U.S. lawmakers kept up their push on Monday to impose sanctions on Turkey if it does not end its offensive in northeastern Syria, and a leading Kurdish politician called on President Donald Trump to stop the “ethnic cleansing” of her people. “We need to stop the slaughter. We need to...

Turkey is holding covert contacts with Syria’s regime to avert direct conflict in northeast Syria where both sides have deployed their armies, Turkish officials say, despite Ankara’s long-standing hostility to Bashar al-Assad. Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan backs rebels who fought to...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said Monday in a legal report that the Syrian regime has been practicing 72 torture methods gainast detainees in security chambers and military hospitals.   The 65-page report states that torture in the regime’s detention...

Sudan has agreed to open humanitarian access to war-torn areas of the country for the first time in eight years as part of a new roadmap enabling suspended peace talks to resume, a rebel leader said on Monday. “We are expecting that the humanitarian situation is going to improve in Darfur,...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday he was giving up his effort to form a new government after failing to secure a majority coalition in Parliament following an inconclusive election in September. Netanyahu, who heads the right-wing Likud party, said he was returning the...

China's foreign minister said Monday that he was confident of a investment deal being clinched with the European Union, while pressing for talks "as soon as possible" on a free trade accord. In an interview with AFP in Paris, Wang Yi said the list of sectors China still refuses access to is...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has removed several opposition figures from his human rights council, a decree published Monday showed, with critics saying the move robs the advisory body of its legitimacy. The 50-member body, which has spoken out against abuses, has gradually been losing...

 President Donald Trump said Monday it is a foregone conclusion that the Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives will vote to impeach him over his request that Ukraine investigate a political rival as he exhorted his fellow Republicans to rally to his defense. Trump made his...

Poland’s ruling nationalists asked the Supreme Court on Monday to approve a recount of some votes for parliament’s upper house, a move which if approved could hand them a majority in both chambers and expedite their disputed reform agenda. The Law and Justice (PiS) party, which regained its...

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday, with tensions simmering between the United States and Iran, and Russia seeking to increase its regional influence. Esper is likely to meet King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on his first trip to the key...

Angry over the U.S. withdrawal, residents of a Kurdish-dominated Syrian city hurled potatoes at departing American military vehicles as they drove by on Monday. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said U.S. troops will stay in eastern Syria to protect Kurdish-held oil fields for at least the coming...

Even as American forces make a hasty and chaotic withdrawal from northeastern Syria, the U.S. is considering leaving some troops behind to secure oil fields in the region and make sure they don't fall into the hands of a resurgent Islamic State, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Monday. The...

An Iranian tanker damaged in the Red Sea two weeks ago has entered Iranian territorial waters, the official IRNA news agency reported Monday, citing information from the National Iranian Tanker Company. The tanker will dock at Kharg Island in two days, the report said. Iranian President...

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam apologized to the city's Muslim community Monday after police fired a water cannon at a major mosque during operations Sunday night to quell violent pro-democracy protests in the Asian financial hub. While the morning after clean-up was underway, Lam visited the...

Lebanon’s cabinet is expected to halve ministers’ wages on Monday among other reforms in a bid to ease an economic crisis and defuse the biggest protests against the ruling elite in decades. Across the country, people blocked roads for a fifth day. Schools, banks and businesses closed....

Twelve Syrian prisons holding foreign militants as well as eight refugee camps have been left unguarded as a result of Turkey's operation in northern Syria, the Interfax news agency cited Russia's defence minister as saying Monday. Speaking in China, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said...

Turkish police detained three mayors from a main pro-Kurdish party Monday on suspicions of "membership in a terror group" and "disseminating terror propaganda", the official Anadolu news agency reported. The three local mayors from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Kayapinar, Bismil...

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson prepared to Monday make a second attempt to ram his EU divorce deal through parliament and avoid the political damage of delaying Brexit next week. Another momentous week in the tortuous saga could end with Johnson engineering a divorce from Brussels...

Afghans should not misconstrue America's sudden, contentious and near-total withdrawal from parts of Syria as a precursor to a similar move in Afghanistan, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Monday. The US last week announced the withdrawal of 1,000 American troops from northeast Syria,...

Dozens of US armoured vehicles with American soldiers aboard crossed into Iraqi Kurdistan from Syria on Monday, according to AFP journalists. The withdrawing convoy crossed the Tigris River at the Fishkhabur border post near the Turkish frontier, en route to Arbil, the capital of the...