LONDON The Western-backed Free Syrian Army said on Monday it had not refused an offer of military support from Russia and that Moscow needs to stop targeting its bases in Syria. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview broadcast on Saturday ... More »
MOSCOW Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet the United Nations’ special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, on Tuesday, RIA news agency quoted the ministry’s press department as saying. RIA said the information came in response to a question on wh... More »
UNITED NATIONS Russia appeared to seize the initiative in international efforts to end the conflict in Syria on Sunday as Washington scrambled to devise a new strategy for the war-ravaged country and France sent warplanes to bomb Islamic State targets. As lead... More »
AMMAN/BEIRUT Rebels who have inflicted big losses on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad say Russia’s intervention in support of its ally will only lead to an escalation of the war and may encourage the rebels’ Gulf Arab backers to pour in more military aid. Russ... More »
ISTANBUL Turkey’s military said on Monday its warplanes bombarded Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets overnight after the militants staged a deadly attack in which, one security source told Reuters, 16 Turkish soldiers were killed. The PKK said it had killed... More »
BEIRUT The overpowering stench of the rubbish piling up in Lebanon’s streets has become a potent symbol of the political rot protesters blame not only for the garbage crisis but a gridlocked sectarian power system unable to meet citizens’ most basic needs, fro... More »
BEIRUT/MOSCOW While the desperate flight of Syrians from their country’s war was dominating news bulletins this summer, yet another diplomatic push to end the four-year-old conflict was quietly running into the sand. That largely unnoticed failure has reinforc... More »
BEIRUT Rebels fired dozens of rockets at central Damascus on Wednesday, a monitor and state media said, ahead of an expected visit to the Syrian capital by Iran’s foreign minister. The bombardment killed at least one person and injured more than 20 others, the... More »
BEIRUT A Syrian military source said on Tuesday the army had retreated to new defensive lines in a region of vital strategic importance to President Bashar al-Assad, seeking to avoid losses at the hands of advancing rebels. The insurgent advance into the Sahl ... More »
WASHINGTON The United States has decided to allow airstrikes to defend Syrian rebels trained by the U.S. military from any attackers, even if the enemies hail from forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, U.S. officials said on Sunday. The decision by... More »
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama pledged to increase U.S. support for the moderate opposition in Syria’s civil war on Monday and said the United States needed to do more at home to prevent attacks and combat Islamic State efforts to recruit followers. Obama, ... More »
WASHINGTON A forger sent a hoax letter to Russian media in an apparent bid to convince journalists that a senior U.S. lawmaker, Senator Richard Durbin, was trying to tell Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk how to run his government, Durbin’s office said... More »
FRANKFURT The euro may be facing an existential crisis but the giant 14-metre sculpture of the euro symbol that towers over downtown Frankfurt, home of the European Central Bank, was still getting its biggest makeover in 13 years on Monday. Considered an eyeso... More »
