Month: September 2016

ISTANBUL — The U.S.-supported, Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces this week suffered a series of military setbacks to the Islamic State group in northern Syria, rekindling concerns over the effectiveness of the troops and whether that could force Ankara to deploy more of its […]

UNITED NATIONS — Russia’s foreign minister said Friday that Syria’s moderate opposition must separate from certain terrorist groups before there can be a real cessation of hostilities. “So we are all in favor of a cease-fire, but without separation of the opposition from Nusra, the […]

WASHINGTON — Islamic State fighters trying to hold on to the terror group’s shrinking, self-declared caliphate appear to be ready to turn their Iraqi capital into a fiery inferno rather than relinquish it to Iraqi forces. U.S. military officials say IS militants are trying to […]

WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will suspend weekend preparations for Monday’s presidential debate when they meet separately Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East. Netanyahu’s office declined to say where the meetings with the two […]

Saudi Arabia is fighting a growing threat from the Islamic State that is both breeding homegrown terrorists and using the kingdom’s conservative religious teachings to undermine the monarchy. Saudi security forces say they detained 17 people this week who belonged to three cells that had […]

Relentless air strikes against the rebel-held section of the divided Syrian city of Aleppo continued Saturday, with many buildings destroyed down to the basements. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 25 people have been killed Saturday. The previous day, at least […]

ISTANBUL/NEW YORK — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Saturday that he was “appalled by the chilling military escalation” in the war-ravaged Syrian city of Aleppo that witnesses said was spearheaded by Syrian forces and their Russian allies. In a statement, Ban also heaped criticism on […]

Syrian government and rebel forces battled for control of high ground on the Aleppo outskirts on Saturday as warplanes bombed the city’s opposition-held east relentlessly in a Russian-backed offensive that has left Washington’s Syria policy in tatters. In their first major ground advance of the […]

The United Nations has censured a deadly Saudi airstrike against a residential neighborhood in Yemen’s western and coastal province of Hudaydah, arguing that such aerial assaults against the impoverished Arab country have intensified since July. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in a statement released on […]