The United States will "take firm and appropriate measures" in response to Syrian government violations in a designated de-escalation zone in the country's southwest, the State Department said on Thursday. After seven years of conflict, the southwest of Syria, bordering Jordan and the...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s interior ministry has ordered police to withhold negative news from the media during the soccer World Cup and instead report successes such as crimes being solved, two police sources said on Thursday. A copy of the order, seen by Reuters, instructs police not...

Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Thursday refugees in Lebanon could begin a phased return to areas of Syria that have become safe, and that should happen before a political solution is reached for the conflict. Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Thursday refugees in Lebanon...

Cypriot authorities have safely escorted a boat carrying 61 Syrian refugees to shore after spotting it off the coast of the Mediterranean island, they said Thursday. The vessel was intercepted late Wednesday evening off the island’s northwestern coast after embarking from Turkey, police said....

Three people were killed in southeast Turkey on Friday when a fight broke out between members of the campaign of a ruling party parliamentarian and some local shopkeepers, security sources said. Ibrahim Halil Yildiz, a member of parliament from the ruling AK Party, was visiting shops in...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Hundreds of Afrin's displaced on Thursday have demanded the Kurdish militias to allow them returning back home, sources said. Tens of displaced families who settled in the town of Tel Tam in Hasaka province said the YPG militia is preventing them from leaving the area...

A Palestinian man whose face was severely damaged by a tear gas canister that was shot into his mouth by Israeli troops during a border protest last week was allowed to leave Gaza Thursday for treatment at a Jerusalem hospital. Haitham Abu Sabla, 24, spent three days on life support...

President Donald Trump's nominee for a top State Department Middle East post said Thursday he would dissuade countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt from weapons deals with Russia that could trigger U.S. sanctions. "I would work with our allies to dissuade them, or encourage them,...

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Thursday appointed Mohamed Zaki, commander of the country’s Republican Guard, as defense minister, replacing Sedki Sobhi, who was abruptly sacked earlier the same day. According to reports on state television, Zaki has already been sworn in as...

The Supreme Court on Thursday barred the country’s former military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, from contesting the upcoming elections after the retired general failed to appear for a court hearing, according to local media reports. Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, who led a four-member...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next week will discuss the situation in the beleaguered Gaza Strip with members of a visiting U.S. delegation, according to a Thursday statement released by Netanyahu’s office. The prime minister, the statement reads, is “looking forward to...

Jordan's King Abdullah on Thursday swore in a new government led by a former World Bank economist and mandated to review a disputed tax system after widespread protests against IMF-driven austerity measures. Abdullah, a relatively secure U.S. ally in a conflict-ridden Middle East,...

: Jordan's King Abdullah issued a decree on Thursday forming a new government led by a former World Bank economist and mandated to review a disputed tax system after widespread protests against IMF-driven austerity measures. Abdullah, a U.S. ally, appointed Omar al-Razzaz, a Harvard-...

Two people were stabbed to death on Thursday at a mosque in South Africa's Malmesbury in the Western Cape before the attacker was shot dead by police. The attack comes a month after three knife-wielding men stormed a mosque north of Durban, killing one person and seriously injuring two...

Turkey's Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. Curtis Scaparotti on Wednesday discussed the Turkish-U.S. Manbij roadmap over the phone. In a statement released on Thursday, the Turkish General Staff said Akar and Scaparrotti also...

The U.N. human rights chief Thursday called for a major investigation into abuses in Kashmir, as his office released its first-ever report on violations committed by both India and Pakistan in the disputed territory. Zeid Raad al-Hussein said he would urge the Human Rights Council,...

Fighting around the Yemen port city of Hodeida has resumed as an Arab-led coalition tries to retake it from Shiite rebels known as Houthis. Witnesses described heavy fighting to the city's south on Thursday morning, near its airport. The Arab-led coalition backing Yemen's exiled...

 The global chemical weapons watchdog said Wednesday that the nerve agent sarin and toxic chemical chlorine were "very likely" used as weapons in two attacks in central Syria in late March 2017, the latest confirmation of chemical attacks in the civil war. The Organization for the...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Hundreds of displaced people who fled northern Homs region in May are planning to return back home to their central province after huge disappointment regarding the lack of service and harsh living condition in rebel-held areas.   More than 35000 rebel fighters...

The Federal Reserve increased its benchmark interest rate as widely expected, the Federal Market Open Committee (FOMC) announced Wednesday.  At the conclusion of a two-day meeting, Committee members voted unanimously to raise the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to a target...