Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has pledged to increase sanctions on the Gaza Strip, drawing a fresh attack from Hamas. Abbas, the leader of the internationally-recognised Palestinian government based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has been seeking to weaken Hamas by cutting...

France has seen 271 jihadi militants return from war zones in Iraq and Syria and all of them are subject to investigation by public prosecutors, the country's interior minister said in a newspaper interview. Some 700 French nationals are estimated to have fought in Islamic State ranks in...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Riad Seif, Head of the Syrian opposition's National Coalition, has decided to step down, three months since he was elected to carry out a reform process inside the Western-backed group and once the only legitimate representative of the Syrian people, well-informed sources told...

 Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who is being sworn-in for a further term on Saturday, has accused the United States of trying to undermine Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers, and urged European countries not to side with Washington. Rouhani, who was decisively re-elected in May...