Two White House senior officials visited Damascus to meet with the head of Syrian Security and Intelligence, Ali Mamlouk, in an attempt to release two American hostages who have been kidnapped and forcibly hidden by the Assad regime for years.

Sunni political parties are using murders in Salahuddin province to demand an end to the presence of armed militias blamed for killings. The Oct. 17 murder of 12 people from the Sunni community in Salahuddin province north of Baghdad has raised the ire of Sunnis against Shiite factions present in …

Can Ankara’s “coercive diplomacy” in the south Caucasus yield tangible diplomatic benefits in the long run? Turkey once again assumed the role of “game changer” — this time in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. As with previous cases in Syria, Libya and the eastern Mediterranean, the big question is whether Ankara can …