamist movement said Monday. "Relations between Hamas and Iran have resumed," Mahmud al-Zahar told reporters at a news conference in Gaza,...

With its decades-old US alliance strained over the Syria war and a nuclear deal with Iran, Saudi Arabia is calling on the Gulf monarchies to unite for their own self-defence. US Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel has assured Gulf states that the agreement struck between major powers and...