(CNN)In the central Syrian desert, an oil field has become a makeshift torture chamber. An unarmed man writhes in the dust, howling in pain. Four men in military fatigues pin him down and smash his hands and feet with a sledgehammer. As he cries out for help, they taunt him in Russian,...

Standing on a podium on Saturday to take an oath of office, Bashar al-Assad declared himself the only man who could rebuild Syria. His first foreign guest, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, seemed to enhance his claim, endorsing the president’s win in a May poll described by...

  Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Tuesday that his country will exact "a painful price" from anyone who tries to harm it after two rockets from Lebanon were fired into Israel. In a public speech in northern Israel, Bennett said Lebanon was "on the verge of collapse,"...

(AP) — A breakaway Palestinian faction that carried out headline-grabbing attacks against Israel in the 1970s and 1980s has named a veteran new leader after its longtime founder died, the group said Sunday. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command said Talal...