Middle Orient

Visiting United Nations envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura headed Monday to Syria’s central city of Homs to meet with a delegation of armed militants in a rebel-held area there, sources and media reports said. The pro-government al-Watan daily said the envoy, who arrived in Syria on Saturday, will be …

Syrian President Bashar Assad says a ceasefire proposal for the embattled northern city of Aleppo, which has been raised by the U.N. envoy to the country, is “worth studying.” The official SANA news agency reported Assad’s remarks, saying they came during a meeting on Monday with the envoy, Staffan de …

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with United Nations special envoy to Iraq Nikolay Mladenov to discuss the current political and security situation in Iraq and efforts made to confront the extremist ‘Islamic State’ group, known as ISIS. During the meeting, Shoukry and Mladenov also discussed the steps done by …

United States President Obama is ordering up to 1,500 additional U.S. troops to Iraq in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), bringing the American force to more than 3,000 troops. In a statement issued Friday afternoon, Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said the …

Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari arrived in Turkey on Wednesday to meet with Turkish officials in order to boost bilateral ties and coordinate efforts to fight terrorism. Jaafari’s visit between Nov. 5 and 7 is at the invitation of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.

The U.S.-led coalition fighting against Islamic jihadists in Iraq and Syria would benefit from Turkey’s permission to use its airbases, a U.S. commander has said. “When and if the Turks decide to be more forthcoming in helping the coalition, it will clearly be value-added,” Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of U.S. …

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 …