(the Daily Star)-  The UN Security Council on Monday extended the mandate of a panel investigating chemical attacks in Syria for two weeks to allow time to negotiate a one-year renewal of the probe. The council unanimously backed a US-drafted resolution on the short extension as a...

 The United States accused the Syrian government Friday of using "starvation as a weapon of war" -- a war crime under the Geneva Conventions -- stepping up the rhetoric against Bashar Assad and his Russian backers. Rejecting the Kremlin claims that attacks on Aleppo have stopped, a U.S....

The Iraqi army was trying on Thursday to reach a town south of Mosul where Islamic State has reportedly executed dozens to deter the population against any attempt to support the U.S.-led offensive on the jihadists' last major city stronghold in Iraq. Eleven days into what is expected to be...

Russia on Wednesday expressed reservations about a US proposal to extend a UN investigation of chemical weapons use in Syria for a year after the panel blamed Damascus's forces for three gas attacks. The UN Security Council is to discuss on Thursday a US-drafted measure that would allow the...