The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF warned on Wednesday that human smugglers have lowered their rates for refugees who travel to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea as weather conditions worsen in winter. Smugglers made over 50 percent reductions for refugees who have been trying to...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian rebels took control of strategic hill northeast Hama province late on Thursday after heavy clashes with regime troops and their allied militias, killing at least 50, a rebel commander said. Ajnad al Sham, key rebel unit in the Army of Conquest, and other Islamist...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Death toll of Russian air strikes hit Al Bukamal border town east Syria on Wednesday has risen to 50, Islamic State's news outlets said. 13 children and 4 women were among the victims of Russia's aerial campaign against the ISIS-held town of Al Bukamal town on the Iraqi...

Although Russia claimed to be targeting terrorism when it launched airstrikes in Syria last month, moderate opposition groups and civilians in their controlled areas were the most affected, even more than Daesh. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Tuesday that its air forces hit 2,084...

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development forecast growth for Turkey at 3 percent in 2015, in a report released on Thursday. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) expects the Turkish economy to grow 3 per cent in 2015 and 2.8 per cent in 2016, below the...

Three million migrants fleeing war and poverty are seen entering the EU by 2017 in a development likely to have a marginal positive impact on the economy, the European Commission said Thursday. In its first ever assessment of the economic effect of Europe's biggest migration crisis...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Russian warplanes hit Thursday a medicine factory which also operates as a hospital in the northern countryside of Aleppo city, in a flagrant aggression on main hospitals in rebel-held areas that have been forced to close indefinitely after being targeted by Russia and regime...

 Chemical weapons experts have determined that mustard gas was used during fighting in Syria in August, according to a report by an international watchdog seen by Reuters. The chemical - which causes severe delayed burns to the eyes, skin and lungs and is banned under international law...

Federal prosecutors say four men, two of them Indian citizens, have been charged with trying to send money to an al-Qaeda leader. The U.S. Justice Department says it was part of ongoing efforts to carry out violence against U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. An indictment filed in...

At a dusty checkpoint on the front line facing ISIL in northern Syria, a steady trickle of cars, vans and trucks passes by on their way from Raqqa, the extremist group’s main stronghold. The checkpoint near the town of Ain Issa is no more than an abandoned building beside a dirt track,...

Britain said on Thursday there was a significant possibility that Islamic State's Egyptian affiliate was behind a suspected bomb attack on a Russian airliner that killed 224 people in the Sinai Peninsula. Russia dismissed the claim as speculation and Egypt said there was no indication so...

(Reuters)- Kurdish militants ended a month-old ceasefire in Turkey Thursday, a day after President Tayyip Erdogan vowed to "liquidate" them, dashing hopes of any let-up in violence in the wake of a national election. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group said the ruling AK Party,...

A roadside car bomb killed at least nine people and wounded four others in northeast Lebanon on Thursday, in an area close to the Syrian border where violence has spilled over from the war next door, security sources said. The blast ripped through a commercial area of the Sabil...

The U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq targeted the militants with 23 airstrikes Wednesday, the U.S. military said in a statement. Twenty fresh strikes in Iraq targeted the militant group in eight cities, including Sinjar, Ramadi and Mosul, the statement released Thursday...

A Bahraini court Thursday revoked the citizenship of five Shiites convicted of spying for Iran and sentenced them to life imprisonment, a judicial source told AFP. The verdict comes amid escalated tension between Bahrain and Iran, as Manama recalled its ambassador and asked Tehran's envoy to...

French Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema was placed under formal judicial investigation Thursday in connection with an alleged attempt to blackmail fellow-France soccer international Mathieu Valbuena with the use of a sex video. A statement from the public prosecutor in Versailles west of...

(Reuters)- Representatives of four Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel groups fighting on the ground in Syria Thursday dismissed a report that FSA factions would meet with Russian officials next week in Abu Dhabi. The RIA news agency said a delegation from the FSA had agreed to meet with Russian...

The Syrian state and allied militia have detained and abducted tens of thousands of people since 2011 in a campaign of enforced disappearances that is a crime against humanity, Amnesty International said in a report on Thursday. The rights watchdog interviewed relatives of the...

The U.S. military said on Wednesday it was moving toward providing additional weaponry to Syrian opposition forces battling Islamic State after territorial gains in the past week by the U.S.-backed fighters. Colonel Steve Warren, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition...

Warplanes believed to be Russian carried out several air strikes on Wednesday on areas of northwestern Syria that were included in a local ceasefire agreed by warring sides in September, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The strikes hit the outskirts of the towns of Maarat...