Iraqi troops on Sunday fortified their positions in Mosul neighborhoods retaken from the Islamic State group as their advance toward the city center was slowed by sniper fire and suicide bombings, as well as concern over the safety of civilians. "The biggest hindrance to us is the civilians,...

(Al Jazeera)- Saudi Arabia has denied that the Arab coalition it spearheads violated a 48-hour ceasefire by launching air strikes against the Houthi rebels in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. Major-General Ahmed Asseri, the coalition spokesman, told Al Jazeera on Sunday from Riyadh the air raids...

 Fresh fighting shook Syria's Aleppo on Sunday with a rebel attack killing at least eight children at a school, as the UN's envoy struggled to push peace efforts in Damascus. The envoy, Staffan de Mistura, met with Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem in Damascus for talks on the...

A barrel bomb killed a family of six in rebel-held eastern Aleppo early on Sunday, a war monitor, a rebel and two medics said, while rebel shelling killed seven children at a school in the government-held sector, state television reported. The medics said the al-Baytounji family had...