Egypt will reduce spending on fuel subsidies by nearly 43 percent in the 2016/17 budget due mainly to lower global energy costs, officials said Saturday. Finance Minister Amr al-Garhy told a news conference state energy subsidies would fall to 35 billion Egyptian pounds ($3.94 billion)...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian rebels launched Saturday a counterattack on regime forces and allied militias in the southern countryside of Aleppo province, seizing control of three towns, field commander told Zaman al-Wasl. Rebels have recaptured al-Khalediya town and big parts of Barneh and Zeitan...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Fierce clashes erupted late on Saturday between Islamic State and Nusra Front in the embattled Yarmouk refugee camp south of Damascus, leaving casualties from both sides, local reporter said. The clashes are still underway as ISIS fighters press to capture the western...

  (Zaman Al Wasl)- A senior commander in the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) died of his wounds on Friday in northern Aleppo province, activists said. The Turkish national, known as 'Jiya', was the YPG's  military commander in Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood of Aleppo city. Jiya...

 Egypt's assistant state prosecutor said on Saturday Italy had demanded thousands of phone records to investigate the murder of student Giulio Regeni in Cairo, charging that the request was unconstitutional. Mostafa Suleiman told a press conference that Italian investigators had made the...

Rebels seized a town in southern Syria from groups loyal to Islamic State just a day after fighters captured another town from the hardline militants in a separate insurgent assault in the north, a rebel source and a monitoring group said. The rebels had by late on Friday taken...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- A military source gave Zaman al-Wasl names of regime army pilots who committed Deir al-Asafir massacre ten days ago that left 32 people killed, mostly women and children, east of Damascus. The army officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the perpetrators of the...

Five migrants - four women and one child - drowned when their boat capsized off the Greek island of Samos close to Turkey's coast, Greek coast guard officials said on Saturday. Five other migrants were rescued, the officials said, and coast guard vessels assisted by a...

A car bomb outside a restaurant in the Somali capital killed three people and wounded five on Saturday, an official said. "The blast killed three civilians and wounded five others. It was a car bomb that was parked here, at this small restaurant," Abdifatah Omar, the spokesman for...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- At least 4 people have been killed on Saturday in regime air strikes on a g athering area for displaced people in the southern countryside of Idlib, according to activists. Th two strikes that also have left 10 people wounded hit a housing for displaced families in...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- A Free Syrian Army unit operating in Eastern Qalamoun region took Friday a series of hilltops from the Islamic State fighters near the desert town of Dumeir, northeastern the capital, activists said. The clashes are still underway between ISIS and 'Martyr Ahmed al-Abdo Forces'...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Kurdish PYD militia launched a series of arrests in villages affiliated to al-Haul in eastern countryside of Hasaka province, local activists said. The arrests came as residents of al-Haul were planning to rally after Friday prayers to demand return of displaced people who...

Reporting by Faris al-Rifai; Translation by Yusra Ahmed (Zaman Al Wasl)- The Local Coordination Committee of the newly ISIS-liberated city of Palmyra launched Friday a campaign to highlight the miserable situation of people of the ancient city, according to statement posted Friday. The...

The spokesman for a Saudi-led coalition behind a year-long military campaign against Yemen's Shiite rebels says it's ready to commit to a cease-fire as long as the rebels abide by a U.N. Security Council resolution that calls for their pullout from Yemeni cities. Brig. Gen. Ahmed al-Asiri told...

 Syrian mediators reached an agreement Friday for the release of some 300 cement workers kidnapped by the ISIS, a monitor said, but it was unclear exactly how many were freed. ISIS abducted the employees on Monday from Al-Badia cement factory outside the town of Dumeir, around 50...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian rebels on Friday have thwarted major attack launched by regime forces and allied militias on Handarat district in northern Aleppo province, activists said. Bashar al-Assad's forces aim to capture the strategic Handarat camp to cut  rebels supply route as well to...

 Iraq's counter-terrorism forces backed by U.S.-led coalition air strikes reached the centre of the western town of Hit, dislodging ISIS militants and evacuating thousands of civilians, state television said Friday. A local commander said the pro-government forces had routed the militants...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Free Syrian Army fighters on Friday have taken new ground from an Islamic State-linked groups in the western countryside of Daraa as clashes enter its third week in the southern province, activists said. The moderate FSA fighters have recaptured the town of Tsail from the...

Translation by Yusra Ahmed (Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian regime has complied with rebels’ demands to ease the siege imposed the northeastern countryside of Homs province in order to get back the water supplies to loyal areas, local reporter said Friday. Ceasing bombardment on civilians, allow...

Translation by Yusra Ahmed (Zaman Al Wasl)- A well-informed source reported that The kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) has arrested Saleh al-Jallad, Head of the Air Force Intelligence in Hasaka, and his son, amid conditions indicate of possible conflict between the regime and (YPG) which...