(Council on Foreign Relations)- Syria’s civil war has grown ever more complex in the nearly six years since protesters first challenged the government. President Bashar al-Assad aims to reassert control nationwide, while predominantly Sunni Arab opposition forces seek to wrest the state from...

One night this past fall, a U.S. radar plane flying a routine pattern over Syria picked up a signal from an incoming Russian fighter jet. The American crew radioed repeated warnings on a frequency universally used for distress signals. The Russian pilot didn’t respond. Instead, as the U.S....

US special forces have led a "successful" operation targeting Islamic State leaders in Syria, the Pentagon has confirmed. Local reports suggest at least four coalition helicopters landed in the desert between the IS-held cities of Deir al Zor and Raqqa. Commandos then set up checkpoints and...

Iran's former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died Sunday after a decades-long career in the ruling elite, where his moderate views were not always welcome but his cunning guided him through revolution, war and the country's turbulent politics. The political survivor's life spanned the...