Middle Orient

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.

Russian and US chemical weapons experts and top diplomats will attend a meeting on the Syrian crisis later today that will be held in Switzerland, Russia’s foreign minister said Thursday.

Turkey and Iraq have reached an agreement to reinstate bilateral ties, Iraqi Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi stated in a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Cemil Çiçek. 

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan said on Thursday he was doubtful that President Bashar al-Assad would fulfil his pledge to put Syria’s chemical weapons under international control, and said he was buying time for new “massacres”.

France said Wednesday it would remain poised to launch military action against Syria over its use of chemical weapons despite ongoing attempts to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.