Families of detainees in Syrian prisons are routinely forced to bribe officials to be allowed to visit them or to win their release, according to a report that reveals the vast scale of extortion in the detention system. The sums involved – rising as high as £2m in one jail - are likely...

The US reversed a decision to bring an aircraft carrier home from the Gulf Sunday, with the Pentagon saying that due to "recent threats" by Iran the USS Nimitz would stay in position. The Nimitz has been patrolling Gulf waters since late November, but in a statement issued on December 31,...

In its statement, the Lebanese Army said the warehouse was owned by a Lebanese family, but didn’t say whether it was used for smuggling fuel. A massive fire broke out on Sunday in a warehouse where fuel and gas canisters were stored along the border between Lebanon and Syria, injuring...

Chanting anti-American slogans, thousands of Iraqis converged on a landmark square in central Baghdad on Sunday to commemorate the anniversary of the killing of a powerful Iranian general and a top Iraqi militia leader in a U.S. drone strike. Roads leading to Tahrir Square were closed off...