The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Tuesday it had begun a battle to capture Raqqa, ISIS' de facto capital in Syria, launching attacks from the east, west and north of the city. In a phone interview with Reuters from Syria, SDF spokesman Talal Silo said the operation...

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday that President Donald Trump has asked him to rebuild the U.S. relationship with Russia and not allow the political turmoil over possible Russian ties to the Trump campaign to impede him. Tillerson said relations with Russia are at a low point and...

 Men, women and children walk down a main road in west Mosul with arms full and carts loaded, but they are not among the people fleeing fighting in the city. The operation to retake Mosul from Daesh (ISIS) has pushed hundreds of thousands of residents to flee their homes – leaving...

 As U.S.-backed forces prepare a final assault on Daesh’s (ISIS) Syrian bastion Raqqa, displaced civilians are dreaming of spending the end of Ramadan feast back home. The Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces militia is expected to begin its assault on the northern Syrian city as early as...

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel will maintain security control over all of the West Bank, with or without a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Speaking at a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Mideast war, when Israel captured the...

About 100,000 children are trapped in extremely dangerous conditions in the remaining Islamic State-held enclave in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the United Nations said on Monday. Children were being used as human shields by the insurgents or were caught in the crossfire of the battle,...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Clashes intensified between ISIS and the regime army in eastern Deir Ezzor province on Monday as the extremist group pressed advances in the southern neighborhoods of the city, sources said. The regime warplanes have carried out airstrikes on ISIS positions, killing one...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- At least 5 pro-regime militants killed and 25 more wounded in clashes with te Islamic State in northwestern Hama province as regime forces backed by allied militias launched major offensive near Salamiya city, medics said Monday. The regime army said it had taken the...

U.S.-backed Syrian rebels fighting ISIS will announce the start date for the final assault on Raqqa city on Tuesday, aiming to oust the militants from their de facto capital in Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Monday. The SDF is an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias...

A top official in Yemen's armed Houthi movement said on Monday the United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen was banned from returning to the country, accusing him of bias, according to the Houthi's Al Massira TV channel. Saleh al-Samad, chief of a political council backed by the Houthis who...

The State Department is banning U.S. diplomats in Egypt from visiting religious sites outside the capital following a spate of recent deadly terrorist attacks. The U.S. Embassy in Cairo said Monday that additional attacks are possible and urged Americans living or traveling in Egypt to take...

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's main government partner said on Monday his national security adviser and other top security officials should be removed after four days of violence last week left around 100 people dead. A massive truck bomb attack on Wednesday killed more than 80 people and...

President Michel Temer and Brazil's chief prosecutor were in open warfare Monday on the eve of a court verdict that could lead to the scandal-plagued president's removal from office. The front pages of major newspapers were dominated by accusations made by Temer's lawyer that Prosecutor...

Moroccan authorities on Monday arrested two more leaders of a protest movement, after demonstrators rallied for more than a week against corruption and unemployment. The northern port city of Al-Hoceima, in the neglected Rif region, has been rocked by social unrest since the death in October...

Two Syrian rebels and a war monitor said a Syrian military plane had come down about 50 km east of Damascus on Monday in rebel-held territory near a frontline with government-held land. "We have brought down a Syrian jet in Tel Dakwa area in rural Damasus and we are searching for the pilot,"...

Once the Balkan stronghold of pro-Russian sentiments, tiny Montenegro is on Monday silently celebrating its entry into NATO in a historic turn that has made the Kremlin furious. Despite the Russian anger and a deep split within the nation of some 620,000 people over the issue, Montenegro is...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian resistance factions on Monday have formed a new operations room in southern Daraa province, aimed at defeating the regime forces and its allied militias from taking control of neighbourhoods in Daraa city. The new operation room was formed in...

British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn Monday backed calls for Prime Minister Theresa May to resign for reducing the number of police officers during her six years as interior minister. Asked by ITV television if he backed the calls for May to resign after three terror attacks in three...

Australian police Monday shot dead a gunman in the city of Melbourne who had taken a woman hostage before shooting three officers following a standoff of over an hour, and were checking for links to militant activity. Australia, a staunch ally of the United States and its escalating action...

The leaflets make no mention of the candidates' party, just a splash of colour and pledges carefully calibrated to fit with those of the new centrist president. Welcome to campaigning in Emmanuel Macron's France, where moderates of the left and right are hitching their wagons to the new...