Iraqi special forces have moved more than 1,000 people from villages near the front lines of the battle to retake the Islamic State-held city of Mosul and surrounding areas, where the U.N. says militants have committed a number of atrocities in recent days, officials said Wednesday....

The "Jungle" migrant camp near Calais woke up to a third day of a government operation to empty and clear it on Wednesday following a night of ritual tent and shelter-burning and some gas-bottle explosions. A Calais prefecture official told France Info radio on Wednesday morning that one...

More than 3,300 fleeing Iraqis sought help from the government on day nine of its offensive to retake Mosul, the most for a single day so far, a minister said Wednesday. The number is far short of the hundreds of thousands that aid agencies have been bracing for but the offensive is still in...

(The Guardian)- Spain is facing criticism for reportedly preparing to allow the refuelling of Russian warships en route to bolstering the bombing campaign against the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo. Warships led by the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov are expected to take on fuel and...

(BBC)- A Finnish-Syrian man feted by the global media for smuggling toys into Syria has rejected fraud allegations. On Friday, Finnish police said they had launched a preliminary investigation into his use of donated money. Finnish media have published claims he withheld money, had links...

 A suspected Syrian regime army helicopter dropped barrel bombs on Turkish-backed rebels on Tuesday, the Turkish military said, in what appeared to be the first direct clash with Syrian forces since Turkey launched a cross-border incursion in August. A helicopter "assessed to belong to...

(The Daily Star)- Forces allied to President Bashar Assad in Syria warned Turkey Wednesday against any advance towards their positions to the north and east of Aleppo, saying any such move would be met "decisively and with force". The field commander of the forces allied to Damascus made the...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Powerful Jaish al-Islam on Wednesday has killed 20 regime troops in the besieged Eastern Ghouta suburbs after targeting the regime bastions in Tel Kurdi area, the group said in statement posted online. 8 rebel fighters were also killed in the attack, 4 from the Islam Army and...

A former nurse in Canada faces first-degree murder charges in the deaths of eight elderly patients at two nursing homes in the province of Ontario, according to authorities. Police said the deaths occurred at nursing homes in Woodstock and London, Ontario, between 2007 and 2014, CTV...

Bashar al-Assad’s forces are helping Daesh and PKK/PYD in opposing the Free Syrian Army (FSA), a commander said Tuesday. Abu Ramadan said Daesh and the PKK/PYD were acting together along the Marea-Jarabulus line in northern Aleppo province. “Daesh came into action four years ago when...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Syrian regime to use Marine Helicopters (MI14) in bombing the capital's western suburbs of Khan al-Shih and Zakia with barrel bombs,  sources said. Sources explained that due to deterioration in the technical status of regime’s helicopters, the only ones left with...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Modar Sheikh Ahmed, a Syrian young man, a refugee in Germany, was surprised to see the German President attending the cooking show he was doing.  Madar is fond with cooking, he used his talent in this field and founded “Cooking outside the box”, a project started...

The emaciated frame of 18-year-old Saida Ahmad Baghili lies on a hospital bed in the red sea port city of Hodaida, her suffering stark evidence of the malnutrition spread by Yemen's 19-month civil war. Baghili arrived at the Al Thawra hospital on Saturday. She is bed-ridden and unable to...

(The Daily Star)- The line of cars flying white flags kept on coming Tuesday as Iraqi forces began to evacuate residents of the last villages near ISIS bastion of Mosul. And it was not just people. Some vehicles had animals perched on piles of blankets amid foam mattresses and plastic...

(UN Watch)- Human rights groups have criticized UN chief Ban Ki-moon after he honored the Syrian regime’s envoy for 10 years of service, along with other ambassadors. Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based non-governmental group UN Watch asked, “How can the UN secretary-general...

(Middle East Eye)- Russia said on Tuesday it will extend its pause in air strikes on Syria's Aleppo into a ninth day, despite reports of ceasefire violations by both sides on the ground. Defence ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said Russian and Syrian planes had not even...

(The Guardian)- The demolition of the makeshift camp in Calais began on Tuesday, as charities said the measures were unacceptable while children remained and calls were made for all the children to be registered and taken to safety. Crews wearing hard hats and orange jumpsuits began tearing...

Fayez al-Sarraj, prime minister of Libya’s UN-backed unity government, has expressed his government’s willingness to step up security and military cooperation with Russia. The prime minister’s remarks came in a Monday statement issued by the government’s presidential council following a...

The United States expects the campaigns against Islamic State in Mosul and Raqqa to overlap, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Tuesday, signaling that a push to start isolating the group's de facto capital in Syria may not be very far off. Iraqi forces are already nine days into...

(Middle East Eye)- Big fashion brands are failing to protect Syrian refugees from "endemic" abuse in Turkish clothing factories supplying European retailers, a monitoring group said on Tuesday. Child labour, pitiful pay and dangerous conditions are among the risks facing undocumented Syrian...