Middle Orient

Russia on Monday urged the United States to do everything in its power to bring the Syrian opposition to peace talks after a key group said it would not attend a proposed conference in Geneva. “We very much expect our American partners and other countries, which not only have influence …

A key group within the Syrian opposition National Coalition said Sunday it would not attend proposed peace talks in Geneva and would quit the Coalition if it participated. The decision deals a potential blow to international efforts to convene a peace conference in Geneva, which was first proposed for June but has been pushed …

Starting Monday, October 14, Syria becomes an official member of the international Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). This means that starting this date, the convention on the ban of chemical weapons is valid in Syria.

The UN Security Council has agreed to proposals by secretary-general Ban Ki-moon to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons by a target of the middle of next year. France’s UN ambassador Gerard Araud and Russia’s delegate Vitaly Churkin said after closed consultations that the 15 council members decided to authorise the plan proposed by

Syrian army troops and Shi’ite militia fighters loyal to President Bashar al-Assad captured two southern suburbs of Damascus on Friday, killing at least 70 people, opposition activists said. The fighters, including some from the Lebanese Shi’ite movement Hezbollah and Iraqi Shi’ites backed by Syrian army tanks, searched al-Thiabiya and Husseiniya, …

Syrian air raids on rebel positions in the northern Aleppo and southern Deraa provinces killed 30 people Thursday, including civilians, a monitoring group said. Underscoring the complexity of the mission of chemical weapons now inside the country, a regime warplane bombed the rebel-held town of Safira, an

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Thursday that he does not anticipate “any further role” for the military alliance in Syria. “There is no military solution to the conflict in Syria,” Rasmussen told a press conference in Athens with Greek Foreign Minister

Turkey’s parliament on Thursday extended for one year a mandate that would allow Ankara to order military strikes against Kurdish rebels holed up in neighbouring northern Iraq. The vote coincides with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s reforms to boost the rights of the country’s sizeable Kurdish community and secure an end to …

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen Thursday welcomed the adoption of the UNSC resolution for the elimination of Syrian chemical weapons. Rasmussen called for an international conference to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis. “This is a huge step forward,” he told his monthly press conference at NATO …

The EU will aid Bulgaria in its efforts to deal with the ongoing refugee influx, Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetlin Yovchev said after meeting his colleagues in Luxembourg. Yovchev did not specify on the sum of money Bulgaria is going to receive.