The Syrian Network for Human Rights said Thursday that at least 156 children are still conscripted by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from the 537 cases of conscription carried out by the SDF since its establishment, further noting that 19 children have been kidnapped and...

Pope Francis received a group of ten refugees at the Vatican on Friday following a deal reached by the Vatican during his visit to Cyprus earlier this month. Pope Francis was introduced to the ten refugees from the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Somalia and...

Riyadh (AFP) – From greeting foreign leaders to heading regional summits, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is taking over the reins from his elderly father and becoming Saudi Arabia's uncrowned king. With increased concerns over the nearly 86-year-old King Salman's health, Prince Mohammed,...

There are currently 65 reporters held as hostages around the world, all but one of them in the Middle East, according to the annual round-up by Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) of journalists detained, killed, held hostage and missing. Of those held, 44 are in Syria, 11 in Iraq and nine in...

At least 27 people were feared killed on Friday when a fire broke out in a commercial building in a shopping district in the Japanese city of Osaka. Police were investigating the cause of the fire on the fourth floor of the eight-storey building for suspected arson, Kyodo News reported,...

London (AFP) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday suffered a crushing by-election defeat in a constituency never previously lost by his Conservative Party, a result which raises serious questions about his leadership. His party won the seat in North Shropshire, central...

A British warplane that is part of a U.S.-led coalition shot down a drone this week near a base where U.S. troops are stationed in southern Syria, officials said on Thursday. The base, known as Tanf, is located in a strategic area near Syria's Tanf border crossing with Iraq and Jordan and...

The NATO chief said on Thursday that Russia’s “provocative” military buildup continued despite international pressure. “We see no sign that this buildup is stopping or slowing down. On the contrary, it continues,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters following his meeting...

LONDON (AP) — Spiraling infections in Britain driven in part by the new omicron variant of the coronavirus rattled many in Europe on Thursday, fueling a familiar dread that tighter restrictions will scuttle holiday plans again this year. Much remains unknown about omicron, but increasingly...

The Bashar al-Assad regime  and opposition groups “mutually and simultaneously” release detainees as part of the Astana Process on Thursday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. “Several persons detained by the opposition groups and the regime were mutually and simultaneously...

Syria’s military said Israeli rockets hit army posts in the country’s south early Thursday, killing one soldier and causing material damage. State media quoted an unidentified military official as saying that rockets fired from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights activated Syrian air defenses...

Bashar Assad issued a decree Wednesday giving hundreds of thousands of civil servants and military members a 30% salary increase amid a harsh economic and financial crisis and price increases for vital products.   Assad’s decision came as prices of main staples have been doubled like...

With more cases of the omicron coronavirus variant are being reported across Europe, countries are bracing for a new wave and weighing additional measures. “There is a tidal wave of omicron coming,” UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday warned, urging citizens to receive COVID-19 booster...

Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi on Wednesday ordered the deportation of non-Lebanese individuals affiliated with the Wefaq Society, an organization outlawed by Bahrain. The minister sent a letter to the country's General Directorate of General Security requesting "all measures be...

Cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria remains vital, the United Nations Secretary-General said in an internal report Tuesday, as a UN authorization allowing aid into rebel-held areas in the country's northwest without approval from Damascus is set to expire.

PARIS — A Frenchwoman who joined the Islamic State and had been held in a detention camp in Syria since 2019 died of health complications on Tuesday — a first for a French national, according to her lawyer. The death was a stark reminder of the fate of the hundreds of European women and...

Libya’s presidential election, meant to help unify the nation after a decade of civil war, is supposed to take place in just over a week, but calls are mounting for a delay. Either scenario — holding the vote on time or postponing it — could turn into a destabilizing setback. The vote,...

 Danish fuel supplier Bunker Holding, its chief executive and a subsidiary of the company were convicted by Odense city court on Tuesday for breaching international sanctions by selling jet fuel to war-torn Syria, court documents showed. Bunker Holding, a fuel trader that is also one of...

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The omicron variant is offering more hints about what it may have in store as it spreads around the globe: A highly transmissible virus that may cause less severe disease, and one that can be slowed — but not stopped — by today’s vaccines. An analysis Tuesday of data from...

Gulf state leaders called on Tuesday for greater regional economic and defense integration as the annual GCC summit in Riyadh came to a close. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who chaired the meeting, stressed the importance of Gulf unity in the face of security challenges. “We...