Eurasia

Government airstrikes and artillery attacks ceased Saturday following a unilateral cease-fire in the northwestern province of Idlib, a Syrian war monitor said. The U.S. military, meanwhile, said it struck an al-Qaida leadership facility north of Idlib, marking the first American strike inside the war-torn country since July .

The Taliban claimed responsibility for an explosion in Kabul late Monday, just hours after a U.S. negotiator shared with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani “key details” of a deal that would see thousands of American troops leaving Afghanistan.

The American military conducted an airstrike against al Qaeda in Syria (AQ-S) “leadership at a facility north of Idlib, Syria” earlier today, according to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). It is the second time the U.S. has struck al Qaeda operatives in Syria since late June.

Earlier, after a visit to an air show in Russia, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that Turkey may opt to buy Russia’s Su-57 fifth generation fighter, instead of the F-35, after the US kicked Ankara out of the programme earlier this …

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has informed French leader Emmanuel Macron in a phone call that Tehran will launch the third stage in reducing its obligations under the nuclear deal later in September if Europe fails to live up to its part of commitments, noting that this step, as well as …

Tensions between Israel and Lebanon began escalating last Sunday, after Beirut accused Tel Aviv of carrying out a drone attack against the media headquarters of political party and paramilitary group Hezbollah. Late last week, Israel claimed Hezbollah was trying to create missile factories inside Lebanon with assistance from Iran’s Revolutionary …

Additional US troops are set to be stationed in Poland ahead of Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to the country for an event to commemorate the start of WW2. The US Ambassador to Berlin had earlier suggested that US troops in Germany could relocate to Poland after a spat over …

U.S. President Donald Trump says Washington had nothing to do with the explosion of an Iranian rocket as it sat on its launchpad at the Imam Khomeini Space Center.

Over the past few weeks, my colleagues at MEI have debated whether the U.S. should stay in Syria or leave. Here I’d make a different argument: that it doesn’t really matter. The president has already made the decision to leave, and while his aides may have been able to slow …

Iran and North Korea both get a great deal of attention from the international community — for all the wrong reasons. Yet while U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un have met several times now, shaking hands, smiling, and posing for photos, Trump has not once …