Middle East Monitor| Syrian activists have accused the regime of dropping lethal explosive barrels on the most condensed residential areas in the northern countryside of Hama. More than 100 cases were reported of people suffering from lethal chlorine gas, which erupted from an...

The sound of battles echoes from the outskirts of the capital as Christians in Damascus celebrated the Easter weekend, briefly ignoring the conflict for the yearly ritual. At the gates of Saint George Syrian Orthodox Church - just a few minutes walk from a school where a...

Four French journalists held captive in Syria for almost a year were free and "in good health" on Saturday, President Francois Hollande told AFP, saying they would be back in France within hours. In a statement to AFP, the president said he had "learned with great relief...

At least 30 Syrian regime troops were killed in clashes with the main armed opposition group Free Syrian Army on Friday. Salih Anadani, the media liaison for the armed al-Tawhid Brigade, told Anadolu Agency that the Free Syrian Army carried out military operations in the...

The Obama administration strongly condemned a Syrian government offensive on Friday that has ignited intense clashes with rebel groups in the besieged city of Homs. Damascus launched the advance to retake remaining rebel-held areas in the central Syrian city on Tuesday. ...

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has been in power for 15 years and is confined to a wheelchair, has won a fourth term with 81.53 percent of the vote, Interior Minister Tayeb Belaiz announced on Friday. Bouteflika’s closest rival Ali Benflis, who came second with 12.18...

Gulf Arab states took a step towards resolving a severe rift in the U.S.-backed alliance on Thursday by agreeing on ways to implement a security agreement they reached last year. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar on March 5,...

In September 2001, as the U.S. reeled from the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Vladimir Putin supported Washington's imminent invasion of Afghanistan in ways that would have been inconceivable during the Cold War. He agreed that U.S. planes...

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan applied to Turkey's constitutional court on Friday to challenge the alleged violation of his and his family's rights by social media, a senior official in his office told Reuters. Erdogan's government blocked Twitter and YouTube in March, drawing...

President Barack Obama signed a law on Friday that effectively bars an Iranian diplomat from serving as an envoy at the United Nations because of suspicions he was involved in the 1979-81 Tehran hostage crisis. Obama signed a law passed by the U.S. Congress that blocks any...

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The vice-principal of a South Korean high school who accompanied hundreds of pupils on a ferry that capsized has committed suicide, police said on Friday, as hopes faded of finding any of the 274 missing alive. The Sewol, carrying 476 passengers and crew, capsized on Wednesday...

A powerful car bomb exploded Friday outside a mosque in a pro-government district of central Syria, killing 14 peoples, state-run Syrian television reported. The bombing occurred as worshippers left the Bilal al-Habshi mosque on the edge of Akrama after attending Friday prayers, the...

Turkey's president appeared to rule himself out as a potential future prime minister on Friday, saying a "Putin-Medvedev model" under which he might swap roles with Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was not suitable for Turkey . President Abdullah Gul's comments threw open the...

Agence France Presse| Syrian army forces made advances on Friday around the Old City of Homs, where some 1,200 rebels are dug in and under regime siege, a security source told Agence France Presse. In a government-held district of the city, meanwhile, 14 people were...

A Tunisian diplomat was kidnapped on Thursday in the Libyan capital Tripoli, Libya's foreign ministry said, two days after gunmen seized Jordan's ambassador. Kidnappings have become commonplace in the oil producer, with foreign officials often the targets. The weak interim...

Iran has acted to cut its most sensitive nuclear stockpile by nearly 75 percent in implementing a landmark pact with world powers, but a planned facility it will need to fulfill the six-month deal has been delayed, a U.N. report showed on Thursday. The monthly update by...

Suspected Sunni Muslim militants killed at least 30 people around Iraq on Thursday including 12 soldiers in an assault on a remote army base in the north, deepening insecurity with a national election just two weeks away. Sectarian bloodshed has increased since the Shi'ite...

 At least 21 civilians, including two children, were killed and 80 injured Thursday in rebel shelling in some districts of Aleppo in Syria, a media report said. The residential neighbourhoods of Sulaimaniyeh, Midan and Maysalun in Aleppo were targeted by the rocket shells, SANA...