Shuttle diplomacy by the United States' envoy to the anti-Islamic State coalition brokered an oil deal between Iraq and its Kurdish region vital to a climactic battle with the jihadists, diplomats, officials and oil men say.  The oil revenue-sharing deal sealed in August was critical to...

The Palestinian government on Tuesday postponed local election for four months, one day after a court decision to hold the polls in Israel-occupied West Bank and not in Hamas-run Gaza Strip. In a statement, the government said the decision to put off the vote was taken after consultations...

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein warned Russia on Tuesday over the use of incendiary weapons in Syria's besieged enclave of eastern Aleppo, and said crimes by one side did not justify illegal acts by the other. Zeid said that the situation in Aleppo...

Five PKK suspects, including a university student were detained in southern Turkey’s Adana province Tuesday, according to a police source. According to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, the detained PKK suspects were planning to...

Two leaders of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood group were shot dead by Egyptian security forces south of Cairo, the country’s interior ministry said.  In a Tuesday statement, the ministry said Mohamed Kamal, 61, was killed along with Yasser Shehata in a shootout late Monday in Cairo’s...

German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel urged the Iranian government during his two-day visit to the Islamic Republic to do what it can to push for a ceasefire in Syria. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces, supported by Iranian-backed militia and Russian air power, have stepped up an...

Oil prices fell on Tuesday on a rise in Iranian exports which add to a global supply overhang, although a planned OPEC-led production cut later this year offered some support. International Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were trading at $50.63 per barrel at 0645 GMT, down 26 cents, or 0.5...

Pockets of Taliban fighters held out overnight against Afghan government forces in the northern city of Kunduz, a police official said on Tuesday, a day after the militants pushed deep into the city center. Taliban militants slipped past government defenses early on Monday and occupied or...

In the name of European energy security, a private guard wearing a navy blue uniform, aviator sunglasses and a baseball cap walks around a grove of olive trees in southern Italy. The 231 trees, surrounded by dry-stone walls on a dusty plain near the Adriatic coast, stand in the way of a $45...

 (Zaman Al Wasl)- A well-informed source said at least 1500 militants from the Lebanese Hezbollah movement had joined regime forces in northeastern city of Qamishli this week. The fighters flew from Beirut to Qamislih boarding on Syrian planes, source said. Hezbollah officials keep...

The Turkish military hit at least 80 Daesh targets in northern Syria on Monday as part of the ongoing Operation Euphrates Shield, according to a military source. In a statement, the Turkish General Staff said 80 Daesh targets had been hit with 199 rounds of Firtina (storm) howitzer fire and...

U.S. aircraft on Monday targeted one of the “most senior leaders” of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham in Idlib, Syria, according to the Pentagon. Defense Department spokesman Peter Cook said the operative was an al-Qaeda leader named Abu al-Farai al-Masri, aka Ahmad Salamah Mabruk, an Egyptian national....

 The United Nations Security Council will begin negotiations on Monday on a draft resolution that urges Russia and the United States to ensure an immediate truce in Syria's Aleppo and to "put an end to all military flights over the city." The draft text, seen by Reuters, also asks U.N....

Reporting by Mohamed Kassah (Eqtsad)- The Russian military campaign in the Coastal area of Syria and Latakia countryside has started September 2015, led to displacing dozens of families from their home in Jabal al-Akrad, that still until now. 260 families were forced out of their village of...

Syrian rebels backed by Turkey and a U.S.-led coalition are closing in on the Islamic State-held village of Dabiq, the site of an apocalyptic prophesy central to the militant group's ideology. Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel groups have been pushing southwards into Islamic State's territory in...

At least 15 people were killed -- and dozens injured -- in separate bombings that shook Iraqi capital Baghdad on Monday, according to local police officials. Police Lieutenant Hatem al-Jabri told Anadolu Agency that a suicide bomber had blown himself near a parking garage in the New Baghdad...

 A bomb killed at least 20 people at a Kurdish wedding in the northeast Syrian city of Hasaka on Monday, a Kurdish militia and a monitoring group said, while state media said the casualties had risen to at least 30 dead. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 22 died in the blast,...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Top Fateh al-Sham Front's commander has been killed Monday in U.S.-led coalition air strikes on northern Idlib province, conflicting reporters said. Ahmed Salama Mabrouk, dubbed: Abu Faraj al-Masri, was an Egyptian citizen who spent most of his sixty years in Jihadi groups....

(Zaman Al Wasl)- 24  fires were broken out in the fields of Tartus countryside Sunday, due to neglicance of farmers who burnt the residuals of olive harvest according to Samir Shamma, head of fire brigade in Tartus. Shamma revealed that the biggest fire was in Dahr Drikish which had...

By Crofton Black & Abigail Fielding-Smith of The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (The Daily Beast)- The Pentagon gave a controversial U.K. PR firm over half a billion dollars to run a top secret propaganda program in Iraq, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism can reveal. Bell...