The United Nations invited Syria's government and opposition to peace talks in Geneva on Friday, but Saudi-backed opponents of President Bashar al-Assad have yet to decide whether to drop their objections to taking part. The U.N. Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura,...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian rebels have thwarted regime attack on Harbanafseh town in the southern countryside of Hama, killing three soldiers, field sources said Tuesday. Regime forces backed by Russian jets have launched major attack three weeks ago to capture southern countryside of Hama,...

Police cleared a suspicious package on Tuesday that had led to the evacuation of a building opposite the United Nations headquarters in New York that houses the U.N. missions of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. "It's all over," said John Miller, New York Police Department deputy commissioner for...

Translation by Yusra Ahmed (Zaman Al Wasl)- The high command of powerful Kurdish Asayish militia said Monday that regime-backed National defense Forces had planned for explosions hit Christian neighborhoods  in the northeastern city of Qamishli city in the New Year Eve. The leadership of...

The Syrian opposition council hoping to oust President Bashar Assad from power signaled on Tuesday it might accept an invitation to peace talks in Geneva but said a final decision would only be made on Wednesday. "There is consensus in the High Committee on being positive in our decision (to...

Some of the people that Russia backed to attend proposed peace talks over Syria peace got invitations to the talks from the United Nations, two people who received invitations said on Tuesday. The talks are scheduled to begin on Jan. 29 in Geneva. "I have been invited, and Haitham Manaa,...

Turkey will boycott Syrian peace talks planned for this week if the Kurdish opposition Democratic Union Party (PYD) has been invited as part of the negotiating team, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday. The PYD, which is fighting ISIS and has enjoyed military support from the...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Russian air strikes on Tuesday have killed 9 people in a rebel-held town in the northern province of Idlib, local activists said. The aerial attack hit the main marketplace of Ariha town, leaving 9 killed and 15 wounded, including 3 children in critical condition. On Monday,...

Iran says it will hold a "massive" naval drill near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the first such exercise since the incident involving 10 U.S. sailors who were briefly captured by Iran when they drifted into Iranian territorial waters earlier this month. The official IRNA news agency says...

Moscow did not ask Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down, nor did it offer him political asylum, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday. "In both cases, the answer is: 'No,'" Lavrov told his annual news conference. "This is untrue ... No one asked about political asylum, and...

The head of the Syrian opposition's negotiating team said he was not optimistic about upcoming peace talks, casting further doubt on whether the group will attend meetings planned for Friday in Geneva. Assad al-Zoubi was quoted by Arabic news channel Al-Hadath saying recent...

Translation by Yusra Ahmed (Zaman Al Wasl)- ِA Syrian refugee family in Lebanon said their two-month-old baby boy was died due to a medical mistake that led to septicemia in a Tripoli-based hospital. Saeed's family, who thought their baby's illness was no more than an infection could be...

At least 22 people were killed in an ISIS double suicide bomb attack at an army checkpoint in the central Syrian city of Homs Tuesday, AFP reported. In a breaking news alert, state television said 100 people had also been injured in the blasts in the Zara neighborhood of the city, which has...

The Syrian regime army on Monday recaptured from insurgents a strategic town in the southern province of Daraa after fierce fighting, securing its supply routes from the capital to the south, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting is...

The United Nations said on Monday it would issue invitations for marathon Syrian peace talks to begin this week, but opposition groups signaled they would stay away unless the government and its Russian allies halt air strikes and lift sieges on towns. The first talks in two...

Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke on Monday and agreed there was more work to be done to reach a deal on a reformed relationship between Britain and the European Union, a spokesman for the British leader said. Cameron has said he hopes to come to an...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Al-Nusra Front fighters raided a cannabis depot near the town of Maaret al Nouman in northern Idlib province, activists said Monday. Al-Nusra, al-Qaeda's branch in Syria, has confiscated large quantity of cannabis and weapons in al-Gadfa village near Maaret al-Nouman,...

Eighteen people were killed, including children, when an ISIS car bomb rocked the Al-Sukkari neighborhood of the northern city of Aleppo on Monday. A pro-opposition Civil Defense source told Anadolu Agency that the car bomb was detonated near a prison linked to the opposition Ahrar al-Sham...

Peace talks between the warring parties in Syria, which were scheduled to open Monday, will begin in Geneva on Jan. 29 and will last for six months, the U.N.'s Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said. De Mistura told reporters that the start date was pushed back because of a "stalemate" over the...

Syrian peace talks meant to begin this week were stalled on Monday partly over the question of who would represent the opponents of President Bashar al-Assad. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he expected clarity within a day or two, and expressed support for the United Nations...