Momentum that has swept Syrian rebels to a series of swift victories over President Bashar Assad appears to have slowed in two major attacks aimed at capturing the cities of Aleppo in the north and Deraa in the south. The reasons include a determined military effort by the government and its...

An Israeli civilian is being held against his will by the Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israel said on Thursday. Hamas, the Palestinian enclave's dominant faction, declined to comment. Israel suspects militants in Gaza would use its citizens to bargain for the release of Palestinians...

A Syrian Kurdish militia on Wednesday recaptured a town that had been stormed by Islamic State fighters earlier this week north of the jihadist group's base of operations in Raqqa city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Islamic State fighters had stormed the town...

The United States and its allies conducted 31 air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Monday, the coalition leading the operations said in a statement released early Wednesday. In Syria, the strikes were focused near Tal Abyad, where seven bomber, fighter and...