French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has ordered a probe into allegations of sex abuse by French soldiers in the Central African Republic, aides said Friday. The minister instructed French investigators to pursue the probe "as soon as he became aware of documents issued on January 19 by...
(Hurriyet Daily)- A Turkish man wanted by Russia for allegedly killing one of the two pilots of the Russian jet downed by Turkey near the Turkish-Syrian border in late 2015 has appeared at a funeral ceremony in Istanbul, saying he would go back to Syria. “I am here and there. I am going...
Syrian peace negotiations are starting Friday afternoon as UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura will meet the regime delegation, headed by the permanent representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the UN, Bashar al-Jaafari. "As previously announced by the U.N. Special Envoy for...
Iraq has signed a $328 million deal with U.S. company General Electric that will boost power output during peak summer months, officials said Friday, although it falls far short of the country's needs. The deal will make only a small dent in the country's major summer production shortfall,...
German authorities said Friday they had carried out raids at the homes of elderly former SS soldiers accused of war crimes, including involvement in a 1944 civilian massacre in France. The three suspects, all in their 90s, were members of the so-called "Hitler Youth" SS division blamed for...
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Friday it would be difficult for the moderate Syrian opposition to attend peace talks in Geneva without a ceasefire to put a stop to the Russian bombing of its fighters. "Especially the constant bombing by Russia of opposition areas creates a...
Syrian opposition members met for a fourth day in the Saudi Arabian capital Friday but had still not announced whether they would join peace talks beginning the same day in Geneva. The Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee (HNC) has said it will not attend the negotiations with the...
A bomb and gun attack on a Shiite Muslim mosque in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province killed two people and wounded at least 7 Friday, a witness and Saudi-owned media said. The witnesses said in an audio testimony sent to Reuters by a local activist that an explosion was followed by shooting in...
Translation by Yusra Ahmed (Zaman Al Wasl)-As Syrian peace talks is due to start in Geneva on Friday, wide voices have opposed inviting Saleh Muslim, one of the leaders of the Kurdish PYD militia, to the planned talks saying he is a Syrian regime ally and never been an opponent....
(Zaman Al Wasl)- At least 21 people, including 4 children, have been killed on Thursday in regime aerial bombing on rebel-held areas, monitor said. The Syrian Network for Human Rights said 9 people have been killed in regime army attack on Kafr Takharim in northern Idlib province....
(Foreign Policy)- Its title is prosaic and its content dry, but the stark statistics in the U.N.’s annual summary of relief programs tell the story of Syria’s humanitarian nightmare. This is a country on life support: 13.6 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, Syrians are...
The head of the Saudi-backed Syrian opposition said Thursday his group would not attend UN-brokered peace talks in Geneva until an agreement was reached on aid entering besieged towns. "The opposition is prepared to go to Geneva if these measures are taken," Riad Hijab, coordinator of the High...
More than 2.5 million Syrian refugees are currently living in Turkey, a senior minister said Thursday. Yalcin Akdogan, one of Turkey’s deputy prime ministers, said around 2,541,000 refugees had undergone a biometric registration system and were living in Turkey. Addressing parliament’s budget...
France and Iran heralded a series of major deals thought to be worth billions of dollars on Thursday as the two countries resealed trade ties following the lifting of sanctions against Tehran. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, visiting Paris as part of a tour that saw him stop in Rome earlier...
The Syrian opposition will not attend peace talks in Geneva Friday, a senior member said. U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura had been planning to launch indirect peace talks in Geneva Friday. "For certain we will not head to Geneva and there will not be a delegation from the High Negotiations...
ISIS claimed responsibility Thursday for a bomb attack outside the residence of Yemeni President Abed Rabbou Mansour Hadi which killed seven people. In a statement online, the militant group said the attack was carried out by a suicide car bomber it identified as Abu Hanifa al-Hollandi,...
The powerful Syrian Kurdish YPG militia and its local allies have drawn up plans for a major attack to seize the final stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border held by ISIS fighters, a YPG source familiar with the plan said Thursday. Such an offensive could deprive ISIS fighters of a logistical...
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has discussed Russia's military operation in Syria with his Syrian counterpart Fahad Jassim al-Freij at a meeting in Moscow, RIA news agency reported Thursday, citing Russia's ministry. During the meeting they confirmed their intention to further increase...
Syria peace talks due to start in Switzerland on Friday "cannot fail," the chief UN mediator in the conflict said in a video message to the Syrian people Thursday. "You have seen enough conferences, two of them already taken place," Staffan de Mistura said on the eve of the intra-Syrian...
Britain is to offer refuge to unaccompanied children from Syria and other conflict zones, the government announced Thursday. Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said his department would fund programs to identify children in camps on Syria’s borders as well as those already in Europe with a...
