BEIRUT/PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday gave Lebanese politicians until the end of October to start delivering on reforms, saying financial aid would be withheld and sanctions imposed further down the line if corruption gets in the... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron marked Lebanon’s centenary on Tuesday by planting a cedar tree, the emblem of the Middle East country that is collapsing under the weight of a crippling economic crisis. In his second trip to Lebanon in less ... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti resigned on Monday, blaming a lack of political will to enact reforms to halt a financial meltdown which he warned could turn Lebanon into a failed state. Foreign donors have made clear there will be no... More »
KYIV (Reuters) – A full and comprehensive ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists has entered into force in eastern Ukraine, opening the prospect of an end to military and civilian casualties, the two sides said on Monday. Ukr... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Hezbollah’s leader hailed the Lebanese government’s crisis plan as a “big, important step” on Monday and said any talks with the IMF must not blindly surrender the country to terms it can not bear. In a televised speech, Sayyed Hassan Nasral... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fugitive Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died “whimpering and crying” in a raid by U.S. special forces in northwest Syria, President Donald Trump announced on Sunday, fulfilling what he called his top national security goal. Ba... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion on Sunday that Exxon Mobil or another U.S. oil company operate Syrian oil fields drew rebukes from legal and energy experts. “What I intend to do, perhaps, is make a deal with an ExxonMobil or one of our gre... More »
(Reuters) – The killing of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a U.S. raid is a further blow to a jihadist group that once held a swathe of territory in Iraq and Syria, experts said, but the organization and its ideology remain dangerous. Where once t... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday announced that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of violent jihadist group Islamic State, died during an overnight raid led by U.S. military forces in Syria. Here is a description of the raid according to... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s crown prince warned in an interview broadcast on Sunday that oil prices could spike to “unimaginably high numbers” if the world does not come together to deter Iran, but said he would prefer a political solution to a milit... More »
DAMASCUS (Reuters) – In the National Museum of Damascus, archaeologist Muntajab Youssef works on an ancient stone bust from Palmyra, one of hundreds of artifacts his team is painstakingly restoring after they were damaged by Islamic State. Centuries-old statue... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian army said it entered Manbij on Friday for the first time in years, after the Kurdish YPG militia urged Damascus to protect the town from the threat of Turkish attacks. It was unclear whether the government forces had spread out in... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian army entered Manbij on Friday for the first time in years, it said in a statement, after the Kurdish YPG militia urged the government of President Bashar al-Assad to protect the town from Turkish attacks. The army said it would gu... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo assured Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi that the U.S. is still committed to fighting Islamic State in Iraq and other areas despite its planned troop withdrawal from Syria, Abdul Mahdi’s office said on... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Nearly 300,000 Syrians have returned to their country after Turkey’s two cross-border operations in northern Syria, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu was quoted as saying on Saturday. Turkey has carried out two operations, dubbed “Euphrates... More »
BELBEK, Crimea (Reuters) – More than a dozen SU-27 and SU-30 fighter jets which Russia is deploying to boost its air force, amid heightened tensions with Ukraine, arrived in Crimea on Saturday. A Reuters witness saw the jets land at Belbek air base in Crimea, ... More »
DAMASCUS (Reuters) – The last shadow puppeteer in Damascus lost most of his equipment to war and endured life as a refugee in Lebanon, but he now believes the old Syrian art form might survive after the United Nations said it needed to be saved. Traditional sh... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany will not withdraw its political support for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline with Russia, its foreign minister said on Monday, as some lawmakers suggested curtailing the project to punish Moscow for its seizure of Ukrainian ships and t... More »
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel launched its newest air defense system on Monday on the Syrian frontier, where Damascus’s Russian-backed forces have been routing rebels, as Moscow sent envoys for what it called “urgent” talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin ... More »
BEIRUT/DEBAGA CAMP, Iraq (Reuters) – U.S. photographer Brian McCarty wants you to see the horrors of war, but through the eyes of a child. There is no blood or mangled bodies. Instead there are pink dolls and blue tanks. A bird from a video game represents bom... More »
AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) – South Syrian rebels said on Friday they had agreed to cease fire and start handing over heavy weapons in a deal mediated by Russia that will restore state sovereignty over areas they hold in Deraa province after a fierce government off... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian government forces seized control of the Nassib border crossing with Jordan on Friday, a military news service run by the Lebanese group Hezbollah said, after Russia concluded a surrender agreement with rebels in the area. Source: http... More »
AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian rebels in Deraa province who are not willing to reconcile with the government will leave to insurgent-held areas of the north under a Russian-brokered agreement that will also restore Syrian state sovereignty over a border crossing wit... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian army has seized a chunk of territory from rebels in the southwest, Syrian state media and a war monitor said on Tuesday, the first major government advance in an offensive near the Jordanian border. Meanwhile two Israeli missiles ... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian army resumed its offensive against Islamic State militants in south Damascus on Monday after a short ceasefire to allow women, children and old people leave, state television said. The Syrian army and its allies have been battling... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian army began an intense bombardment of a rebel enclave near Homs on Monday, a war monitor said, as President Bashar al-Assad pushed to recapture all the remaining areas his forces have besieged. The attack comes as Syrian state tele... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian army bombarded a jihadist enclave in south Damascus on Monday, state television and a war monitor said, as President Bashar al-Assad seeks to regain all ground near the capital. The military focus on the area, where Islamic State ... More »
RIYADH (Reuters) – Syria’s chief opposition negotiator said the United States cannot afford to leave Syria as it has yet to achieve any of its goals in the region, even though President Donald Trump said recently Washington would withdraw its troops. “I person... More »
DAMASCUS (Reuters) – A visit by chemical weapons inspectors to the site of a suspected gas attack in Syria was delayed on Monday, British and Russian officials said, as Western powers and Russia traded accusations in the aftermath of retaliatory U.S.-led missi... More »
THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Western countries accused Moscow on Monday of preventing inspectors from reaching the site of a suspected poison gas attack in Syria and said Russians or Syrians may have tampered with evidence on the ground. The United States, Britain an... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The prospect of Western military action in Syria that could lead to confrontation with Russia hung over the Middle East on Friday but there was no clear sign that a U.S.-led attack was imminent. International chemical weapons experts were tr... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday he hoped that there would be no repeat of the experience of Libya and Iraq in the Syria conflict. “God forbid anything adventurous will be done in Syria following the Libyan and Iraqi exp... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – The German government on Friday said it would do all it could to maintain political pressure on Russia over the suspected use of chemical weapons in Syria, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Friday. Seibert said there was “serious ... More »
WASHINGTON/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday promised quick, forceful action in response to a deadly suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, appearing to suggest a potential military response. Trump told a meeting with milita... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Two buses carrying the first group of Jeish al-Islam fighters and their families on Monday left the city of Douma, the last rebel bastion in eastern Ghouta, en route for northern Syria, Syrian state TV said. The two buses were due to head to... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – One is the grandson of an Armenian troubadour who fled to Syria in 1915. The other is a descendant of a Syrian army chief who died fighting the French in 1920. One hails from Aleppo, the other from Damascus. Both Syrian artists call New York... More »
FILE PHOTO: A boy is seen in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, in Damascus, Syria March 8, 2018. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh/File Photo AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syria’s rebel-held city of Douma faces a “catastrophic” situation after becoming the main have... More »
People hold a warning leaflet dropped by plane entitled “Keep yourself and your family aware” in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, in Damascus, Syria March 11, 2018. REUTERS/ Bassam Khabieh BEIRUT (Reuters) – As the Syrian army pushes deeper into eas... More »
A handicapped man rides a bicycle past damaged buildings in the besieged town of Douma in eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria, March 1, 2018. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian army and its allies have captured more than a third of the rebel en... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – Syrian government officials removed trauma kits and surgical supplies from trucks that are part of an inter-agency convoy heading into the besieged Syrian enclave of eastern Ghouta, a World Health Organization (WHO) official told Reuters on ... More »
A Russian soldier is seen at Wafideen camp in Damascus, Syria March 1, 2018. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Russian military said a five-hour truce had begun in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta on Friday, the fourth such truce in as many days, the Interfax... More »
A child and a man are seen in hospital in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, Syria February 25, 2018. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh BEIRUT (Reuters) – A family of nine was killed in Syrian government bombardment of the rebel enclave of eastern Ghou... More »
French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a news conference during European Union leaders informal summit in Brussels, Belgium, February 23, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday told his Turkish counterpar... More »
Syrian artist Lina Aljijakli poses with her paintings in the Atelier for Artists in Exile in Paris, France, January 31, 2018. Aljijakli is one of around 150 artists from 20 countries supported by the atelier, an association in Paris that provides work space, s... More »
FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech while attending the Forum of Small Towns and Historical Settlements in the town of Kolomna, south of Moscow, Russia January 17, 2018. REUTERS/Alexander Nemenov/Pool MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Presi... More »
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters in Usak, Turkey January 20, 2018. Kayhan Ozer/Presidential Palace/Handout via REUTERS ISTANBUL (Reuters) – President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday promised to sweep militants from the length of Turkey’s Syri... More »
Turkish soldiers stand on tanks in a village on the Turkish-Syrian border in Gaziantep province, Turkey January 22, 2018. REUTERS/Osman Orsal HASSA, Turkey (Reuters) – Turkey shelled targets in northern Syria on Monday and said its three-day-old operation agai... More »
FILE PHOTO: A 3D-printed Microsoft logo is seen on a displayed Russian flag in this illustration taken January 12, 2018. Picture taken January 12, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration MOSCOW (Reuters) – Two of Microsoft’s official distributors in Russia have ... More »
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, January 10, 2018. Yasin Bulbul/Presidential Palace/Handout via REUTERS ISTANBUL (Reuters) – President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday the United States was try... More »
A wall along the border between Turkey and Syria is pictured at the Syrian town of Atimah, Idlib province, in this picture taken from Reyhanli, Hatay province, Turkey October 10, 2017. REUTERS/Osman Orsal ANKARA (Reuters) – Increased attacks in Syria’s rebel-h... More »
FILE PHOTO: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu attends a news conference in Ankara, Turkey, October 24, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday Russia and Iran need to fulfill their duties... More »
A view of Mount Hermon as seen from Jubata al-Khashab in Quneitra province, Syria, November 3, 2017. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Faqir AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian army forces backed by Iranian-backed militias pushed deeper into the last rebel-held enclave near a strategic bo... More »
Yazidi girls Bushra, 12, Suhayla, 7, and Rosa, 13, who were reunited with their family after being enslaved by Islamic State militants, pose for a photo at Sharya Camp in Duhuk, Iraq December 18, 2017. REUTERS/Ari Jalal SHARYA, Iraq (Reuters) – When Rosa, now ... More »
People are seen during shelling in the town of Hamoria, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria, December 3, 2017. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh AMMAN (Reuters) – Jets believed to be Syrian and Russian struck heavily crowded residential areas in a besieged rebel enclave ne... More »
United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura (2R) sits opposite to Syria’s U.N. ambassador and chief negotiator Bashar al-Ja’afari during a meeting of the Intra Syria talks in Geneva, Switzerland December 1, 2017. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse GENEVA (R... More »
Kurdish policemen look on towards banners supporting the referendum for independence of Kurdistan in Erbil, Iraq September 24, 2017. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s Supreme Federal Court ruled on Monday that a referendum held on Kurdish inde... More »
HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finnish police reprimanded a man for traveling in a car boot to hide his meeting with Prime Minister Juha Sipila during a government crisis last summer, saying this was breach of the traffic code. A police statement did not name the man in... More »
HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finnish police reprimanded a man for traveling in a car boot to hide his meeting with Prime Minister Juha Sipila during a government crisis last summer, saying this was breach of the traffic code. A police statement did not name the man in... More »
Three upended buses, a reminder of a barricade erected in Aleppo in 2015 at the height of the Syrian civil war, appeared in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Friday as part of an installation by Syrian-German artist Manaf Halbouni. More »
An installation “Monument” by German-Syrian artist Manaf Halbouni stands in front the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, November 10, 2017. The installation, previously displayed in Dresden, displays three upended buses to mimic a defensive barricade erected... More »
Iraqi Kurdish political parties opposed to Masoud Barzani, the outgoing Kurdistan region leader, reported attacks on their offices in several cities overnight hours after Barzani announced his resignation. More »
President Bashar al-Assad and his family have no role in the future of Syria, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Thursday ahead of peace talks aiming at a political transition scheduled to resume next month. More »
A play about Syria's war, told through one family's tragedy, made its Lebanon debut on Friday, the closest it will ever get to being staged on home soil, its Syrian director said. More »
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday that Islamic State killed at least 128 people in a Syrian town in central Homs over a three-week period before the Syrian army recaptured it on Saturday. More »
U.S.-backed militias will capture Islamic State's last foothold in the jihadists' former Syrian capital of Raqqa within hours, a militia spokesman said on Tuesday. More »
U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) raised a militia flag inside Raqqa stadium on Tuesday, one of the last remaining areas that were held by Islamic State in its former capital, a Reuters witness said. More »
Iraqi forces completed an operation to take control of all oil fields operated by state-owned North Oil Company in the Kirkuk region on Tuesday, a senior military officer said. More »
Kurdish Peshmerga forces pulled out from the area of Khanaqin, on the border with Iran as Iraqi forces prepared to take over their positions, security sources said. More »
Turkey's military has begun setting up observation posts in northwest Syria's Idlib province, its General Staff said on Friday, part of a deployment that appears partly aimed at containing a Kurdish militia. More »
Islamic State said three of its fighters carried out an attack on a Damascus police station on Monday in which 17 people were reportedly killed. More »
A 2,000-year old statue badly damaged by Islamic State in Palmyra went on display on Sunday in Damascus after being restored. More »
Voting started on Monday in an independence referendum organized by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, ignoring the threats of the Kurds' neighbors and fears of further instability and violence across the Middle East. More »
The main border crossing between Jordan and Iraq is to reopen on Wednesday for the first time since 2015, a statement from both governments said. More »
Russia's air force has destroyed a large column of Islamic State fighters on their way to the Syrian city of Deir al-Zor, killing over 200 militants, Russian news agencies cited Russia's Defence Ministry as saying on Monday. More »
German techno band Scooter faces significant legal consequences for performing at a festival in the Crimea region of Ukraine that was annexed by Russia in 2014, the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany said an interview published Saturday. More »
A top Kurdish counter-terrorism official said on Monday he was 99 percent sure that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was alive and located south of the Syrian city of Raqqa, after reports that he had been killed. More »
Destroyed buildings from clashes are seen in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq July 10, 2017. Iraqi forces clashed with Islamic State militants holding out in Mosul’s Old City on Wednesday, more than 36 hours after Baghdad declared victory over the jihadists in what... More »
Members of Iraqi federal police carry their weapons during fighting with Islamic State militants in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmed Saad Islamic State militants attacked a village south of Mosul, killing several people including two jou... More »
Turkey regards as a “positive step” a U.S. pledge to take back weapons supplied to the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria after the defeat of Islamic State and said its implementation was essential, Defense Minister Fikri Isik said on Friday. More »
It was from this medieval mosque that the militants’ leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a self-styled ”caliphate” spanning parts of Syria and Iraq three years ago. Al-Baghdadi proclaimed himself ”caliph,” or ruler of all Muslims, from the pulpit of the mosqu... More »
Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad speaks during an interview with Reuters in Damascus June 11, 2015. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki The Syrian government will not allow its enemies to benefit from the creation of de-escalation zones in western Syria, the Sy... More »
FILE PHOTO” Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters stand amid smoke in Raqqa’s western neighbourhood of Jazra, Syria June 11, 2017. REUTERS/Rodi Said United Nations war crimes investigators said on Wednesday that intensified coalition air strikes supporting a... More »
Smoke rises after shelling on a rebel-held area of Deraa, Syria, June 4, 2017. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Faqir Khalidi More »
An Austrian court jailed a Syrian asylum seeker for life for murdering 20 wounded soldiers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s army while fighting alongside an anti-Assad militia near the city of Homs, a court spokesman said. More »
Data visualiser Hans Hack points to a computer screen showing Aleppo’s destruction projected on a London map, in Berlin, Germany May 3, 2017. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch The bullet-riddled, bombed-out buildings of Aleppo may bear little resemblance to London’s gle... More »
A general view shows a power plant under construction on the suburbs of Sevastopol, Crimea, February 9, 2017. Picture taken February 9, 2017. REUTERS/Anton Zverev Russia’s $1.3 billion plan to build two new power plants in Crimea aimed to show that Moscow coul... More »
Syrian rebel and intelligence sources said Israel struck an arms supply hub on Thursday operated by the Lebanese Hezbollah group near Damascus airport where weapons from Tehran are regularly sent by commercial and military cargo planes. More »
An Israeli strike on Thursday hit an arms supply hub operated by the Lebanese Hezbollah group near Damascus airport where regular supplies of weapons from Tehran are sent by commercial and military cargo planes, a regional intelligence source said. More »
The transfer of the Shi’ite populations of two Syrian towns, in exchange for moving Sunni rebels and civilians out of two others, has started, under an evacuation deal between warring parties, a monitor said on Friday. More »
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) conducts strike operations while in the Mediterranean Sea which U.S. Defense Department said was a part of cruise missile strike against Syria on April 7, 2017. Ford Williams/Courtesy U.S. Navy... More »
Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei takes a selfie with women at the Islamic Art Museum in Doha, Qatar, April 11, 2017. Picture taken April 11, 2017. REUTERS/Tom Finn Chinese artist Ai Weiwei called on wealthy Gulf Arab states to take in more Syrians displaced ... More »
U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis (L) and Army Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command, brief the media at the Pentagon in Washington, U.S., April 11, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas Tensions between the United States and Russia will not “spiral out o... More »
Islamic State signs are seen on a street during a battle between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants, in Mosul, Iraq March 16, 2017. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani – Foreign ministers from 68 countries meet in Washington on Wednesday to agree on the next steps ... More »
Displaced Iraqis flee their homes as Iraqi forces battle with Islamic State militants, in western Mosul, Iraq March 14, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem After five months of intense fighting, Iraqi forces have begun to drive back Islamic State into the dense and nar... More »
Smoke rises after strikes on rebel-held Deraa city, Syria March 10, 2017. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Faqir Russia, Turkey and Iran are pressing ahead with a fresh round of Syria talks in Kazakhstan, Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov said on Monday, despite a re... More »
The Syrian government has called on the United Nations to force Turkey to pull “its invasion forces” out of Syria, state media said on Friday. More »
Air strikes killed 14 civilians, including six children, on Thursday near Islamic State-held Raqqa city in northern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. More »
Displaced Iraqis flee their homes, as Iraqi forces battle with Islamic State militants, in western Mosul, Iraq March 6, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem U.S.-backed Iraqi forces on Monday captured Mosul’s al-Hurriya bridge, which leads to the Islamic State-held old ... More »
FILE PHOTO: Roman Nasirov, head of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, speaks with journalists in Kiev, Ukraine, January 13, 2017. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo The head of Ukraine’s tax and customs service, Roman Nasirov, is being investigated over th... More »
Rival Kurdish groups clashed in Iraq’s northwestern Sinjar region on Friday, two Kurdish security sources said, causing deaths on both sides. More »
