(Reuters) - Islamic State militants gained ground in western  Iraq  on Wednesday, overrunning several villages on the edge of the capital of Anbar province, police sources and local officials said. Iraqi police came under attack from the insurgents at dawn in Albu Ghanim and...

 Three weeks of Saudi-led airstrikes in  Yemen  have led to defections of army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, military sources said, dealing a blow to his efforts to stage a comeback. Saleh has teamed up with his old foes, the Iranian-allied Houthis,...

As many as 34 people have been killed on Wednesday by Syrian airstrikes on rebel-held areas in north-western and southern parts of the country, a monitoring group said. The aerial bombardment against areas in the north-western city of Idlib and its suburb Saraqeb left 24 people killed,...

(Anadolu Agency)- Hundreds of families are under siege in the Iraqi city of Ramadi after Daesh seized control of the Albu Ghanim area on Wednesday, a security source said. Iraqi forces and tribal fighters withdrew from Albu Ghanim area after fierce clashes with Daesh, Brigader Khalaf...

Dozens of inmates have escaped from jail in Sudan's western Darfur region following clashes with prison guards, police said Wednesday. One inmate was killed and four policemen injured in clashes that erupted on Tuesday in the main prison in Zalingei, capital of Central Darfur State,...

 (Anadolu Agency)- Racist statements and swastikas were drawn on a building in the western German city of Moers, which the city was planning to use as a shelter for refugees from different countries, local police reported Wednesday. The building, which used to be a hotel, was...

An estimated 400 migrants, including children are believed to have drowned off the coast of Libya while trying to reach Italy last weekend, survivors who reached the Italian mainland Tuesday told an international charity organization. The eyewitnesses who recounted the tragedy were...

    (Reporting by Mohamed al-Hussein; Translation by Yusra Ahmed) Top commander of an Iraqi Yazidi militia said Monday he dissociated his militia from fighting alongside with Iraqi Kurdish and Shiite militias, a statement comes hours after his release from detention by...

The United Nations said on Tuesday that its Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura planned to consult Syrian factions and interested countries on a new round of peace talks, confirming a Reuters report. "Starting in May ... de Mistura will proceed with a series of in-depth, separate...

(Reuters) - Crude oil futures rose on Tuesday on signs of falling U.S. oil production, weakness in the dollar and tensions in the Middle East, particularly Yemen. North Dakota's February oil production fell 15,000 barrels per day (bpd) versus January, monthly data showed on Tuesday,...

  (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday imposed an arms embargo targeting the Iran-allied Houthi rebels who now control most of Yemen as battles in the south of the country intensified. It also demanded the Houthis stop fighting and withdraw from areas they have seized,...

   Syria said on Tuesday only 6,000 residents remain in the war-battered Palestinian camp Yarmouk on the edge of Damascus that has seen intensified fighting since Islamic State launched an offensive to seize it from rival insurgents. U.N. and Syrian officials had earlier...

 Western-backed fighters in southwestern  Syria , the one part of the country where they are strong, have spoken out this week against al Qaeda, a sign of friction that could lead to new fighting among opponents of President Bashar al-Assad. Four years into a civil war,...

(By Abdullah Al Ghadawi; Transation by Yusra Ahmed) Prominent Shi'ite cleric Mohammed al-Husseini called on Arab Shiites to return to the Arab Nation and to leave the Iranian regime that deceives them and takes them away from their Arab identity in this...

(Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi and President Barack Obama will discuss the fight against Islamic State on Tuesday at a White House meeting likely to be dominated by Iraqi requests for U.S. arms and tension over Iran's role on the battlefield. In his first U.S....

The delivery of Russian-made S-300 defense missile systems to Iran will not be a threat to Israel or any other country in the region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. Lavrov's statement came on Monday after Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to lift the ban...

A Saudi-led coalition on Monday accused Yemen's Shiite Houthi group of storing arms in schools and hospitals. "We have information that arms and equipment stored under schools, hotels and houses are equal in amount to those already destroyed," coalition spokesman Ahmed al-Asiri said at...

  (Video)- Rebels of Al Shamiya Front blew up remains of Syrian regime's Air Force Intelligence building in Aleppo  with 2 tunnel bombs, according to footage posted on YouTube Monday. Aleppo, near the Turkish border, is a major frontline in the Syrian war. Rebel groups...

Russia  paved the way on Monday for missile system deliveries to Iran and started an oil-for-goods swap, signaling that Moscow may have a head-start in the race to benefit from an eventual lifting of sanctions on Tehran. The moves come after world powers,...

The United Nations' Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, is proposing to hold consultations in Geneva on new political talks, diplomatic sources said on Monday, more than a year after U.N.-led peace talks collapsed. Nobody from De Mistura's office was available to comment on the...