The United States has nearly finished setting up an air base in Kurdish-controlled northern Syria and was proceeding with the construction of a second base for dual military and civilian use, a Kurdish website said on Sunday. A spokesman for U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said, however, the...

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Sunday demanded the "urgent" relocation of thousands of refugees to other EU countries, as neighbouring Macedonia further tightened a border blockade trapping them in his country. He made the call on the eve of a crucial EU-Turkey migration summit in...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- At least 13 people have been killed on Sunday in regime mortar fire targeted Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood in northern Aleppo city, activists said. The clashes have also renewed in the war-torn city between Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and moderate rebels near the...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian regime plans to dissolve two powerful intelligence departments, a move seeks to give immunity to members involved in war crimes as well as before Russia and U.S. agree on Bashar al-Assad destiny, well-informed sources told Zaman Al Wasl. Sources said al-Assad has plans...

Editing by Yusra Ahmed (Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian women refugees in Lebanon face unbearably difficult living conditions, which make them subject to exploitation and abuse, resulted mainly from the shortfalls in international assistance and discriminatory policies imposed by the Lebanese...

At least 18 migrants died Sunday after their boat capsized in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece, a Turkish official said. The Turkish coastguard rescued 15 migrants from the boat off the coastal town of Didim in southwest Turkey, the official told AFP, speaking on...

ISIS claimed responsibility for a suicide truck bomb blast that killed at least 47 people Sunday south of Baghdad. In a statement posted on social media, ISIS named the bomber who detonated his explosives-laden truck at a checkpoint outside the city of Hilla as Abu Islam al-Ansari....

Two Italians kidnapped last July in Libya returned to Italy Sunday to a mute homecoming, amid questions over why two others snatched with them were killed. Gino Pollicardo, 55, and Filippo Calcagno, 65, were met by relieved relatives at Rome's Ciampino airport in the early hours and...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- A senior rebel commander in southern Damascus suburbs called on rebel groups to defend Yarmouk refugee camp from an imminent fall to favor of the Islamic State. Abu Nafe'e al-Dimashq, commander of Duha al-Islam Brigade, said on Saturday that all rebel factions operating in...

(Middle East Eye)- Last September, Israeli and Russian media reported a deal between the Russian aerospace company Oboronprom and Israeli Aerospace Industries for the sale of 10 IAI Searcher drones to Russia. Since the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia, in which Russia lost more manned...

A total of 135 people were killed in the first week of a partial truce in Syria in areas covered by the deal, a monitoring group said on Saturday, highlighting its fragile nature just days before the United Nations attempts to reconvene peace talks. U.N. envoy Staffan de...

Islamic State is losing a battle against forces arraigned against if from many sides in Iraq and Syria and the focus would turn to stabilizing cities seized back from them, the U.S. envoy to a coalition fighting the group said on Saturday. Addressing a press conference in...

Turkish authorities on Saturday detained at least two human traffickers after they shuttled some 120 Syrian refugees to the Aegean coast in a sign Turkey may be stepping up efforts to curb the flow of migrants to Europe. Gendarmes stopped the group, mostly made up of women and...

Veteran Sudan Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi, one of the fiercest critics of President Omar al-Bashir's government, died of a heart attack on Saturday aged 84, officials said. "The Islamist intellectual Hassan al-Turabi has died," the state broadcaster reported. It interrupted its...

 One of the main Western-backed Syrian opposition groups has elected a new leader after the term of its former chief ended. The Turkey-based Syrian National Coalition says longtime member Anas al-Abda was elected president on Saturday, replacing Khaled Khoja. The coalition said in a...

 (Zaman Al Wasl)- An official from the Kurdish YPG militia said Saturday the Turkish army had fired on YPG members near Qamishli city in northeast Syria, close to the Turkish border. Redur Xelil, an official from the People's Protection Units (YPG) said: "There was firing by Turkish troops...

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Saturday that Syrian President Bashar Assad must leave at the beginning of a political transition, not at the end. "For us it is very clear it's at the beginning of the process, not at the end of the process, it's not going to be 18 months," Jubeir...

A total of 135 people were killed in the first week of a fragile truce in Syria in areas covered by the cessation of hostilities agreement, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday. In areas not covered by the ceasefire, which came into force on Feb. 27, 552 people were killed,...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Erbin's activists have formed the first human rights association in the embattled Eastern Ghouta Suburbs, local council said on Saturday. Residents have elected seven members, including a woman, to handle the association that will be affiliated to the towns' local council....

France will deliver arms, that were initially manufactured for the Lebanese army under a now suspended $3 billion Saudi grant, to Riyadh instead, a media report said Saturday. (The Daily Star)