The Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church Ignatius Zakka Iwas, the leader of one of world's oldest Christian sects, has died. He was 80. Syrian state news agency SANA said Iwas was admitted into a German hospital for treatment Feb. 20. He died on Friday in Germany after...

Gun battles have erupted again in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, with gunmen firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. At least three people were killed in clashes overnight linked to the civil war in neighbouring Syria, Lebanese police sources said. Two gunmen...

Lebanon's parliament gave a newly-formed cabinet a vote of confidence on Thursday, ending almost a year of political deadlock during which the country has been pulled further into the civil war in neighboring  Syria . The approval - by 96 of the 101 parliamentarians who...

Syrian soldiers have raised the national flag on the battlements of a 900-year-old Crusader castle after a three-month siege that ended on Thursday when rebel fighters fled. The recapture of Crac des Chevaliers, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a real and symbolic victory over...