THE Syrian regime likes to keep up the appearance of a constitutional state rather than one run by a family cabal girded by a ruthless security apparatus. So when diplomats tried to mediate between the regime and the opposition in Geneva in February, President...

  By George Hadad; Translation by Dani Murad For many years, regime’s massive defense and military budget have severely limited expenditures in other areas vital to the nation's social, economic, and educational progress because it relied immensely on...

The United States said on Wednesday it was let down by a unity pact agreed to between the Gaza-based Islamist group Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas' Palestine Liberation Organization and added it could make peace efforts difficult. "The timing was...

A Syrian youngster saved an elderly man from drowning near Istanbul’s Galata Bridge on April 21, as a local crowd watched and applauded the dramatic scene. A man had jumped into the Golden Horn after climbing the bridge railing, after which Rabaa...