Dozens of refugees from  Syria  detained in an Egyptian police station began a hunger strike on Friday to draw attention to their plight, several of them said. The  United Nations  refugee agency confirmed that 52 refugees of Syrian and Palestinian origin had...

Pope Francis on Thursday said the Catholic Church will not accept a Middle East without Christians, who often find themselves forced to flee areas of conflict and unrest in the region. "We will not resign ourselves to imagining a Middle East without Christians," he said after meeting...

Divisions in rebel ranks and more committed loyalist fighters are helping the Syrian regime notch up military victories that would give it the upper hand at peace talks, analysts and rebels say. The army's capture this week of the strategic town of Qara, north of Damascus, followed...

An al Qaeda affiliate has captured a northern Syrian town on the border with Turkey after ousting a moderate Islamist rebel unit and detained its leader, activists said on Thursday. The fall of the town of Atma, a crossing point for weapons and for Syrian rebels, signals disarray among...