A senior commander for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah was gunned down Wednesday outside his home in southern Beirut, security officials said. Hezbollah blamed Israel for the killing, something officials there quickly denied. Hezbollah immediately announced the death of...

  Prominent Egyptian-born Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi has resigned from Al-Azhar's Senior Scholars Council, the prestigious Cairo-based religious institution's most authoritative body. In a Monday statement, al-Qaradawi said his resignation aimed to "register...

Israel is providing humanitarian aid to Syrian civilians caught up in fighting between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, its defence minister said on Tuesday. Israel has not publicly taken sides in the 2-1/2-year-old conflict in...

The much-anticipated "Geneva II" Syrian peace talks might not be held in Geneva due to insufficient hotel availability, UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said in an interview broadcast Tuesday. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon finally set a date last week for the peace conference,...

Interior Minister Prince Muhammad bin Naif, supervisor of the Saudi National Campaign for Syrians, has approved several relief programs for Syrian refugees at a cost of SR32 million. The amount will be utilized to supply 3,000 new tents, 300,000 blankets, 200,000 jackets, 600,000...

  Fire by snipers loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is blocking efforts to evacuate 12 Syrian and Lebanese Orthodox nuns from their convent in the town of Maalula, which was overrun by rebels on Monday, Al Arabiya News Channel reported Tuesday, citing rebel sources....

   An international watchdog group says its annual survey shows the most violent nations in the Middle East are perceived to be the region’s most corrupt and are getting worse.   Transparency International’s 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index ranks...

International aid agency Oxfam on Tuesday launched a “12 Days of Giving” appeal to help destitute Syrian refugee families in Jordan and Lebanon survive the region’s harsh winter months.   “Oxfam will be doing the best they can by delivering winter kits to help...

Lebanon's Hezbollah militia has conducted negotiations with armed opposition to release 11 militants who were captured during the ongoing battles near Damascus, according to website loyal to the Iran proxy in Syria. No more details have been revealed when or where yet,...

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar Bin Sultan in Moscow on Tuesday, Al Arabiya News Channel reported.   Details of the planned meeting are not immediately available, but the talks are likely to focus on the...

  The Iranian armed group Jeish al-Adl (Army of Justice) issued on Tuesday a statement claiming responsibility for attacking an Iranian military base near the southern city of Saravan. The statement said that dozens of Iranian Revolutionary Guards were killed...

Southern Countryside of Damascus city has been under unprecedented fierce invasion by the Syrian regime, Hezbollah and Abo al-fadhl al-Abbas militia, many towns there were at the brink of falling in their hands.   “fighters have quickly learnt from what...

Assad forces stormed Monday the campus of Damascus University, arresting number of anti-regime students, according to Revolution General Commission. The 32-month-old war in Syria has emboldened a state of fear among university students who are against Bashar al-Assad, many...

Deputy Leader of the opposition National Coalition and Comptroller General of Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood has accused the United States policy in Syria of disappointing the Syrian People at all aspects not only in the military support. In special interview with Zaman...

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has warned that one million people in crisis-hit Syria remain without food. “A conservative estimate is a million people without food,” said a senior Red Cross official on Monday. Simon...

Deaths and injuries were reported on Tuesday after a suicide bomber blew himself up in central Damascus, Syrian state television said. “A terrorist suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt blew himself up in the Jebbeh district of the Jisr al-Abyad neighborhood, causing...

Residents of a village in eastern Lebanon forced hundreds of Syrian refugees from an informal campsite on Monday, setting fire to tents after accusing them of raping a mentally-disabled man. But a doctor who examined the man said there was no evidence he was attacked, and one resident of the...

Lebanese authorities decided Monday to place Tripoli under army control for six months after a wave of sectarian killings linked to Syria's war left 11 dead in the main northern city. The decision was taken at a meeting between President Michel Sleiman, army chief General Jean Kahwaji...

Islamist fighters in Syria have taken over the ancient quarter of the Christian town of Maaloula and are holding several nuns in a monastery there, state news agency SANA said on Monday. Fighting for the town, about five km (three miles) from the main road linking Damascus to Homs, is...

The top UN official charged with destroying Syria's chemical weapons stockpile on Monday warned that the most difficult part of its mission in the conflict-ridden country still lay ahead. Meanwhile, a top Syrian official has urged countries "to start acting" to help Damascus comply...