Egypt's government, already accused of muzzling freedom of expression and opposition to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has blocked access to a host of news websites including Qatar's Al-Jazeera. Around 20 websites based in Qatar and Egypt have been inaccessible since Wednesday night,...

The Syrian regime army said it had retaken a swathe of territory from ISIS in southern Syria Thursday in a rapid advance near areas held by U.S.-backed Syrian rebels at the border with Jordan and Iraq. The Syrian regime said earlier in May that it was a priority to recapture the sparsely...

Three soldiers were killed in a bombing of an armored vehicle by Islamist militants in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, security and medical sources said Thursday. The soldiers were conducting a patrol in the North Sinai town of Rafah which borders the Gaza Strip. In a separate attack, a...

French President Emmanuel Macron pressed Europeans to strengthen security cooperation and intelligence-sharing after a deadly attack in Manchester as he arrived in Brussels for a meeting of the NATO military alliance Thursday. The 39-year-old president, a newcomer to international diplomacy,...

(Zaman Al Wasl) Zaman al-Wasl learnt from an undisclosed special source that the regime air force has re-equipped four MiG-23 ML aircrafts that were previously stockpiled as unsuitable for use in the recent period. Russia is the regime’s key strategic ally, but the age of the regime’s...

  A U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led militias promised Thursday that no harm would come to ISIS fighters in Raqqa who turned themselves in by the end of the month, calling on them to lay down their arms ahead of an expected assault on the city. The Syrian Democratic Forces, which groups...

By Faris Rifai (Zaman Al Wasl)- Osama al-Habali, “the Heart of Khaldiya” died in Sednaya prison last Tuesday after 5 years in detention. Osama was one of the Syrian revolution’s icons, he was known as “The Heart of Khaldiya”, he was injured by shrapnel in his neck after a indiscriminate...

Iran has built a third underground ballistic missile production factory and will keep developing its missile program, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Thursday, in a development likely to fuel tension with Arab neighbors and Washington. "Iran's third underground factory has been...

Two Turkish soldiers and a policeman have been killed in two separate clashes with Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in eastern Turkey, security sources said Thursday. Early Thursday, PKK fighters opened fire in a mountainous area of Agri province's Dogubayazit district, near the...

By Faris Rifai (Zaman al-Wasl) In the “Green Poison” a short film, the young Syrian activist and director, Hamam Abu Zein, captures the suffering of displacement experienced by Syrians in general, and his family in particular, the last time they were in al-Waer neighborhood before they...

NATO will join the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday, ahead of a summit with President Donald Trump. "This will send a strong political message of NATO's commitment to the fight against terrorism," Stoltenberg said. He stressed this did not...

OPEC and non-member oil producers are gearing up to extend output cuts Thursday, possibly by as long as 12 months, to help clear a global stocks overhang and prop up crude prices. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is to discuss in Vienna whether to prolong an accord...

BY DAN DE LUCE, PAUL MCLEARY ( Foreign Policy )- A U.S. air raid against Iranian-backed fighters in southern Syria last week represents a volatile new phase of the conflict that could trigger a wider confrontation between the United States and Iran — and their allies on the ground. Until...

British police have stopped sharing information about a suicide bombing in Manchester with U.S. authorities following leaks of details of the investigation that has angered the government, the BBC said Thursday. The British government and police force have criticised the leaks which they say...

Violence and conflict in the Middle East and North Africa threaten the lives of over 24 million children, most of them in Yemen, Iraq and Syria, the United Nation’s children agency’s report said Wednesday. From cholera in Yemen to attacks on hospitals in Syria and the tens of thousands of...

Iraq’s interior minister Wednesday ordered an investigation into allegations that members of the security forces had tortured, killed and abused civilians in the campaign to oust Daesh (ISIS) militants from Mosul. The inquiry was in response to a report by the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel...

 (Zaman Al Wasl)- A suicide bomber blew himself up in the border Azaz town, leaving five civilians wounded, local police told Zaman la-Wasl on Wednesday. The attack was targeting a Free Syrian Army commander in the strategic town at the border with Turkey. The former ISIS-held town has...

( The Independent )- Salman Abedi returned from a visit to Libya just days before carrying out the Manchester attack and may have travelled to terrorist strongholds in Syria, it has been revealed. The 22-year-old’s potential links to Isis militants and recruiters around the world are being...

Donald Trump vowed Wednesday to use his US presidency to promote global peace after meeting Pope Francis, before heading into a high-stakes summit of the world's biggest military alliance. Meeting for the first time, the president and the pontiff sidestepped deep differences over issues...

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told lawmakers on Wednesday that his department would work to increase sanctions pressure on Iran, Syria and North Korea and is reviewing licenses needed for Boeing Co and Airbus to sell aircraft to Iran. "We will use everything within our power to put...