In less than a week since the last wave of Israeli strikes on Syria targeted positions in the southern outskirts of Damascus and killed three pro-Iran fighters, Israeli warplanes last week carried out intense airstrikes in eastern Syria killing at least 57 fighters and wounding dozens. The...

A bomb-laden vehicle exploded in the northwestern Azaz city of Syria on Sunday, killing at least one civilian and wounding six others. The explosion took place in a popular market hall in Sicco village near the Turkish border. Local authorities cordoned off the area, and the wounded were...

Three Syrian soldiers were killed Sunday when gunmen attacked their outpost close to the demarcation line with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The attackers targeted the regime roadblock in the Rouaihaniya district of the southern province of...

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. defense officials say they are worried about an insider attack or other threat from service members involved in securing President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, prompting the FBI to vet all of the 25,000 National Guard troops coming into Washington for the event. The...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kamala Harris will make history on Wednesday when she becomes the nation’s first female vice president — and the first Black woman and the first woman of South Asian descent to hold that office. But that’s only where her boundary-breaking role begins. With the confluence of...

Turkey's top defense official, along with the country's chief of staff, arrived in the Iraqi capital as part of an official visit, the ministry announced Monday. Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and Gen. Yasar Guler are to meet senior Iraqi officials in Baghdad including President Barham Salih,...

BEIJING (AP) — China eked out 2.3% economic growth in 2020, likely becoming the only major economy to expand as shops and factories reopened relatively early from a shutdown to fight the coronavirus while the United States, Japan and Europe struggled with rising infections. Growth in the...

Syria said on Sunday it would import more crude oil to cover fuel shortages it blames on Western sanctions that disrupted regular Iranian oil shipments that had for years compensated for the country's loss of domestic oil production as a result of conflict. The sanction-hit country has over...

 Israel's education minister is banning groups that call Israel an "apartheid state" from lecturing at schools - a move that targets one of the country's leading human rights groups after it began describing both Israel and its control of the Palestinian territories as a single "apartheid"...

Yemen: Some 150 Yemeni pro-government soldiers and Huthi rebels have been killed in a week of fighting south of the strategic port city of Hodeida, military sources said Monday. Impoverished Yemen is mired in a devastating conflict between Iran-backed Huthi rebels and government forces...

With a French initiative to rescue Lebanon stalled and an unsuccessful attempt by the Maronite patriarch to nudge the president and the prime minister-designate into agreeing on the formation of a new government, attention is focused on Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to intervene to help break...

Saudi Arabia, for years one of the world's most prolific executioners, dramatically reduced the number of people put to death last year, following changes halting executions for non-violent drug-related crimes, according to the government’s tally and independent observers. The Saudi...

A small Islamist militant group has claimed responsibility for an attack on Turkish forces in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib.     The Ansar Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Squadron said it was behind the attack Saturday that targeted a Turkish military outpost in the northern...

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli authorities on Sunday advanced plans to build nearly 800 homes in West Bank settlements, in a last-minute surge of approvals before the friendly Trump administration leaves office later this week. COGAT, the Israeli defense body that authorizes settlement...

CAIRO (AP) — The death toll from tribal violence between Arabs and non-Arabs in Sudan’s West Darfur province climbed to at least 83, including women and children, a doctor’s union and aid worker said, as sporadic violence continued Sunday. The ruling sovereign council met Sunday and said...

Lionel Messi lost his cool after another Barcelona collapse on Sunday, hitting an opponent away from the ball and being sent off for the first time while playing with the Catalan club in the team’s 3-2 loss to Athletic Bilbao in the final of the Spanish Super Cup. Iñaki Williams' goal in...

Clashes broke out for a third consecutive evening Sunday in several Tunisian cities, pitting stone-throwing youths against security forces despite a tight lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus. In the working-class neighbourhood of Ettadhamen on the edge of the capital Tunis, young...

BERLIN (AP) — Leading Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny plans to fly home to Russia on Sunday after recovering in Germany from his poisoning in August with a nerve agent. Navalny announced Wednesday that he would return, despite Russian authorities' threats to put him behind bars again. He is...

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran urged the United Nations' nuclear watchdog to avoid publishing “unnecessary” details on Tehran’s nuclear program, state TV reported Sunday, a day after Germany, France and Britain said Tehran has “no credible civilian use” for its development of uranium metal. The...

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — From “emaciated” refugees to crops burned on the brink of harvest, starvation threatens the survivors of more than two months of fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. The first humanitarian workers to arrive after pleading with the Ethiopian government for access...