Middle Orient News

Turkey has responded cautiously to Saturday’s US-Russian deal to avoid a US military operation if Syria allows its chemical weapons stockpile to be destroyed, saying that it does not eliminate the need for action to stop the regime killing with conventional weapons, and also calls for well-defined consequences if President …

The United States, France and Britain agreed Sept.16 to step up pressure on President Bashar al-Assad to stick to the terms of a deal under which Syria is to give up its huge arsenal of chemical weapons and avoid U.S. military strikes.

The Russian Navy is bolstering its strength in the Mediterranean Sea from seven to ten warships, its top commander told journalists on Friday. The guided-missile cruiser Moskva, the destroyer Smetlivy and the assault landing ship Nikolai Filchenkov are on their way to join Russia’s naval task force already stationed in …

US secretary of state John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov have agreed to push for an international conference aimed at ending Syria’s civil war. After meeting the UN envoy on Syria in Geneva, where they are trying to confirm a Russian plan to remove Syria’s chemical weapons and avert US military action, Mr Lavrov …

A recent opening in the standoff between the West and Syria should be seized to resolve the more than 29-month-old conflict, Speaker Nabih Berri told the new U.S. ambassador to Lebanon Thursday. Berri “stressed the importance of the available opportunity to adopt a political solution for the Syria crisis, noting that

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon received a letter from Damascus on the Syrian intention to join the international convention banning chemical weapons and welcomed the initiative, his spokesperson said on Friday.

The military operation in Syria will not lead to the aggravation of the situation in the country, on the contrary, it will put an end to the civil war and loss of lives, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told journalists on Friday. “Transferring chemical weapons under international control will not …

Turkey’s foreign minister has said the use of chemical weapons deserves the harshest international intervention in line with the law, stressing that Turkey does not tolerate to any deployment or use of chemical arms. Ahmet Davutoğlu told reporters on Friday that Turkey welcomes a Russian proposal for Syria to turn …

UN experts would “probably” publish their findings on an chemicalattack in Syria on Monday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Thursday. In an interview with RTL radio, the minister stressed there was no doubt that forces loyalto Syrian 

US secretary of state John Kerry has arrived in Geneva to meet Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov as the UN tries to forge an international plan to disarm the Syrian government of its chemical weapons.