A man held a woman hostage at a radio station in the Netherlands for a little more than an hour on Thursday before he released her and was arrested, Dutch police said. A police spokeswoman told Reuters the woman had suffered no serious injury but had been taken to an ambulance for...

A suicide bomber killed a Hamas guard in southern Gaza on Thursday, officials said, in what was seen as a rare Islamist attack against the Palestinian group that has run the impoverished enclave for a decade. The incident occurred at around 1:00 am near the Gaza Strip's lone crossing with...

Syria's war has entered a new phase as President Bashar al-Assad extends his grip in areas being captured from Islamic State, using firepower freed by Russian-backed truces in western Syria. Backed by Russia and Iran, the government hopes to steal a march on U.S.-backed militias in the...

Lebanese and Syrian ministers pledged to boost economic ties on Wednesday, part of a visit that has challenged the Lebanese state's policy of neutrality toward Syria's war. Government ministers from Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Shi'ite Amal party arrived in Syria for a trade fair, a trip that...

Britain has said there should be no border posts or immigration checks between Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland after Brexit, in a paper that attempts to resolve one of the most complex aspects of its departure from the European Union. Some 30,000 people cross the 500-km...

A fire destroyed three buildings in a traditional section of Jeddah, listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, the Saudi civil defence said Wednesday. Saudi civil defence said 60 people had evacuated their homes when the fire broke late Tuesday in Al-Balad, a historic district in the Red Sea...

Turkish and Iranian military leaders held talks on Wednesday over cooperation in the Syrian conflict and counter-terrorism, officials said, during a rare visit to NATO-member Turkey by the Islamic Republic's military chief of staff. Turkey's ties with Washington have been strained by U.S....

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) plans to carry out urgent repairs to Tabqa Dam near the Syrian city of Raqqa in an area recaptured from Islamic State, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday. The aid agency was able to enter Raqqa and Hassakeh provinces in late July for the first...

An elite forces unit linked to the army that controls much of eastern Libya has snubbed international efforts to bring to justice one of its senior officers for allegedly executing dozens of prisoners. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant on Tuesday for Mahmoud...

French authorities Wednesday set up portable toilets and water taps on a road near the northern port of Calais after losing a challenge to a court order to provide sanitation for migrants. Ten portable toilets and a bank of five taps were installed outside a centre run by the charity Secours...

An Iranian opposition leader who has been under house arrest since 2011 has begun a hunger strike over his detention. A website associated with Mahdi Karroubi announced Wednesday that the 79-year-old Shia scholar has stopped eating and is only taking heart medication. The website quoted...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Israeli and Western media on Tuesday shed the light on Iran-run missile facilities in Syria, almost two months since Zaman al-Wasl news site had revealed an exclusive data and satellite images for Iran’s main long-range-rocket factories in coastal Tartus province....

(Zaman Al Wasl)- An ISIS suicide bomb attack killed at least 15 pro-regime Shiite militants east of the ancient city of palmyra as fierce clashes still underway near an oil-rich area, field sources said on Wednesday.   The death toll of ISIS attacks in the last 24 hours reach total...

( The Guardian )- Islamic State terrorist Khaled Sharrouf and his two sons have been killed in Syria, media reports say. The ABC and the Australian reported government officials as confirming Sharrouf – who fled Australia in 2013 to join extremist forces – and his sons Abdullah and Zarqawi...

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised North Korea's leader for backing off on plans to fire missiles toward the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam. Trump said in a tweet that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "made a very wise and reasonable decision," adding "the alternative would have...

 Turkey on Wednesday warned that a plan by the leadership in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region to hold a referendum on independence next month could lead to civil war, in Ankara's strongest warning yet against the poll. "In that country (Iraq), which has been through so many problems, a...

Japanese jets conducted air manoeuvres with U.S. bombers southwest of the Korean peninsula on Wednesday as North Korea considered whether to fire missiles towards the U.S.-administered territory of Guam. Reclusive North Korea has made no secret of its plans to develop a missile capable of...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday stressed the need to resolve the crisis in Venezuela peacefully and without external intervention. Lavrov's comments came after U.S. president Donald Trump threatened a possible armed intervention in the South American country, prompting...

Seven Iraqi soldiers were killed on Wednesday when a suicide attacker tried to infiltrate a security headquarters near the northern city of Baiji where Daesh (ISIS) is entrenched in nearby mountain areas, security sources said. Around five assailants attacked the compound where police and...

Turkey has asked Germany to extradite a theology lecturer suspected of playing a major role in last year's failed coup, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday. Turkey sent a diplomatic note requesting the extradition of Adil Oksuz, who the government says was the "imam" of air...