Baghdad, Iraq -- Iraq said Sunday it has found a site in a province bordering Saudi Arabia where captagon is produced, a rare discovery in a country that has become a transit route for the illicit drug. "Today, and maybe for the first time, a laboratory where captagon is produced was...

They worry over the fate of residents in Syria's last remaining rebel strongholds, in the north and northwest, after the Security Council failed on Wednesday to extend the mechanism. Under a 2014 deal, aid had largely passed through the Bab al-Hawa crossing with Turkey without the authorization of Damascus.

A letter this week from Syrian authorities allowing use of the border crossing between Turkey and Syria "contains two unacceptable conditions," according to a document sent to the UN Security Council from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The 15 UN Security Council members had been trying...

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a wide network of sources on the ground in Syria, said the volunteer was killed by a "guided missile fired by regime forces".More than four million people live in rebel-controlled areas of north and northwest Syria, an area hard hit...

Russia vetoed a nine-month extension of the agreement allowing for the conduit during a vote at the UN headquarters in New York, and then failed to muster enough votes to adopt just a six-month extension. The UN-brokered agreement that allows for the delivery of aid overland from Turkey into rebel-held...

Tehran, Iran-- Hectic efforts are underway for the restoration of ties between Syria and Turkey and also to pave way for a meeting between the Syrian and Turkish presidents. According to the Special envoy of the Russian president in Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, intense work is underway to normalize relations between...

In a rare move against an international media organization, the Syrian government has cancelled the BBC's accreditation over what it termed "misleading reports." According to the country's information ministry, the cancellation was brought about by the "broadcaster's failure to adhere to professional standards and its insistence on providing biased and...

The focus of the discussion between the two was war refugees and a crackdown on cross-border smuggling, according to Jordan's foreign ministry. The diplomat's visit comes amid an increasing regional engagement with the Assad regime, peaking with Syria's return to the Arab League after years of isolation since Syria's war...

Israel has approved buying a third squadron of advanced F-35 fighter jets manufactured by Lockheed Martin in a $3-billion deal, the defense ministry said. Israel is the only Middle East nation with F-35s which is stealth capable and can be used to gather intelligence, strike deep into enemy territory and...

Citing a military source, Syrian state news agency SANA said that Israel carried out air strikes near the government-held city of Homs. The air strikes hit "some points in the vicinity of the city". Israel, during more than a decade of war in Syria, has launched hundreds of air strikes,...

The Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic will "clarify the fate and whereabouts of all missing persons" in the country and "provide adequate support to victims, survivors and the families of those missing." But Syria, along with Russia, China and Iran, objected to the new body,...

Iraq has long been transit country for captagon, but officials say it is increasingly becoming a consumer market for the illicit drug. In March, the authorities announced the seizure of three million captagon pills at the Al-Qaim border crossing with Syria.

On Sunday, the Ukrainian embassy charged that "the current Israeli government" had "opted for a path of close cooperation with the Russian Federation". It noted a "near absence of Israeli humanitarian assistance to Ukraine" and a recent statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel needed to cooperate with Russia...

Russian forces which back President Bashar al-Assad's regime were responding to rebel drone strikes over the past week that killed four civilians including two children, according to the Observatory. Six civilians died in Jisr al-Shughur and three rebel fighters were killed nearby by Russian air strikes. Another three civilians, including...

The 10-truck convoy reach rebel-held Al-Nayrab in Idlib province from the direction of regime-held Saraqib, headed for storage facilities near the Turkish border. The last such convoy was in January. The trucks were covered with banners bearing the name and logo of the UN World Food Programme.

QAMISHLI, SYRIA- A Turkish drone strike killed three employees of northeast Syria's semi-autonomous Kurdish administration on Tuesday, a spokesman said, amid a recent uptick in attacks targeting Kurdish-held areas. The strike targeted "a vehicle transporting civilian employees, killing two Kurdish women and a Christian" man, said Farhad Shami, spokesman for the...

"Efforts are underway to reopen diplomatic and consular missions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, including the reopening of Iran's embassy in Riyadh and consulate in Jeddah," highlights Prince Faisal, adding that the Kingdom's embassy in Tehran will also reopen soon.

Tehran, Iran-- In spite of the US sanctions against the Islamic Republic, Iran has seen a huge surge in the export of crude oil in 2023 to China, Syria, Venezuela, according to reports. According to media reports, Iranian crude shipments continued to rise in 2023 with higher shipments to China,...

Last year's donors' conference in Brussels for displaced Syrians raised pledges of $6.7 billion, and the one before that $6.4 billion. The EU overall contributed more than 70 percent of those totals.

Lebanese authorities say the country hosts around two million Syrians, while more than 800,000 are registered with the UN -- the highest number of refugees per capita in the world. Refugees living in agricultural lands in eastern Lebanon told that no matter how dire their situation, they could not return...

Recycling, in rebel-controlled Syria, is rather a grim lifeline than environmental impulse for desperate residents searching for work or items they otherwise could not afford.

Seriously ill Syrians in the country's last rebel bastion of Idlib used to be able to access life-saving care across the border. But the main crossing there for medical visits slammed shut after a deadly earthquake ravaged southern Turkey on February 6, prompting Ankara to prioritise its domestic needs.

The strategic partnerships between the two sides seek to focus on peace, security, stability, integration, and economic prosperity in the Middle East.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Riyadh and Washington urged Western governments Thursday to repatriate citizens who joined the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, where thousands still languish in prisons or camps. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said it was "disheartening and absolutely unacceptable" that some wealthy countries had not...

"We consider today an important day in the relations of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Alireza Bigdeli told a flag-raising ceremony. "The cooperation between the countries is entering a new era."

Syria's opposition urged the resumption of moribund United Nations-sponsored talks with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, who has returned to the Arab fold after years of isolation. "The international, regional and Syrian conditions provide an appropriate circumstance for the resumption of direct negotiations...," the Syrian Negotiation Commission said in...

The visit by Faisal Mekdad comes weeks after the Arab League agreed to end Syria's suspension from the 22-member bloc, bringing the regime of President Bashar al-Assad back into the regional fold after years of civil war. Iraq remained an ally to Damascus throughout the wider Arab boycott, never severing...

Beirut, Lebanon--A Saudi national who had been kidnapped in Beirut has been freed in a "special operation" by the Lebanese army near the Syrian border, it said in a statement Tuesday. "An army intelligence patrol managed to free kidnapped Saudi national Mashari al-Mutairi during a special operation on the Syrian border,"...

Since the start of the war in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes against regime positions as well as Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah forces, allies of Damascus and arch-foes of Israel. Israel rarely comments on the strikes on a case-by-case basis, but says it seeks...

ABU DHABI, UAE - Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei headed the UAE delegation to the Development Road Conference in Iraq. The one-day conference brought together transport ministers and officials from the Gulf Cooperation Council, Iran, Turkey, Syria and Jordan and representatives of the European Union...

"Only a few cases of child abandonment" were officially documented before the war broke out in 2011, according to the Washington-based group Syrians for Truth and Justice, which records human rights abuses in the country. But between early 2021 and late 2022, more than 100 children -- 62 of them girls...

In a world where Turkey and Russia are both sceptical of Western military, political and economic dominance, Putin and Erdogan see each other as reliable partners. "Russia must have breathed a sigh of relief," said a Western diplomat, referring to the outcome of the first round on May 14.

Colonna nevertheless said Paris would not be changing its policy towards the Syrian ruler. "We have to remember who Bashar al-Assad is. He's a leader who has been the enemy of his own people for more than 10 years," she said. A lifting of European Union sanctions on the Syrian...

Beirut, Lebanon -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has returned to the Arab fold after more than a decade of isolation, eyeing reconstruction and aid from formers foes as the conflict grinds on. Since the brutal civil war broke out in 2011, it has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions and...

Known to his inner circle as "beyefendi" (sir) and to admirers as "reis" (the chief), Erdogan prides himself on being able to woo doubters through tireless campaigning. This passion has helped him and his party win more than a dozen local and national elections, allowing Erdogan to claim a people's...

He stresses on resolving the Palestinian issue, expressing concerns over escalating Israeli attacks and calling for a collective response to establish an independent Palestinian state. Taha also expresses the OIC's commitment to peace and stability in Yemen, Libya, and Syria, and urged increased solidarity with Somalia.

The summit in Saudi Arabia comes at a time when the world's biggest oil exporter is flexing its diplomatic muscle across the Middle East and beyond. It follows a frenetic stretch of high-stakes diplomacy triggered by the kingdom's surprise Chinese-brokered rapprochement deal with Iran announced in March.

DUBAI, UAE - Conflict-plagued countries in the Middle East are among the most vulnerable to climate change but are almost entirely excluded from meaningful financing to mitigate its effects, aid groups warned on Thursday. In a joint report focusing on Iraq, Syria and Yemen, the International Committee of the Red Cross...

The United Arab Emirates has invited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to attend the UN climate summit in Dubai later this year, Syrian state media said. Assad's first invitation to a global summit since the start of Syria's war in 2011 comes as the Arab world warms to Damascus after a...

"I... take this opportunity to welcome the Syrian Arab Republic to the League of Arab States," Saudi finance minister Mohammed al-Jadaan told the meeting, which was broadcast live by state TV channel Al Ekhbariya. Jadaan added that he was "looking forward to working with everyone to achieve what we aspire...

Following international pressure, Damascus agreed to let the UN use the Bab al-Salama and Al-Rai crossings, operated by Turkish-backed rebels, to bring in food and medical supplies for three months. The permission had been set to expire May 13, so Syria's decision was welcome news for those affected as well...

The pan-Arab body had suspended Damascus in November 2011 over its crackdown on protests, which began earlier that year and spiraled into a war that has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions and battered the country's infrastructure and industry.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was politically isolated in the region since the conflict began, but a flurry of diplomatic activity has been underway in past weeks as a decision by Saudi Arabia and Iran, a close ally of Damascus, to resume ties shifted regional relations. Assad hopes normalisation with Gulf...

The sides will "exchange views on the normalization of relations between Turkey and Syria, discuss humanitarian issues... and the voluntary, safe and dignified return of asylum seekers," the Turkish foreign ministry said.

"We continue to believe that we will not normalize our relations with the Assad regime and we don't support our allies and partners doing so either," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said. The US opposes reconciliation with Syria and domestic law forbids any assistance for reconstruction without accountability for abuses...

BEIRUT, LEBANON -  An air strike killed a major drug smuggler and his family in southern Syria on Monday, a war monitor said, attributing the strike to Jordan though Amman did not immediately confirm. Drug dealer "Marai al-Ramthan, his wife and six children were killed in a Jordanian air force strike"...

The bloc's foreign ministers unanimously agree to allow government delegations from Syria to resume their participation in meetings ahead of a key summit in Jeddah on May 19.

During late-night talks Thursday, Raisi and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad discussed "ways to develop and strengthen bilateral relations" and "emphasized existing cooperation in the field of reconstruction", according to a joint statement.

Iran's president hailed his visit to Damascus as a "turning point", after Tehran's support helped Syria retake most of the territory it lost in 12 years of war. Ebrahim Raisi's two-day trip is the first such visit to Tehran's close ally since 2010. "This trip will be a turning point...

AMMAN, JORDAN  - Jordan's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi on Wednesday briefed his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the outcome of a consultative meeting held here on Syria.In addition to Jordan, the meeting on Tuesday also brought together the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Egypt and...