Thousands of people have fled a rebel-held town in Syria  after it was bombed and shelled in an operation that has prompted fears of a major assault by ground troops, the  United Nations  said on Friday. The fighting came as peace talks in Geneva neared the end...

IS PRESIDENT Obama creeping toward a rethinking of his Syria policy? Some words he spoke Tuesday raised our hopes. At a news conference with French President François Hollande, Mr. Obama described the Syrian conflict, which he dismissed five months ago as “ someone else’s civil...

At least 17 civilians and soldiers were killed in car and roadside bomb attacks across Iraq on Wednesday, police and medics said. No group claimed responsibility for any of the attacks, but Sunni Islamists and other insurgents have been regaining ground in a violent campaign to...

Lebanon's army on Wednesday arrested a senior al Qaeda-linked militant described by security sources as a "mastermind of car bombs" that have targeted several Shi'ite areas in recent months. Security sources said the arrest of Naim Abbas could help uncover radical jihadi cells in...