Middle Orient

The Syrian National Coalition ( SNC), the main opposition group based in Istanbul, said on Monday that it agreed to join the Geneva II conference preconcondition that President Bashar al-

Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in the United Arab Emirates Sunday to brief the US ally on talks with Iran on its nuclear programme and efforts to hold Syria peace talks. He flew in from Geneva where three days of marathon talks which stretched into early Sunday failed to produce an

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Friday renewed his call upon the international community to help his country to cope with the huge influx of the Syrian refugees. “The international community must assume its responsibilities towards Lebanon because it is suffering more than any other neighbors from the flow …

Turkey and Iraq pledged greater co-operation on trade and counter-terrorism while admitting to disagreements over Syria’s war during a landmark visit to Baghdad by the Turkish foreign minister on Sunday. “I saw a strong willingness to improve relations between our countries,” Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said during a joint …

France’s foreign minister said on Monday he was hopeful a deal could be reached with Iran over its nuclear programme, although Tehran still had to make an effort on a few points. “We are not far from an agreement with the Iranians, but we are not there yet,” Laurent Fabius said. Some diplomats accused France of grandstanding during …

The Syrian opposition coalition has conditionally agreed to attend Geneva II conference designed to end the country’s bloody confict, a statement reaching here said on Monday. “A consensus has been reached among the coalition members about the need to take part in the Geneva II conference,” the Syrian National Coalition …

International experts have verified all but one of Syria’s 23 declared chemical weapons sites after viewing a video presented by the Syrian government showing the destruction of a facility in the country’s

Russian and U.S. senior diplomats agreed at their meeting in Geneva the Syrian opposition was not ready for a peace conference in Geneva, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. “Taking into account the non-readiness of a number of Syrian government opponents to participate in the intra-Syrian talks without preconditions, it …

Delegates of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany started another round of nuclear talks with Iran on Thursday. The P5+1 group (Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany) was represented by EU High Representative for

UN-Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi said Tuesday that the tripartite meeting of the UN, Russia and the United States wasn’t able to set a date for the long delayed Syria peace talks, known as Geneva II.