Secretary of State John Kerry called on Monday for a peace conference on Syria "very soon" but said peace would not be possible without a transition government to replace President Bashar al-Assad. "We believe it is urgent to set a day, to convene the conference and work toward a new...

A car bomb killed at least 20 people on Monday in the Syrian town of Darkush in the northwestern Idlib province, near the Turkish border, a rights group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the the toll was expected to rise, as a large number of people suffered serious...

Muslims with physical and financial abilities are required to  perform hajj  once in their lifetime, but those who arrive in Saudi Arabia and then fall ill are given a hand to get to the finish line. Well-equipped ambulances with highly trained paramedics on Saturday...

  Dutch Foreign Ministry has offered the National Coalition a training course in negotiation skills and conflict resolution in one of its specialized institutes in Netherlands next November, an opposition source told Zaman Alwasl . The training session comes shortly before the...

  Once seen as the capital of Syria's revolution, Homs is now caught in a vicious stalemate between regime and rebel forces. James Harkin, the British Guardian reporter visits a divided city, where kidnappings are rife and chemical disarmament a low priority I first met Abu Ali at...

A Sufi Muslim shrine was blown up in eastern  Syria  on Sunday, opposition activists said, blaming al Qaeda-affiliated militants who have joined in the increasingly sectarian civil war. Militants placed explosives at the shrine of Sheikh Eissa Abdelqader al-Rifaiy in the...

A Syrian newsreader carried on broadcasting live despite two bombs exploding behind him. A startled  Syrian  television presenter kept his show going after two car bombs went off behind him before finally being told to abandon his seat. The devices exploded near...

Some two car bombs have reportedly exploded near Syria’s state television headquarters in central Damascus, the state news agency (SANA) reported on Sunday, AP reported. SANA said the building located at the Syrian capital’s Umayyad Square was damaged in the blast. "Two terrorist car...

The workers were traveling in the Idlib area when gunmen blocked their path, shot at their convoy, seized them and took them to an unknown location, according to a state news agency report. "An armed terrorist group today kidnapped a number of workers in the mission of the International...

  Syrian cartoonist Akram Raslan passed away under torture in Bashar al-Assad security chambers, the International Cartoonists Rights Network said .   Dr. Robert Russell, Executive Director of Cartoonists Rights Network International said in a statement ,...

  This year’s  hajj  is likely to be one of the safest in recent years. Saudi Arabia has secured the holy city of Makkah for the arrival of millions of hajjis. The equipment list is vast, the personnel well-trained, and with the installation of 1,166 CCTV cameras at...

This week, a Jordanian band went on a tour that included the Golan Heights, Nazareth, Haifa, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jerusalem. But the popular music group which is rated as one of the top five in the region faced a concerted social media and online attack as having participated in a...

The main Syrian opposition group within the Syrian National Coalition said Sunday it would not attend a proposed peace conference in Geneva and would quit if the whole coalition participated. “The Syrian National Council, which is the biggest bloc in the Coalition, has taken the firm...

Lebanon's government is enforcing new rules to limit the flow of Syrian refugees into the country, as the United Nations now registers about 3,000 a day. Yet many of the Syrians in Lebanon are not looking for assistance. Rather, they believe refugee status is a ticket to Europe or the United...

A car bomb exploded in a street lined with shops in the Iraqi city of Samarra, killing at least 17 people, police and medics said. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack on Saturday, but insurgent groups, including al-Qaeda, have been regaining ground this year, reversing a...

Almost 50 fighters have been killed in three days of skirmishes between jihadists and mainstream rebels in the Syria’s second city of Aleppo. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday that the violence began on Thursday between militants of the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic...

Classical Lebanese singer and actor, Wadih El Safi, died at the age of 92 on Friday evening after being taken to the hospital due to illness, reported the official Lebanese news agency. “The artist was present at the home of his son Tony in Mansuriyya (East Beirut) and was immediately taken...

A senior leader of the Pakistani Taliban has been captured by American military forces, a U.S. official said on Friday. Latif Mehsud was described by the State Department as a senior commander in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “I can confirm that U.S. forces did capture......

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal agreed with his French counterpart Lauren Fabius on Saturday that a political resolution is the best means to end the ongoing Syrian crisis. In a statement released by the French Foreign Ministry, the ministers called for strengthening the...

  The founder of Free Syrian Army denied to Zaman Alwasl rumors say he will be the Defence Minister of the opposition Interim government. Colonel Riad al-Asaad assured lack of communication with any opposition group including the National coalition. "I...