Middle Orient News

At least 40 people have been killed in clashes between Syrian regime forces and opposition fighters including Al-Qaeda’s local affiliate in the south of the country, a monitor said today. The forces were killed yesterday, during fighting in Beit Tima, a majority-Druze region in southeastern Damascus province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. 

US military forces continued to attack the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) with 14 combined airstrikes between the 3rd and 5th of November over Syria and Iraq, announced US Central Command(CENTCOM) in Tampa, Florida Wednesday. In Syria, where the airstrikes are led by the US, three airstrikes …

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius hosted talks here Wednesday with US Secretary-of-State John Kerry on developments in the international talks on Iran’s controversial nuclear programmes and also other crises, including the Ebola epidemic and the situation in the Middle East. In a brief statement after the meeting, both officials portrayed …

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has accused Syrian forces of committing massacres in and around Aleppo and said Turkey would face a major new refugee crisis if Syria’s second city were to fall into his hands. As U.S. warplanes bomb Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) forces in parts of …

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that he will ask Congress for a new authorization to use military force against the Islamic State extremist group. The president was outlining his near-term agenda for joint work with Congress, one day after the Republicans gained control of both chambers in Tuesday’s midterm elections …

Saudi Arabia and France sealed an agreement Tuesday for Riyadh to finance the delivery of $3 billion worth of French weapons to the Lebanese army, which has come under mounting jihadist attack. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius hailed the conclusion of the deal, first announced last December, as a major boost to …

The coalition fighting Islamic State must now save Syria’s second city Aleppo as moderate rebels face destruction by attacks from forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and jihadi militants, France’s Foreign Minister said. Laurent Fabius said the city, the “bastion” of the opposition, was almost encircled and abandoning it would …

A Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy is to meet with representatives of Libya’s internationally recognized government in the eastern city of Bayda on Nov. 3, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement released on the same day. Emrullah İşler, who is a former deputy prime minister, already …

U.S. and partner nation military forces continued to attack ISIL terrorists in Syria on Sunday and Monday using fighter and bomber aircraft to conduct five airstrikes, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced. Separately, U.S. and partner nation military forces conducted nine airstrikes in Iraq on Sunday and Monday using fighter, bomber …

Turkey cannot agree to de facto borders in Syria or Iraq, and the terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant will not be able to realize such an aim, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said. “Turkey cannot say ‘yes’ to any de facto borders in the Middle East. Steps to be …