Articles by Jeryes S. Khalil

WASHINGTON — For Pentagon officers who cut their teeth during the Cold War, the prospect of U.S. battlefield cooperation with Russia in Syria is not only uncomfortable. It’s also unprecedented. Against that background, the reactions of U.S. military officials range from caution to outright skepticism […]

GAZIANTEP, TURKEY — The fragile three-day-old Syrian cease-fire negotiated by the U.S. and Russia appeared increasingly troubled Thursday with Moscow accusing Washington of failing to rein in rebel militias, and insurgent commanders saying there’s little point to the truce while Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, continues […]

Russia said the Syrian army had begun to withdraw from a road into Aleppo on Thursday, a prerequisite for pressing ahead with international peacemaking efforts as the government and rebels accused each other of violating a truce. An organization that monitors the war also said […]

U.S. President Barack Obama will convene a meeting with world leaders to discuss the global refugee crisis at a United Nations gathering next week, the White House said on Thursday. “There are too few countries around the world that are bearing a significant burden in […]

The idea that there is no military solution to the Syrian crisis should be fixed in every final document of an international meeting on Syria otherwise the short-term truce can’t be regarded as achievement, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab-African Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari told […]

A senior Iranian official says Saudi Arabia has politicized the Hajj rituals, advising officials in Riyadh against trying Tehran’s patience. “Unfortunately, Saudi rulers have turned the Hajj into a political leverage in order to mount pressure [on other countries] and use it in service of […]

Israeli military aircraft have carried out three air strikes against areas in the Gaza Strip in yet another act of aggression across the region. The first airstrike struck an open area northwest of Beit Lahia city in the early hours of Thursday morning, Arabic-language Safa […]

Syria shot two surface-to-air missiles at Israeli jets—and they shot at the Israeli jets not even over their own air space. These were not errant missiles or spillover shots which is military parlance for mistakes. These missiles were calculated and intentionally targeted shots from an […]

The Syrian army says it has shot down an Israeli warplane and a drone inside Syria following an Israeli attack on Syrian army positions in the south, state media report. Syria’s official SANA news cited the Syrian military as saying that the intruding aircraft had […]