The CIA is expanding a clandestine effort to train opposition fighters in Syria amid concern that moderate, U.S.-backed militias are rapidly losing ground in the country’s civil war, U.S. officials said. But the CIA program is so minuscule that it is expected to produce only a few hundred...

Italy appeals for help to deal with migrant problem after deaths of more than 100 African migrants, including three children More than 100 people were dead and about 200 missing on Thursday night after a migrant boat caught fire on the perilous sea crossing from Africa...

When radical Islamists tore down a cross and hoisted a black flag above a church in the northern Syrian city of Raqqah last week, it underscored the increasingly hostile environment for the country’s Christians. Although Syria is majority Sunni Muslim, it is one of the most religiously and...

Rebel fighters executed 2 men, by shots on the head, and threw their corpses in the main market of Yabroud city, Damascus countryside along with a paper which mentioned that the men were subject to Shariah punishment, Syrian  watchdog  said.   The...

A group of powerful rebel brigades in northern Syria is struggling to defuse an armed standoff pitting insurgents against an affiliate of Al Qaeda for control of a strategic town near the Turkish border.   The conflict over the town, Azaz, has shuttered a Turkish...

 International inspectors racing to meet a mid-2014 deadline to eliminate Syria's chemical stockpile said Thursday they have made "encouraging initial progress" in their mission, and hope to start onsite inspections and begin disabling equipment within the next week. An advance team of...

   The Syrian government is unlawfully holding tens of thousands of political detainees solely on the basis of their peaceful activity, Human Rights Watch said today in opening a campaign to cast light on their fate. Many have been held for long periods and tortured....

Six Syrian rebel groups called on al-Qaida and its rival Western-backed rebels to end their infighting in northern Syria as international inspectors tasked with overseeing the destruction of the government's chemical arsenal pressed on with their second full day of work in the...

    Syria's opposition Ambassador to Doha expressed his sorrow for the collective resignation by 4 employees including the consul last week. Mr. Nizar al-Heraki described the resignation of Consul Omar Idlebi with other three employees as “ a surprising act", as...

 A medical source from the embattled Ghouta towns revealed death of 6 children at least because of famine and lack of food, "we are not in Somalia,'' the source said to Zaman Alwasl. '' People are dying under severe siege by Bassar al-Assad forces to rebel-held areas....

In an unprecedented move, Saudi Arabia has not delivered its annual address at the UN General Assembly in protest at the international organization’s failure to solve major Muslims issues such as Syria, Palestine, and the Rohingya in Myanmar. “This is the first time that Saudi Arabia...

    The exchange rate of the Syrian pound rapidly strengthened against the US dollar recently after the international community agreed to resolve the chemical weapon crisis within the United Nations framework.   The Syrian pound showed more than 20...

    Rebels in Damascus countryside have downed a reconnaissance aircraft  (portable by a parachute) for the first time, according to footage has surfaced on the internet .   Analysts assured that Assad's air force take into account the...

 Putin nominated for Nobel Peace Prize because he 'actively promotes settlement of all conflicts arising on the planet'   Russian President Vladimir Putin has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. The former KGB agent has been recommended by an...

A Muslim man who had a sudden brain aneurysm that left him in a coma has converted to Christianity following a near-miraculous recovery. Karim Shamsi-Basha was in a coma for a month in 1992 but when he woke up, he began a 20-year journey that lead to him becoming a Christian.  His...

Azerbaijan on Wednesday accused Armenia of resettling Syrian refugees in a disputed territory the two have been fighting over for decades. Azerbaijan's UN ambassador said the rival neighbor had started a "very dangerous process" by moving Syrian Armenians into Nagorny Karabakh. Armenia...

A Tunisian rights group on Wednesday accused the police of harassing the tiny Jewish community on the southern island of Djerba, saying it had come under a string of attacks. "Tunisian Jews feel in danger, they are really afraid," Yamina Thabet, the president of the Tunisian Association...

The Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) , Ban Ki- moon urged Kuwait to host the second donors' conference for Syrian humanitarian relief, KUNA news agency reported.   Ban expressed hope "for Kuwait to host the second donors' conference to support the humanitarian situation...

Aoun says he doesn't object Hezbollah engagement in Syria in the absence of political solution, stresses he won't run for presidency Change and Reform parliamentary bloc leader, MP Michel Aoun, said the solution for the Syrian refugees influx does not lie in bringing donations...

Fighters loyal to al Qaida have opened up a new offensive against a U.S.-backed rebel group that once escorted U.S. Sen. John McCain into northern Syria, according to Internet postings and news accounts. The Islamic State of Iraq and Sham, an al Qaida affiliate whose fighters come from a...