Egypt kicked off a long-awaited parliamentary election on Sunday, the final step in a process that was meant to put the country back on a democratic course but which critics say has been undermined by state repression. Egypt has been without a parliament since June 2012 when a...

Italy said Saturday that UNESCO has approved its suggestion to have the United Nation’s famous Blue Helmets protect heritage sites around the world from attacks by Islamist militants. “UNESCO has said yes to the Cultural Blue Helmets,” Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said in a statement,...

(Translation by Yusra Ahmed) It can be justified for the Syrian intelligence to miss the process of planning and implementing of the operation of Bassam al-Adel when he escaped the country with the MiG-23 fighting airplane in 1989 and landed in Israel.  But what can raise huge question...

Iran is to step up its military support for the Syrian regime in the form of advice on fighting terrorism, Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said Saturday. Abdollahian, quoted by state television, denied that his country had fighters on the ground in the Syrian conflict....

Thousands of migrants surged into tiny Slovenia on Saturday as an alternative route opened in Europe for them after Hungary sealed its border for their free flow, adding another hurdle in their frantic flight from wars and poverty toward what they hope is a better life in Western Europe. The...

Three Palestinians were shot dead on Saturday in what Israel said were thwarted knife attacks in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank as tensions ran high after more than two weeks of unrest. At least 40 Palestinians and seven Israelis have died in the street violence, which was...

Scores of Russians took to the streets in capital Moscow on Saturday to protest the government's intervention in Syria. Nearly 200 people took part in the protest in the Suvorov Square, chanting slogans against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The group...

(Translation by Yusra Ahmed) Alwaer neighborhood of the central city of Homs has almost disappeared from the scene of the Syrian revolution, especially after the beginning of the Russian attacks on countrysides of Homs, Hama, Idlib and Aleppo two weeks ago, in conjunction with the start of...

Syrian regime forces edged forward in the northern province of Aleppo on Saturday with air cover from Russian warplanes, but faced fierce resistance from rebel forces in the country's center, AFP reported. A Syrian military source told AFP that troops had advanced to within six kilometers...

After fleeing civil war, surviving a perilous sea crossing and trudging through several countries, Syrian refugees think they will receive basic food, shelter and fair treatment when they reach Austria. Most are right, but some tell a different tale. These people complain of...

 Migrants camped on France's north coast continued their bids to reach Britain on Thursday as the first autumn winds blew into their sprawl of tents and shanties and EU leaders arrived in Brussels, 200 kilometres away, to discuss the broader crisis. More than 3,500 migrants fleeing war and...

Syrian rebels said Friday 20 troops loyal to Bashar al-Assad have been killed in the ongoing clashes in in northern and eastern countryside of Homs as well 15 others have been wounded and taken captive in an ambush. Regime troops and their Iranian ally, backed by Russian jets launch major...

Syrian rebels on Friday have recaptured ground in the underway fighting in rural southern Aleppo as regime troops and their Iranian militia, backed by Russian jets  expand a counter-offensive with support from Moscow's two-week-old air campaign.   Syrian Revolution Co-ordinations said...

The death toll of Russian air strikes on rebel-held village of Teir Malla north of Homs city rose to 34, activists told Zaman Al Wasl as regime troops and their allies, backed by Russian jets launch major assault on long-held and strategic enclave of rebels north and west Syria. More 9...

Turkish warplanes shot down an unidentified drone in Turkish air space near Syria on Friday and a U.S. official said Washington believed it was of Russian origin. The Russian defense ministry said all of its planes in Syria had safely returned to base and that all its drones...

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas Friday condemned the torching by Palestinians of a West Bank site holy to Jews amid warnings it could inflame more than two weeks of deadly violence. Abbas called the arson attack on the flash-point Joseph's Tomb in Nablus irresponsible and said a...

Syrian troops and their allies, backed by Russian jets, attacked insurgent fighters south of Aleppo on Friday, a source in Syria and a monitoring group and activists said, as the army expands a counter-offensive with support from Moscow's two-week-old air campaign. "The military...

A suspected al Qaeda suicide bombing, accompanied by an attack with guns and grenades, killed 10 soldiers guarding an intelligence building in the western Yemeni city of Hodaida on Friday, security sources said. The sources said two of the assailants were also killed. "Gunmen...

Turkey has accused Russia of delaying the possibility of pulling Syria out of crisis through its involvement with airstrikes and military assistance. Russia began air operations in Syria on Sept. 30. The Kremlin claims the airstrikes are aimed at supporting the forces of Russia’s ally,...

The Syrian city of Aleppo is only 45 kilometers away from the Bab al-Hawa crossing along the Turkish border. Thousands of Iranian soldiers and fighters, preparing for the biggest military battle of the Syrian revolution since it began in 2011, are marching toward Aleppo, Syria’s most populated...