Middle Orient

Iran struck a historic deal with six world powers yesterday, agreeing to a temporary freeze of its nuclear program in the most significant agreement in more than three decades of estrangement.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on Monday that a conference on Syria, known as Geneva II, would be convened on January 22. The conference will bring the Syrian government and opposition to the negotiating table for the first time since the start of the Syrian conflict.

The co-leader of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which declared the establishment of a constituent assembly in the northern parts of Syria locally denominated as Rojava, said they have not held talks with Turkish officials in the recent period. 

At least 29 people were killed on Nov. 23 in Syrian regime air strikes on the northern city of Aleppo and surrounding areas, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The main Western-backed Syrian opposition group says it has sent a delegation to Geneva for consultations ahead of proposed peace talks.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski is to meet with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres on Friday in Sofia.

Bulgaria is to receive next week technical and financial assistance from the EU for coping with the refugee situation. The information about the upcoming assistance was provided after a Thursday meeting between EU Humanitarian

The Syrian troops on Friday killed 54 rebel fighters of al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front in southern and northern parts of the country, when another al-Qaida-affiliated group captured a border town, reports said. The army killed 20 fighters, including some leaders, of the Nusra Front by shelling rebel-held Hraitan town in the …

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal called Wednesday on Arab and African nations to pressure the U.N. Security Council to act on Syria, urging them to help save “what remains” of the country.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will pay a two-day official visit to St. Petersburg starting today to attend a Turkish-Russian High-Level Cooperation Council with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but the ongoing crisis in Syria will likely be the main item on his agenda.