An Israeli civilian is being held against his will by the Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israel said on Thursday. Hamas, the Palestinian enclave's dominant faction, declined to comment. Israel suspects militants in Gaza would use its citizens to bargain for the release of Palestinians...

A Syrian Kurdish militia on Wednesday recaptured a town that had been stormed by Islamic State fighters earlier this week north of the jihadist group's base of operations in Raqqa city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Islamic State fighters had stormed the town...

Syrian rebels on Wednesday have taken control of al-Hamidiya village in the southern countryside of Aleppo province, activists told Zaman al-Wasl. Rebels, also, took control of al-Qarea checkpoint near strategic Khanaser town after fierce fighting with Syrian regime forces and allied Shiite...

( Syria Direct )- More than 50 regime barrel-bomb and conventional airstrikes pummeled rebel-held villages in Daraa province Tuesday after the launch of a renewed Southern Storm rebel offensive to wrest the provincial capital from regime control one day before, reported the pro-opposition “We...