U.S.-backed Syrian militias have taken the historic old city of Raqqa and its ancient mosque as they press their offensive to defeat Islamic State, the U.S.-led coalition said on Monday. The Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, said last week it had...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- At least 722 people killed in August by warring parties in Syria as the U.S.-led coalition killed more than 225 people in deadly airstrikes on ISIS-held areas in eastern Syria, the Syrian Network for Human Rights said in report .   The de-escalation zone agreements...

Russia reserves the right to further reduce the number of U.S. diplomatic staff in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday, adding that Moscow would not do that for now. Reacting to what he called Washington’s “boorish and unprecedented” actions towards Russia’s...

 A Malta-based humanitarian group that has been rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean for three years said on Monday it was suspending operations after months of rising tensions with Italian and Libyan authorities. The Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) was instead sending its...

 British shoppers increased their spending in August at the fastest pace so far in 2017, excluding a surge in April caused by the Easter holiday, but there is little sign yet that the squeeze on spending is easing, retailers said on Tuesday. Retail sales grew by an annual 1.3...

Guatemala’s top court opened the way on Monday for an investigation of President Jimmy Morales for alleged illegal campaign finances, but Congress will have the final say on removing his presidential immunity and could yet block the probe. The attorney general of the Central American...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- More than 44 Syrian rebel factions on Monday have agreed to name Jawad Abu Hatab, the Prime Minister of the Syrian Interim Government, as the Defense Minister amid efforts to create a single "national army" to unify the fractured opposition movement.   The idea was...

The United States wants the United Nations Security Council to vote next Monday to impose “the strongest possible” sanctions on North Korea over its sixth and largest nuclear test, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Monday. North Korea said it tested an advanced...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Local sources reported that Democratic Union Party (PYD) officials have threatened local populations in areas under its control in the past few days, it will prevent the families from receiving international aid and services and to be denied residence in their areas of...

With a sudden lunge through jihadist lines, the Syrian military and its allies are close to relieving the Euphrates city of Deir al-Zor, where Islamic State has besieged an army garrison and 93,000 civilians for years. The advance on the eastern city marks another stinging setback for...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The district of Ghanem al-Ali in eastern Syria will remain entrenched in the memory of regime supports, especially the sectarian ones, as this region has turned into a “Syrian Bermuda” swallowing hundreds and hundreds of regime soldiers and mercenaries. The battle of...

South Korea said on Monday it was talking to the United States about deploying aircraft carriers and strategic bombers to the Korean peninsula after signs North Korea might launch more missiles in the wake of its sixth and largest nuclear test. The U.N. Security Council was set to meet...

Indian police are investigating whether 30 infants died for lack of oxygen in a northern state-run hospital, the second case within a month in which medical supply shortages have been blamed for the deaths of dozens of children. An underfunded, poorly managed public health system is in...

Nearly 90,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since violence erupted in Myanmar in August, pressuring scarce resources of aid agencies and communities already helping hundreds of thousands of refugees from previous spasms of violence in Myanmar. The bloodshed in Myanmar’s northwestern...

Syria’s army and its allies raced towards their enclave in Deir al-Zor after a rapid advance on Sunday, seeking to relieve it after years of Islamic State siege as jihadist defenses suddenly collapsed. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has focused this year on the campaign in Syria’s...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Failaq al-Rahman on Sunday said it had ambushed army's elite forces in the Eastern Ghouta suburbs near the capital, killing at least 25 soldiers, the key rebel group said in statement.   Despite the Russian-brokered truce, fighting has renewed in Jobar neighborhood...

 North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sunday, which it said was an advanced hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile, marking a dramatic escalation of the regime’s stand-off with the United States and its allies. The test drew swift international...

( NPR )- A neat row of potted plants, all in bloom, greets visitors at the entrance of the Jassem family home in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. Inside, decorative tassels dangle from the ceiling, with a golden-colored cloth is on display. Children play around foam mattresses resting on a clean-swept...

Germany’s center-left Social Democrats (SPD) slightly narrowed the gap with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives in a poll published on Sunday, only hours before the center-right leader will face her challenger Martin Schulz in a television debate. Pollster Emnid said in a survey...

Iran’s air defenses have forced an approaching U.S. spy plane and a reconnaissance drone to change course near its air space over the past six months, a military official was quoted as saying on Sunday . Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili, commander of the Iran’s air defense force, said...