Russia has called on Syrian President Bashar Assad to stop his bombing campaign while peace talks take place this week, but a political breakthrough on the six-year war remains unlikely, the UN's envoy said Wednesday. Staffan de Mistura's comments came on the eve of a new round of talks in...

Iraqi forces readied on Wednesday for an assault on Mosul airport after blitzing extremist positions in a renewed offensive to retake ISIS' emblematic stronghold. Elite forces reinforced positions that were taken since a fresh push south of Mosul was launched on Sunday while hundreds of...

The Syrian regime army and its allies took a small district on the outskirts of Aleppo from rebels on Wednesday, a war monitor and a military media unit run by Damascus ally Hezbollah said. The advance was the army's first from its lines in Aleppo city since rebels departed their enclave there...

A Syrian asylum seeker went on trial in Austria on Wednesday accused of killing 20 government soldiers fighting for President Bashar Assad near the city of Homs, a court spokesman said. Austria has jailed several people for "belonging to a terrorist organisation", a charge usually levelled...