International

The Obama administration intends to damage relations with Moscow “as much as possible” before US President-elect Donald Trump comes to power, Russian political analyst Alexei Zudin told Radio Sputnik, commenting on Washington’s refusal to follow through on its own proposal to bring peace to Aleppo. […]

In the early days of the assault on Islamic State in Mosul, Iran successfully pressed Iraq to change its battle plan and seal off the city, an intervention which has since shaped the tortuous course of the conflict, sources briefed on the plan say. The […]

Germany’s highest court ruled on Wednesday that ultra-conservative Muslim girls must take part in mixed swimming classes at school, finding against an 11-year-old pupil who had argued that even wearing a burkini, or full-body swimsuit, breached Islamic dress codes. The Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe rejected […]

Brussels • The United States is discussing with Syrian rebels their surrender and evacuation from Aleppo, as Russia on Tuesday threatened the imminent “elimination” of anyone who refuses to leave the city. “Those who refuse to leave of their own accord will be wiped out,” […]

SAARLOUIS, Germany (AP) — The millions in ransom money came in dollar by dollar, euro by euro from around the world. The donations, raised from church offerings, a Christmas concert, and the diaspora of Assyrian Christians on Facebook, landed in a bank account in Iraq. […]

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government forces and allied militias captured Aleppo’s centrally located al-Shaar neighborhood from rebels on Tuesday, securing nearly three quarters of the besieged enclave less than two weeks after launching a ground offensive, according to the Syrian military. The Syrian government and […]

A monitoring group Tuesday alleged at least 163 Syrians fleeing their war-torn country have been slain by Turkish border guards since the start of 2016. The accusation is the latest in a series stretching back more than a year of border guards firing on war […]

The Syrian government says it will reject any cease fire agreement that allows rebels to stay in eastern Syria, arguing it would allow the rebels to “regroup and repeat their crimes.” The Syrian Foreign Ministry, in a statement carried by state media, called the rebels […]

Libyan forces backed by U.S. air strikes finished clearing the last Islamic State holdout in Sirte on Tuesday after a near seven-month battle for the militant group’s former North African stronghold. The forces gained full control over a final patch of ground in Sirte’s Ghiza […]