U.S.-backed forces struggled to gain ground against the Daesh (ISIS) in Syria's Raqqa Friday, facing a wave of car bombs and mortars unleashed by the militant group, a monitor said. The Syrian Democratic Forces penetrated Raqqa's Old City earlier this week after U.S.-led coalition air...

Turkey's state-run news agency says Turkish police have detained 29 suspected Daesh (ISIS) militants in raids in Istanbul. Anadolu Agency said 22 of the militants detained Friday were foreign nationals. It didn't provide details on their nationalities. The report says they were caught in...

Leaders from the world's top economies prepared for tough talks with U.S. President Donald Trump on climate change and trade on Friday as a Group of 20 summit got underway in Germany amid the threat of violent protests. The meeting in the port city of Hamburg comes at a time of major shifts...

Egyptian officials say at least 10 security troops have killed when a car bomb struck a military checkpoint followed by heavy gunfire in northeastern Sinai Peninsula. The officials say that the Friday attack started when a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into the checkpoint in southern...

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to size each other up in person for the first time on Friday in what promises to be the most highly anticipated meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit. Trump has said he wants to find ways to work with Putin, a goal...

When Abu Ahmad stepped out of his house in Raqqa after a night of heavy airstrikes, he found several of his neighbors lying dead in the street. “I went out the next morning just to inspect,” he said. “I swear to God, cats were eating the corpses.” “We couldn’t do anything with the dead...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Chechen minority in eastern Syria, known as al-Jazira al-Souriya,  has been dwindling after the Kurdish Democratic Union Party took control of Ras al-Ain, north of al-Hasakah and the Khabour River source area, which were considered the central areas of their...

France and Russia agreed on Thursday that fighting terrorism in Syria was their common objective, but pointedly avoided airing their differences over the sensitive issue of chemical weapons. France appears to be broadly aligning its foreign policy with the U.S. priorities of tackling...

Islamic State fighters holding out in Mosul on a strip of land along the Tigris River are increasingly using suicide bombers in a desperate attempt to slow the steady advance of Iraqi forces, military commanders said on Thursday. Iraqi forces pushing towards the al-Maydan and al-Shareen...

Russia has asked the United States for more information after comments by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that Washington was ready to discuss with Moscow no-fly zones in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday. "We have asked (for information). We haven't yet...

A joint UN-OPCW panel tasked with determining who was behind the deadly sarin gas attack in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun is facing heavy political pressure as it prepares to present its findings in mid-October, the head of the investigation said Thursday. After meeting behind closed...

 (Zaman Al Wasl)- Tahrir al-Sham alliance said it had captured nine militants with links to the Islamic State in northern Idlib province, day after a deadly suicide bombing left 15 civilians dead in the western countryside. The Islamist alliance that led by the former al Qaeda...

( The Guardian )- The top ethics watchdog in the federal government announced his resignation on Thursday, taking a parting shot at Donald Trump as he did so. Walter Shaub, head of the independent Office of Government Ethics (OGE), released a statement in which he said he would step down in...

U.N. diplomats say Russia has blocked U.N. Security Council approval of a statement that would strongly condemn North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile and renew a pledge to take "further significant measures." The diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because...

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sought Thursday to steer rival sides in Cyprus peace talks to agreement on a broad range of issues that are holding back a deal to reunify the ethnically divided Mediterranean island nation. Appearing for the second time at the peace talks taking place...

Iraq's Kurdish leader said on Thursday that there was no turning back on a bid to achieve an independent Kurdish state, but he would pursue it through dialogue with Baghdad and regional powers to avoid conflict. Masoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), told...

Turkish media say authorities have detained a British citizen who caused a small explosion at Istanbul's main airport by slamming his power bank on the ground. The Dogan news agency says the passenger got into an argument with security officials at Ataturk International Airport's departures...

An Iraqi intelligence officer who supervises a screening center in Mosul says that over the past week between 1,500 and 2,000 people fleeing Daesh (ISIS) held territory pass through his position each day. Col. Khalid Jaburi says those suspected of having ties with Daesh are held in an...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Lebanon's human rights minister called on Thursday for an inquiry into the controversial deaths of a number of Syrians while in the custody of the Lebanese army. "To preserve the army's image and prevent any rumors that may be malicious, we ask the relevant leadership...

U.S.-led coalition air strikes have killed at least 224 civilians since the Syrian forces it backs entered Daesh (ISIS) bastion Raqqa one month ago, a monitor said on Thursday. They included 38 children and 28 women, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Read More: Yarmouk...