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...

The world's chemical watchdog solicited private companies on Thursday to help with the destruction of around two-thirds of Syria's vast stock of chemical weapons, as options dwindle ahead of a tight deadline to complete the task. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons...