Egypt put three Al Jazeera journalists on trial on Thursday on charges of aiding members of a "terrorist organization", in a case that human rights groups say shows the authorities are trampling on freedom of expression. The journalists, wearing white prison outfits, appeared in...
Six world powers and Iran made a "good start" in talks in Vienna towards reaching a final settlement in the decade-old stand-off over Tehran's nuclear program, but conceded their plan to get a deal in the coming months was very ambitious. By late July, Western governments hope to...
Ukraine suffered its bloodiest day since Soviet times on Thursday with a gun battle in central Kiev as President Viktor Yanukovich faced conflicting pressures from visiting European Union ministers and his Russian paymasters. Three hours of fierce fighting in Independence Square,...
Their campaign against Islamist President Mohamed Mursi helped the army topple Egypt's first freely elected leader, but some leaders of the Tamarud movement have broken away, saying the military threatens democracy. The split in Tamarud (Rebellion) is a sign of growing public anger...
Tears welled in the eyes of Alia Abdelqader, 65, as she told of her husband's reluctant return to Syria that morning – just a few days after the couple had escaped to Lebanon. Their daughter, a gynecologist, has been trapped in the embattled city of Yabrud with her two children. She...
Seeing Syrian children selling products in Beirut’s streets has become familiar. Nirmin, a 6-year-old girl from Aleppo wonders in Beirut street selling flowers, with her under 13 years old three brothers, and her 5 years old cousin who sells tissues....
An official with the pro-Syrian Arab Democratic Party was assassinated by masked gunmen in the northern city of Tripoli Thursday, triggering violence that left two people killed and five wounded. Unknown assailants on a small motorcycle...
Islamist rebels in eastern Syria have ordered women to put on the Islamic veil, warning that anyone not doing so would be held to account, in a concerted new attempt by hardliners to impose their strict views on society. In a statement, an organization calling...
Forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad have ‘kicked to death’ a 105-year-old refugee woman in Damascus last January, her son told Zaman Alwasl. Om Faris al-Shibli, who fled with her family the embattled city of Aleppo to settle down in the Old City of Damascus, was a...
The U.N. Security Council will likely vote on a draft resolution to boost humanitarian aid access in war-torn Syria on Friday, diplomats said, but it was unclear if Russia and China would support or veto the Western- and Arab-backed text....
Fresh fighting broke out in central Kiev on Thursday, shattering a truce declared by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, as the Russian-backed leader met European ministers demanding he compromise with pro-EU opponents. A Reuters photographer saw the bodies of 21 dead civilians...
Bashar al-Assad forces backed by Iran proxy Hezbollah militia kept up their shelling of the town of Yabroud and the surrounding Qalamoun region over the last ten days. Zaman Alwasl reporter said 18 regular army soldiers have been killed due to fierce clashes with...
General Salim Idriss has rejected his dismissal as military chief of the rebel Free Syrian Army, saying the whole chain of command needed a "total restructuring" - highlighting deep divisions in the opposition. Speaking in a video statement on Wednesday, flanked by several...
Insurgents reclaimed control of the Sheikh Najjar industrial area east of Aleppo on Tuesday. The Syrian military had said that it occupied Sheikh Najjar over the weekend, but opposition statements and pictures claimed fighters from the Islamic Front and Jabhat al-Nusra had pushed out...
Syrian government forces are using a powerful type of cluster munition rocket not seen before in the conflict, Human Rights Watch said today. The new use of cluster munitions is causing civilian casualties and adding to the country’s already devastating legacy of unexploded...
A “barrel bomb” strike near a school in Deraa killed at least 18 people Tuesday as the crude devices rained down on several other parts of the country The Britain-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said the casualty figure was likely to rise, due to the severe...
Violent clashes between Syrian opposition factions and the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) broke out in early January in different areas of northern Syria. The clashes followed ISIS’s preparations to storm the town of Atarib and the border crossing at Bab al-Hawa to Aleppo’s...
Three years after its revolution sparked the Arab Spring, and following political and security upheavals that nearly nullified its achievements, Tunisia succeeded in peacefully declaring the birth of its second republic. On January 26, the constituent assembly ratified the new...
Following nine days of talks, the first round of the Geneva II conference ended with little progress toward solving Syria’s political crisis. On February 10, 2014, UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi announced a new round of negotiations. The first round prompted all to assess and question what...
Despite a forthcoming review of options in the deteriorating Syria crisis, the White House on Tuesday signaled that President Barack Obama remains wary of any direct U.S. involvement in the three-year-old civil war. U.S. policy toward Syria...
