( The New Arab )- Jordan became the first Arab country to begin issuing a new type of work permit to Syrian refugees, the United Nations labour agency said on Wednesday. Work permits for refugees used to be tied to specific employers who applied on behalf of workers to fill specific positions,...

The Syrian army and its allies seized control of at least 30 km (19 miles) of Syria's border with Jordan from rebels in an attack on Thursday, two rebel groups and a Syrian military source said. A military media unit run by Hezbollah, a close ally of the Syrian government, said the army and...

 U.S.-backed forces now have Islamic State fighters surrounded in central Raqqa, a Syrian Kurdish commander said, but he predicted that driving the militants out could take up to four months. "We've cleared about half of Old Raqqa ... and we're advancing on all axes," said Haval Gabar,...

An Iranian blogger for an Israeli news site arrived in Israel on Thursday from Turkey where she faced possible deportation back to the Islamic republic, The Times of Israel website reported. The 32-year-old woman, Neda Amin, blogs for the Persian-language edition of The Times of Israel....