A Syrian opposition figure who says he controls 3,000 Arab fighters has told Reuters they are training with U.S.-led coalition forces in preparation to help drive ISIS from its de facto capital in the city of Raqqa. Ahmad Jarba commands the Syrian Elite Forces, described by the U.S. military...

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday urged Russia to use its influence with pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine to halt what he called the worst upsurge in fighting in a long time. "We call on Russia to use its considerable influence with the rebels to bring the violence to an end,"...

Social media, TV stations and newspapers in Egypt are abuzz after reports that the parliament speaker and his two deputies are using state funds to get flashy cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The scandal comes at a time when Egyptians are being constantly called upon to do with...

(Wall Street Journal)- Russia has reinforced its military presence on the ground in Aleppo with a police unit drawn largely from the Muslim-majority region of Chechnya, part of a bid to win hearts and minds in Syria. Recent video footage by a Russian-language news agency shows the...

Hundreds of Iraqi civilians have fled "liberated" areas of eastern Mosul amid ongoing rocket attacks by Daesh terrorists, according to local security sources. "Hundreds of families have fled their homes in northeastern Mosul," Iraqi Police Brigadier-General Omran Mohamed told Anadolu Agency...

(The Guardian)- A Tunisian man suspected of involvement in the Bardo Museum attack in Tunis has been arrested in Germany during large-scale police raids. The 36-year-old, who has not yet been named, was arrested in the early hours of Wednesday morning. He did not resist arrest, according to...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that Syria's return to the Arab League would allow the organisation to play a role in finding a political solution to the country's conflict. "The League could play a more important, more effective role if the Syrian government was part...

Syria opposition officials Wednesday criticized U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura after he said he could pick the opposition delegation representatives to U.N.-led talks in Geneva if they failed to do so. De Mistura Tuesday said the talks previously scheduled for February 8 had been postponed to...

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani dismissed his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump as a political novice on Wednesday, stepping up criticism of the Republican's immigration policies including a temporary travel ban on Iranians. Tehran has already said it will take legal, political and reciprocal...

Israeli police began evicting dozens of hardline Jewish settlers from a wildcat outpost on Wednesday, just hours after unveiling plans for 3,000 new homes in other West Bank settlements. Hundreds of officers marched into the Amona outpost near Ramallah to carry out the evictions ordered by...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- General Secretary of the Syrian National Coalition said the United Nations envoy for Syria is a partner in the killing of Syrian people, assuring that he is unable to form the opposition delegation unless they want to. Staffan de Mistura said Tuesday the UN-supported...

On Saturday, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, ordered the Pentagon and other agencies to draw up a preliminary plan for fighting ISIL within 30 days. This is good news, as it could recognise and review some of the current plan’s blind spots. Officials can better assess the...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that an invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to meet in Moscow was still in force. Lavrov said at a conference in Abu Dhabi that Russia was grateful that the two sides had in...

(The Guardian)- The war on terror, that campaign without end launched 14 years ago by George Bush, is tying itself up in ever more grotesque contortions. On Monday the trial in London of a Swedish man, Bherlin Gildo, accused of terrorism in Syria, collapsed after it became clear British...

Ukraine reports that at least one soldier has been killed and more injured in the country's east as heavy fighting between government troops and Russia-backed rebels continues. Heavy shelling was heard in the center of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk Wednesday morning. The flare-up in...

(Fox News)- Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said Tuesday she will personally cover the cost of her recent trip to Syria. Gabbard, a Democrat, met with Syrian President Bashar Assad while on the trip. A release sent out by her office late Tuesday said she will reimburse a group called...

Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, once considered the front-runner to be next president of South Korea, ruled out running for the top job on Wednesday, disappointed at the "selfish ways" of some politicians in his home country. Ban said at an unscheduled news conference at...

The dollar Wednesday staged a small recovery from a hefty sell-off that came after Donald Trump and one of his key economic advisers hit out at other nations using their weaker currencies to gain a trade advantage. The outbursts are the latest from the unpredictable administration that has...

Australia's prime minister Wednesday would not say how many refugees from Pacific island camps would be resettled in the United States after President Donald Trump's administration said "extreme vetting" would be used to check their cases. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that Trump had...

(Daily Mail)- A US doctor diagnosed with Stage IV cancer says he cannot be with his family - since they are Syrian and barred by President Trump's travel ban. Dr Morhaf Al Achkar, 33, emigrated to the United States from Syria in 2006, before becoming an esteemed primary care physician at...