The United Nations called on Tuesday for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Syria of at least a month, as heavy air strikes were reported to have killed scores of people in the last major rebel stronghold near Damascus. U.N. officials in Syria called for fighting to stop to enable aid deliveries and the evacuation of […]
Nine people were treated for breathing difficulties after a bomb believed to be filled with chlorine was dropped on a rebel-held town in Syria. The Syria Civil Defence said three of its rescue workers were among the casualties from the attack on Saraqeb, in the north-western province of Idlib. The Syrian opposition said the bomb […]
Macron held a phone call with his Turkish counterpart on Saturday night in light of French concerns about the Turkish military operation against Kurdish fighters in Afrin, northwestern Syria. The two presidents agreed to work on a diplomatic road map for Syria in the coming weeks.” Several rounds of talks under the watch of the […]
A Russian Sukhoi-25 ground-attack aircraft has been shot down in a rebel-held area in Syria’s north-western province of Idlib. The Russian defence ministry said the pilot had ejected into an area believed to be controlled by the jihadist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance. Although he survived the crash he was killed in a ground fight. Hayat […]
The United States has designated the political leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas as a terrorist and imposed sanctions on him. The state department said Ismail Haniya had “close links with Hamas’ military wing” and been a “proponent of armed struggle, including against civilians”. Hamas, which dominates the Gaza Strip, is already designated a […]
Taliban fighters, whom US-led forces spent billions of dollars trying to defeat, are now openly active in 70% of Afghanistan, a BBC study has found. Months of research across the country show how areas the Taliban threaten or control have surged since foreign combat troops left in 2014. The Afghan government played down the report, […]
The Iraqi parliament on Monday voted to lift sanctions imposed on Kurdish banks in November by the Iraqi Central Bank following the Kurdistan Region’s referendum. Local sources also confirmed that the Iraqi government has decided to send the Kurdistan Region 250 billion Iraqi dinars (about $210 million) for the salaries of Kurdish state employees, notably […]
Heavy gunfire and explosions have been heard at a military academy in the Afghan capital, Kabul this morning. The Marshal Fahim National Defense University came under attack early Monday morning, days after the deadliest bombing for months hit Kabul when an ambulance packed with explosives killed at least 100 people. Meanwhile, the US Deputy Secretary […]
Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu on Saturday said the United States needed to pull its troops immediately out of the Syrian town of Manbij, another target of an ongoing military campaign against the Washington-backed Kurdish forces in Afrin. The Foreign Minister said the US must cut all ties with the terrorist group and […]
US President Donald Trump conveyed to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan increasing concern about Turkey’s assault on Syrian Kurdistan as the two leaders spoke by telephone on Wednesday. The White House summary of the call explained that Trump had “urged Turkey to exercise caution [and] avoid any action that might risk conflict between Turkish and […]