There will be no new round of Syria talks for at least two or three weeks, the office of U.N. special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said in a statement on Thursday, after he consulted the U.N. Security Council for about two and a half hours. "He briefed on his intention to start the...

Translation by Yusra Ahmed (Zaman A Wasl)- Syrian rebels have thwarted regime attack on the village of al-Hadada in Latakia province for the seventh time this month, causing significant injuries and deaths among the regime forces and allied Shiite militias, local activists said. After a...

Syria's devastating war has killed more than 280,000 people, activists said Thursday in a new toll for the five-year conflict. The toll of 282,283 includes 81,436 civilians, among them 14,040 children and 9,106 women, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Non-extremist rebel fighters...

Translation by Rana Abdul (Zaman al-Wasl)- Islamic State on Wednesday captured Tell al-Nuri village in Hasaka province from a tribal rebel faction allied with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), activists said. The activist Rasid al-Janoubi told Zaman al-Wasl that Isis attacks targeted a...

(Eqtsad)- With the start of the harvest season each year, the regime forces and sectarian militias that aid it purposefully ignite fires whether by plane or by shelling fields from the checkpoints surrounding the cities and towns in Homs’ besieged northern countryside. Eqtsad’s correspondent...

 Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for vigilance against what he called a "soft war" mounted by the West and aimed at weakening the clerical establishment, state television reported on Thursday. "Our officials and all parts of the establishment should be vigilant about...

Writing by Abdullah Al Ghadawi (Zaman Al Wasl)- The war on al-Fallujah is complicated and holds particular symbolism, on the surface a war of trickery controlled by excuses and an ideological and sectarian war when read between the lines.  It is a righteous war where the nullification of...

 Taking a dig at the U.S. arms embargo against China, the Chinese Defence Ministry said on Thursday all such U.S. embargoes were a relic of the Cold War and should be lifted, after the U.S. fully removed one against Vietnam. The United States placed an arms embargo on China following...

Writing by Omar Sheikh Mohamed; Translation by Yusra Ahmed (Eqtsad)- Since the beginning of Syrian revolution in March 2011, the Damascus regime has adopted a policy to punish liberated areas by all economic and social means. The regime prevented essential goods from entering besieged and...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- A humanitarian aid convoy entered al-Houla region in the central province of Homs, carrying food and medical aid for 14,200 people in need for the third time this year, activists and U.N. aid agency said. The convoy contained life-saving aid including food, medical supplies and...

Islamic State claimed responsibility for stabbing an elderly Hindu businessman to death in Bangladesh, monitoring service SITE said on Wednesday, in what would be the second killing by the militant group in the country in less than a week. The Muslim-majority South Asian nation has witnessed a...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- A woman and two children were killed on Wednesday when regime's rocket-propelled grenades hit Kansafra village in northern Idlib province, local media center said. Another woman has lost her life in regime air strike on Koreen village near Ariha town. Meanwhile, media...

Writing by Abdul Salam Haj Bakri; Translation by Yusra Ahmed (Zaman Al Wasl)- There are many indicators pointing out to regime’s hands in the explosions hit Tartus and Jableh last week, as the Syrian opposition almost agree on that, while regime’s loyalists held the regime responsibility for...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- A car bomb detonated near border crossing with Turkey killed 4 rebel fighters and wounded 10 more in northern Aleppo province, activists said Wednesday. The blast rocked a checkpoint for Brigade 51th, a Free Syrian Army unit, near Bab al-Salameh border crossing. So far, no...

U.S.-backed Syrian militias are not preparing an assault on ISIS' de facto Syrian capital of Raqqa at present, a militia spokesman said, indicating the limited scope of a new offensive in nearby areas where fighting raged on Wednesday. Movements by the fighters in the U.S.-backed Syria...

At least seven migrants have drowned off the Libyan coast after the heavily overcrowded boat they were sailing on overturned, the Italian navy said Wednesday. The navy said 500 people had been pulled to safety and seven bodies recovered, but rescue operations were continuing and the death toll...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Wednesday 25 May is the 4th anniversary for the al-Houla massacre that shook world opinion in which over 115 civilians were killed mostly women and children. They were killed with the bullets and knives of the regime forces and the sectarian militias that are subordinate to it,...

Writing by Abdul Monem Halabi; Translation by Yusra Ahmed (Eqtsad)- A significant difference in the exchange rate of the U.S dollar against the Syrian pound has been remarked in besieged areas, where the Lira seems to be in better value. There are many reasons behind the better value of the...

Iraqi forces pushed towards ISIS group bastion Fallujah Wednesday from areas to the south as part of operations to retake the city from extremists, a commander said. Forces from Iraq's 8th Division backed by tribal fighters set out from the Amriyat al-Fallujah area south of the city and the...

(BBC)- A strategically significant Syrian airbase, used by Russia, appears to have been almost completely destroyed - according to new satellite imagery exclusively seen by the BBC. The Tiyas facility - near the recently re-captured city of Palmyra in Syria - was repeatedly hit - with the...