President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday secured parliament's unanimous backing to launch air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria, paving the way for imminent Russian military intervention in its closest Middle East ally. Russia has already sent military experts to a...

Atl east 36 civilians on Wednesday have been Killed in first-time Russian air strikes on rebel-held towns of the northern countryside of Homs city, activists and a monitoring group said. Activists reported death of 17 people, including children and women, in Talbiseh town, 11 people,...

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday branded U.S. support for rebel forces in Syria as illegal and ineffective, saying U.S.-trained rebels were leaving to join Islamic State with weapons supplied by Washington. In an interview with U.S. networks recorded ahead of a meeting...

Some 500 migrants were rescued in seven operations launched over the weekend in the Mediterranean, the Italian coastguard said. A spokesman told AFP Sunday that four of the rescue operations had already wound up but the others were ongoing. "Saturday was quiet on the whole but now there...