The lower house of Russia’s parliament, the State Duma, voted on Thursday to ratify a treaty of partnership between Russia and North Korea. Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed the mutual defense pact during Putin’s visit to Pyongyang in June....

The UN said Wednesday that the international community urgently needs to focus on Syria amid escalating conflicts in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Gaza and Lebanon.  "Syria demands our collective attention," UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said at a UN Security Council...

Three Lebanese Army soldiers were killed in an Israeli airstrike while attempting to rescue injured people from the aggressive forces' earlier attack on southern Lebanon, according to an official statement issued Thursday morning. The Israeli attack is the second deadliest on the Lebanese Army...

Israel launched strikes on the Syrian capital Damascus and a military site near the western city of Homs on Thursday, the Syrian defense ministry said, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken toured the region pushing for a halt to fighting. The Israeli strikes targeted the central Damascus...