(Reuters) - The growing power of the ultra-hardline Islamic State means the Syrian army is now having to confront a group it has until now been reluctant to attack for political reasons. The emergence of the al Qaeda offshoot, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and...

(Reuters) - Jordan's air force shot down an unidentified drone near the north-eastern border with Syria on Friday, a government spokesman said, the first such event announced by authorities since Syria's crisis began in 2011. Mohammad al-Momani told Reuters the "aerial target was...

(Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pressed regional leaders to nail down a Gaza ceasefire on Friday as the civilian death toll soared, and further violence loomed between Israelis and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem. With Israel and...

The UN has sent its first humanitarian aid convoy into rebel-held areas of Syria without government consent on Thursday, as UN chief Ban Ki-moon accused warring parties of denying assistance to millions as a tactic of war. "A convoy of nine trucks crossed into Syria today from...