Year after year Ramadan meals become more frugal in war-torn Syria as the economy worsens, but Damascus dwellers say a traditional wafer-thin crispy pancake called "naaem" is here to stay. During the Muslim fasting month, just before sundown Damascus residents flock to buy the...

Kurdish-led authorities in northeastern Syria announced Thursday they will extend a partial lockdown for another week amid a surge in coronavirus cases. The extension comes as an international aid group warned of oxygen shortages in the neglected region of the war-ravaged country....

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council held an informal meeting Thursday focusing on the repatriation of more than 20,000 foreign fighters and mercenaries from Libya, a demand of the country’s transitional government as it heads toward December elections after a decade of fighting and...

German prosecutors have charged an Iraqi immigrant with membership in a terrorist organization on allegations that he raised thousands of dollars for the Islamic State group, authorities said Friday. The man, identified only as Aymen A.-J. in line with German privacy laws, was arrested...

Egyptian actor Amir El-Masry was reluctant to read the script of “Limbo.” He was concerned the film, about refugees waiting on a remote Scottish island for residency, would involve established tropes about a Western savior coming to the rescue. Instead, it made him reach for the...

Russian jets struck two rebel-held bastions in northwest Hama and Aleppo provinces, activists said Thursday. The aerial strikes have pounded  the outposts of the Turkish-backed  National Army in  the town of Al-Ziyara in Al-Ghab Plain west of Hama and the town...

Sameeh has lived in Jordan’s bustling Za’atari refugee camp since 2013, when he fled his home in Daraa – just an hour’s drive north across the border – to escape Syria’s 10-year conflict. The camp that today hosts 80,000 Syrian refugees is where he met and married his wife, and two...

Dozens of people have been killed in a stampede at a religious festival in the north-east of Israel. Israel's national emergency service Magen David Adom (MDA) confirmed the deaths without giving exact numbers, and said dozens more had been wounded. Newspaper Haaretz reports at...

France has started to put in place measures limiting access to French territory for people blocking the political process in Lebanon, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Thursday. Le Drian also said in a statement that France is taking similar measures for people...

Iran on Thursday welcomed a "change of tone" from Saudi Arabia that could clear the way to a new era of cooperation between the rival regional powers. The Islamic republic has been "a pioneer on the path to regional cooperation and welcomes the change of tone from Saudi Arabia", said foreign...

A COVID-19 vaccination drive in the north of Syria is due to start on Saturday and will initially target medical and humanitarian staff. The elderly, public sector workers and people with chronic illness will be vaccinated in the second phase as part of plans announced on Thursday by...

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Islamic militant group Hamas has rejected the idea of postponing Palestinian elections ahead of a leadership meeting Thursday in which President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party is expected to push for a delay, citing a dispute with Israel over voting in east Jerusalem....

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's president has replaced the head of a think tank that recorded an interview with the country's foreign minister that leaked out this week, a tape that provided a rare glimpse into the theocracy's power struggles and set off a firestorm in Iran. In the recording...

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Africa is “watching with total disbelief” as India struggles with a devastating resurgence in COVID-19 cases, the continent’s top public health official said Thursday, as African officials worry about delays in vaccine deliveries caused by India’s crisis. The...

NYON, Switzerland (AP) — The Champions League final in Istanbul on May 29 should not be affected by a near three-week lockdown in Turkey to curb COVID-19 cases, UEFA said on Thursday. Turkey has imposed a “full lockdown” from Thursday evening which ends on May 17 after the holy month of...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Inside Ms. Sadat’s Beauty Salon in Afghanistan’s capital, Sultana Karimi leans intently over a customer, meticulously shaping her eyebrows. Make-up and hair styling is the 24-year-old’s passion, and she discovered it, along with a newfound confidence, here in the...

Flight tracking services recorded a rare flight between Israel’s Ben Gurion airport and regime-controlled Syria’s Latakia region on Tuesday, local Israeli media reported. The flight was operated by the Russian Air Force, noting that it landed near the Russian-operated Hmeimim airbase, which...

Kurdish-led authorities in northeast Syria announced Thursday that they will extend a partial lockdown for another week amid a surge in cases of coronavirus. Meanwhile, as an international aid group has warned of oxygen shortages in the region. Northeast Syria has been witnessing a...

 As Syria is passing through a tough economic crisis, some charity kitchens started working during the holy month of Ramadan to help people save money by offering free meals and food parcels. At the historic Hamidiyeh souk in the heart of the capital Damascus, volunteers exert big...

The U.N. special envoy for Syria said Wednesday that key global players are interested in stepped-up international diplomacy to “unlock progress” toward ending the country’s 10-year war. Geir Pederson called for exploratory discussions to “help test possibilities and bridge the gaps of...