BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq asked the U.S. to launch airstrikes to beat back militants holding vast territories across its north, a decision Washington mulled over as insurgents pressed an assault on the country's largest oil refinery. U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday briefed...

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Wednesday terrorism will strike back against the West and other countries that "supported" attacks in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East. Ever since a revolt broke out in March 2011, Assad has blamed all violence in Syria on a...

* Redeployment could have implications for Syria fighting * Resident say clashes calmed in some areas of Damascus * Iraqi fighters have helped Assad turn tide of war BEIRUT/BAGHDAD, June 18 (Reuters) - Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim militias fighting in Syria have started...

By Alexandra Hudson BERLIN (Reuters) - Battle-hardened jihadists returning from Syria's civil war are no longer an 'abstract threat' but a 'deadly danger' to Europe, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Wednesday. An estimated 2,000 Europeans, including some 320...