Bashar al-Assad's forces and allied Lebanese militia Hezbollah stepped up attacks on Syria's strategic border town of Yabroud on Saturday, activists said, in apparent preparation for a new offensive to flush out rebels. More than 10 air strikes had already hit the...

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has submitted a proposal to the upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, to use the country’s armed forces in Ukraine, Kremlin has reported. "In connection with the extraordinary situation in Ukraine and the threat to...

The army said Friday that its troops had killed up to 13 Boko Harm militants in raids on the group's "entry and escape points" near Nigeria's borders with Cameroon. In an email to media on Friday evening, army spokesman Chris Olukolade said the raids – which targeted "the terrorists'...

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...