In a climactic battle at sea, an Iranian commander orders his forces to open fire on a much larger U.S. fleet, obliterating it with a barrage of rockets, some of which tear American flags from their masts. The scenario unfolds in "Battle of the Persian Gulf II," a new Iranian animated film...

ISIS fighters withdrew from much of the Syrian oasis city of Palmyra overnight, activists said Thursday, but government forces paused before entering its ravaged ancient ruins because of mines. Russian-backed Syrian troops pushed into a western neighborhood of the city late Wednesday...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel starts a two-day trip to Egypt and Tunisia Thursday, part of her push to limit migrant flows to Europe through North Africa, especially chaos-torn Libya. Since the 2011 overthrow of Moammer Gadhafi, Libya has lacked a national government, which has made it the...

Syria's main opposition group will not allow terrorism to be added to the agenda of sputtering UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva, its delegation head said Wednesday. "We will not deal with it, and if (UN mediator Staffan de Mistura) adds it in any time we will not deal with it or discuss...