U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday that Syria had dispersed its warplanes in recent days and that it retained chemical weapons, an issue he said would have to be taken up diplomatically. The United States launched dozens of missiles earlier this month against a Syrian air base...

( The Guardian )- Syrian families are naming their children Putin as a mark of gratitude for the Russian president’s support for his Syrian counterpart in the six-year war, a government official has said. The Syrian ambassador in Moscow, Riyad Haddad, said Bashar al-Assad had also made...

Russia has told the United States it regrets Washington's opposition to letting its inspectors take part in an investigation into a chemical weapons attack in Syria earlier this month, the foreign ministry said Friday. It said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone to U.S. Secretary...

( New York Times )- The world seems awash in chaos and uncertainty, perhaps more so than at any point since the end of the Cold War. Authoritarian-leaning leaders are on the rise, and liberal democracy itself seems under siege. The post-World War II order is fraying as fighting spills across...