(The Guardian)- Islamic State’s doctrine of survival is based on a simple notion: defeat on the battlefield must always leave behind the seeds for a comeback. Whether the operation to retake Mosul will be the beginning of the end for Isis or the beginning of a new cycle hinges largely on...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Islamic State forces have shuffled the cards once more by withdrawing from significant positions in Aleppo’s countryside, namely the infantry school, Tel Shaeir, and the al-Maslimyet cement factory on Saturday evening.  The withdrawal happened quietly and...

Iraqi troops and security forces advanced towards Mosul from the south and southeast of the city on Sunday, Iraqi officials said, backed by air and ground support from a U.S.-led coalition as they edged closer to the Islamic State stronghold. A military statement said the army's ninth...

 Iran's vice president and environment chief, Massoumeh Ebtekar, has told AFP that the West's failure to fully implement the nuclear deal and lift sanctions are endangering her country's efforts to meet climate targets. In an exclusive interview, Ebtekar said Iran had already seen...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Syrian resistance announced on Sunday that it began targeting regime and pro-regime militia positions in the 3000 apartment project in the strategic al-Hamadaniya neighborhood with artillery and missiles. Zaman al-Wasl reporter in Aleppo said that the Syrian resistance...

Yemen has endured thousands of air strikes and the deaths of more than 10,000 people in a 19-month war that has also unleashed hunger on the desperately poor country - but its biggest challenge may be yet to come. The conflict has led to Yemen's de facto partition, with rival armies and...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Despite the absence of accurate statistics about the number of regime force members from the coastal province who were killed in the first two days of the Great Epic Battle for Aleppo, but the death toll reaches into the tens. Among those killed are high ranked officers, regime...

A follower of ISIS was responsible for a stabbing attack on two youths in the German city of Hamburg two weeks ago, the militant group's Amaq news agency said Sunday. In the incident, the unknown perpetrator attacked a young couple sitting under a bridge at the Alster river in downtown...

Iraq’s Shiite militias said Saturday that they had joined the operation to recapture the Islamic State-held city of Mosul, a move that could whip up sectarian and regional tensions in an already complex battle. Militia leaders said that they launched an offensive toward the town of Tal Afar,...

A car exploded in the eastern city of Benghazi late Saturday, killing six people including a political activist close to a powerful genera fighting Islamic extremists, officials said. The explosion rocked the downtown Benghazi district of al-Kesh which is lined with busy cafes. The blast...

(The Daily Star)- A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 struck central Italy early Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said, but there were no immediate reports of any casualties. The quake -- which was felt from Rome to Venice -- struck at 0640 GMT six kilometers (3.5 miles)...

Three astronauts landed safely in Kazakhstan Sunday following a 115-day mission aboard the the International Space Station, including U.S. astronaut Kate Rubins, the first person to sequence DNA in space. Russian mission control confirmed the touchdown of NASA's Rubins, Roscosmos' Anatoly...

Saudi-led coalition air strikes hit a rebel-held security building in Yemen's west on Saturday, killing at least 30 prisoners and insurgents, military officials said. The two air strikes destroyed the building in Zaidia, north of the western port city of Hodeidah, which houses a prison holding...

(The Guardian)- The teddy bear, garish but cuddly, is propped on top of the explosives it was designed to hide and detonate. An adult would probably have walked by, but to a child the wide eyes and fuzzy orange fur would have been irresistible. “Why would Isis use something nice, like a bear...

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey was aiming to reinforce its troops deployments in its Iraqi border town of Silopi and that it would have a "different response" for Shiite militia groups if they cause terror in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar. Iranian-backed Iraqi Shiite paramilitary...

(Independent)- More people died from violent crime in Brazil than in the Syrian conflict in 2015, a Brazilian monitor has claimed. There were 58,383 violent deaths in Brazil that year, according a report by the Brazilian Forum for Public Security, while the Syrian Observatory for Human...

(Eqtsad)- Saeed was unaware of the fate that awaited him when he, like hundreds of other fighters, boarded a bus headed to northern Syria.  The journey from the city of al-Muadamiyat al-Sham to Sarmin city took 24 hours. It exhausted Saeed a resident of Daraya who took his wife and...

 (Zaman Al Wasl)- The artillery of Syrian resistance factions has pounded a regime military complex on Saturday in the second day of major offensive to break Aleppo siege. Jaish al-Fateh, an alliance of rebels and Islamist groups, has been pressing to seize a strategic supply route links...

Sergio Aguero and Ilkay Gundogan each scored twice as Manchester City crushed West Bromwich Albion 4-0 on Saturday to reclaim first place in the Premier League from Arsenal. Arsenal won 4-1 at Sunderland, with substitute Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez both scoring twice, but City's win...

(The Daily Star)- Egypt's Foreign Minister has protested remarks by the chief of the world's largest bloc of Muslim countries, for mocking Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi. Sameh Shukry warned Iyad Madani, the head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, on Saturday that Egypt...