Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday branded U.S. support for rebel forces in Syria as illegal and ineffective, saying U.S.-trained rebels were leaving to join Islamic State with weapons supplied by Washington. In an interview with U.S. networks recorded ahead of a meeting...

(Translation by Yusra Ahmed) Two official documents revealed the cooperation between a Lebanese Trading group and its Spanish branch with the Syrian regime’s Ministry of Interior, and provided them with night binoculars and X-ray-scanners, in the same time when the regime with all its...

An official says 17 Syrians have drowned after their boat sank off the Turkish coast on its way to the Greek island of Leros, AP reported. Gov. Amir Cicek of Mugla province told the state-run Anadolu Agency that the Turkish Coast Guard rescued 20 other Syrian refugees early Sunday. No one...

Some 500 migrants were rescued in seven operations launched over the weekend in the Mediterranean, the Italian coastguard said. A spokesman told AFP Sunday that four of the rescue operations had already wound up but the others were ongoing. "Saturday was quiet on the whole but now there...

A week-old ceasefire agreement in northwest Syria appeared to hold Sunday after it was violated for the first time overnight, Reuters said. An online statement attributed to Fateh Army, or the Army of Conquest, said rebels shelled Shiite village al-Foua in retaliation for government...

Lionel Messi will be out for up to eight weeks with knee ligament damage suffered as Barcelona beat Las Palmas 2-1 on Saturday. Barca's troubles were eased, though, as Real Madrid remain a point behind the Catalans after being held 0-0 at home by 10-man Malaga. Villarreal now lead La Liga...

Hanna Yussef dreams of following thousands of fellow Iraqi Christians to refuge in Europe, abandoning a precarious existence in Jordan, where he has lived since fleeing Islamist violence at home. But he's staying put for now because he can't afford the money needed for the perilous...

The United States and its allies conducted 25 air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria on Friday, a U.S. military statement said. Twenty-four air raids were carried out against targets near 10 cities in Iraq, including Mosul and Ramadi, it said. In Syria, an Islamic...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he saw an opportunity for progress this week towards ending Syria's four-year civil war, as he met Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday. Western officials said Kerry wants to launch...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's popularity has dropped sharply over her handling of the refugee crisis, two polls showed on Saturday, indicating a shift in the mood in Europe's most populous country towards the record influx of new arrivals. Merkel has been accused by her allies in...

 The death toll in a crush outside the holy city of Mecca on Thursday has risen to 769, Saudi Health Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Saturday. "The latest statistics up to this hour reveal 769 dead. That is an increase of 52 on the previous figures," Falih told a news conference. "Those...

A district commander and a sergeant in Saudi Arabia's border guard have been killed in an attack launched from across the frontier with Yemen, the Saudi interior ministry said on Saturday. The men were killed by heavy gunfire from the Yemen side of the border on Friday after their patrol...

At least 17 people, most of them children, have killed in army missile attack on the embattled neighborhood of Al Waer in central city of Homs, a monitoring group said Saturday. The surface-to-surface missile targeted a public park in the besieged neighborhood where tens...

China and the United States will improve cooperation on fighting militancy, including intelligence exchanges, and work together to bring peace to Afghanistan, China's foreign ministry said after a leaders' summit in Washington. China says it faces a serious threat from Islamist militants...

Pakistani authorities are set to hang a man who says he was 15 when he was arrested for a murder he claims he did not commit, lawyers said on Saturday, in the latest case to shine a spotlight on Pakistan's crumbling criminal justice system. Ansar Iqbal says he was 15 when he and a friend...

Syrian rebels trained by the United States gave some of their equipment to the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front in exchange for safe passage, a U.S. military spokesman said on Friday, the latest blow to a troubled U.S. effort to train local partners to fight Islamic State militants....

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will try to launch a new initiative for a political solution in Syria during meetings in New York in the next week, starting with talks with his Iranian counterpart on Saturday, U.S. and other Western officials said. After backing a United...

Islam Army declared new battle against Syrian regime army in Quneitra province southwest the capital, a move looking for controlling strategic posts near the borderline with Israeli-Occupied Golan Heights. The dominant rebel group, in statement dated on Saturday, said the the battle...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Friday that ties with the United States had improved, although there was "still a long road to travel" before the two estranged nations could have normal relations. "The situation has certainly changed," Rouhani, in New York for the United...

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said that his views on the Assad regime in Syria have not changed since he was prime minister of Turkey, emphasising that there is no salvation for Syria with Bashar al Assad. Speaking to reporters in Istanbul, Erdogan was asked about his...