Hong Kong's riot police officers will begin returning to regular law enforcement duties such as crime prevention and traffic control because violent pro-democracy protests have faded, the force said on Thursday. The announcement came a day after the force was given a 25 percent bump in its...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Turkey-backed Syrian opposition fighters on Thursday retook a key northwestern town in Syria that was recently captured by regime forces, and cut the highway linking the capital, Damascus, with the northern city of Aleppo. The development comes days after the regime...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian opposition factions took two villages and a town from Russian-led regime forces near the strategic highways in northern Idlib province, rebel source told Zaman al-Wasl Wednesday. Backed by heavy Turkish artillery fire, the Syrian National Army launched a major...

When Hassan Mighlaj’s family ran from the bombs battering their village in northwest Syria, they came up against a wall: an imposing gray concrete wall, crowned with barbed wire and spanning the border with Turkey to block their way in. So Mighlaj is building a small hut with cement blocs...

Turkey plans to push Syrian regime forces away from its military observation posts in northwest Syria's Idlib region this week, President Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday, despite continued advances by Damascus's Russian-backed military. Nearly a million Syrians have been displaced in the last...

Syrian regime forces bombed civilian targets in the northwestern Idlib province Wednesday, pushing ahead with a fierce military campaign that has sent nearly a million people fleeing from their homes and killed hundreds over the past three months. Backed by Russian air power, Bashar...

Fourteen EU ministers called Wednesday for a ceasefire in the Syrian province of Idlib, where hundreds of thousands have been displaced by a Russian-backed Syrian offensive against rebels supported by Turkey. The violence in Syria's last rebel-held enclave has caused a humanitarian crisis...

The Greek islands of Lesbos, Chios and Samos staged a general strike Wednesday, as protests against the construction of new migrant camps intensified. For a second day, protesters on Lesbos faced off against riot police near the town of Mantamados, close to the site of a planned camp for up...

Western European powers stepped up efforts on Wednesday to try to save a 2015 deal to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions -- on life support since a 2018 decision by the US to withdraw and reimpose sanctions. Officials from Britain, France and Germany began a meeting in Vienna -- the first since...

Russia’s foreign ministry said it expected positive results from talks with Turkey on Wednesday on Syria’s Idlib province, the RIA news agency cited Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov as saying. A Russian delegation was expected to visit Turkey on Wednesday for talks aimed at easing...

Tunisia’s parliament began debating on Wednesday and looked set to approve a new coalition government, after months of political wrangling that has slowed the north African country’s efforts to tackle looming economic problems. Elyes Fakhfakh, who was designated prime minister last month by...

Turkey will not take the "smallest step back" in Syria's last rebel bastion of Idlib, where several of its army posts have been surrounded, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday. "We will not take a smallest step back in Idlib, we will certainly push the regime outside the borders...

 The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution Tuesday extending targeted sanctions for war-torn Yemen following contentious negotiations among the council's member nations. Among the disputes had been whether to refer to U.N. experts’ findings that Yemen’s Houthi Shiite rebels are...

President Hassan Rouhani accused the United States on Wednesday of trying to spread "fear" in Iran over a deadly outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Coronavirus has claimed the lives of 19 people among 139 infections in Iran, including the deputy health minister -- making it the deadliest...

Egypt will on Wednesday bury its former president Hosni Mubarak, who died at the age of 91, in a military funeral in Cairo. Mubarak ruled Egypt for 30 years until he was forced out of office by protests in 2011. He spent many of the subsequent years in jail and military hospitals before...

Prince Harry was back in Britain on Wednesday for the first of a final round of public appearances before he and his wife Meghan step back from their royal duties. The Duke of Sussex, who has moved his family to Canada, was pictured arriving in Edinburgh late Tuesday ahead of a meeting of...

The death toll in China from the coronavirus outbreak has risen to 2,717, the country’s National Health Commission said Wednesday. The commission said 52 people have died in the past 24 hours while 406 new cases were detected by health authorities, bringing the total number of confirmed...

Rafael Nadal marked his return to action with a straight-sets victory over Pablo Andujar on Tuesday as he launched his bid to reclaim the world number one ranking at the Mexico Open in Acapulco. The 33-year-old Spaniard, playing for the first time since his quarter-final exit to Dominic...

Riot police patrolled the streets of India's capital on Wednesday and the city's leader called for a curfew following battles between Hindus and Muslims that claimed at least 20 lives. The two days of unrest -- which has seen clashes between mobs armed with swords and guns -- is the worst...

Airstrikes on northern Idlib province  Syria killed at least 21 people Tuesday, including seven children, two students and two teachers, opposition activists said, as Russian-led forces captured a town considered a symbol of the uprising against Bashar Assad. The capture of Kafranbel...