The US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, who has been Washington's main pointman in efforts to end the war, working with opposition leaders battling President Bashar al-Assad, stepped down Friday. "Robert Ford is retiring from the foreign service today after nearly 30 years of...

Russian aircraft carrying nearly 2,000 suspected troops have landed at a military airbase near the regional capital of the restive Crimean peninsula, a top Ukrainian official has said, accusing Moscow of an "armed invasion". "Thirteen Russian aircraft landed at the airport of...

Armed men took control of two airports in the Crimea region on Friday in what Ukraine's government described as an invasion and occupation by Russian forces, raising tension between Moscow and the West. Russia's Black Sea fleet, which is based in the region, denied its forces were...

Fighters from an al Qaeda splinter group, the Islamic State of  Iraq  and the Levant (ISIL), withdrew from a rebel-held Syrian town near the border with  Turkey  on Friday, a monitoring group said. Months of rebel infighting in and around Azaz, 5 km (3...