President Donald Trump has said it is “not our problem” if Turkey enters Syria, adding that the Kurds are “no angels, by the way”. His comments come as the US faces intense criticism for withdrawing its forces from Syria, which some say gave Turkey the green light to launch a cross-border offensive. Mr Trump told […]

ANKARA (REUTERS) – The Trump administration dispatched its top officials to Turkey on Wednesday (Oct 16) for emergency talks to try to persuade Ankara to halt an assault on northern Syria, while Russian troops swept into territory abandoned by Washington in a sudden retreat. Robert O’Brien, White House national security adviser since last month, arrived […]

The emir’s office said in August that Sheikh Sabah suffered health setback while in Kuwait. Kuwait’s 90-year-old ruler Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah has returned home after treatment in the United States, state news agency KUNA said. On August 18, KUNA reported the emir had “recovered from a setback and is in good health”. It also cited a palace […]

SANA news agency says Syrian army at Manbij’s main square as Turkish president vows to press ahead with offensive. Heavy fighting continues as Turkey presses on with its military operation, now in its eighth day, against Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the military action aims to remove the Kurdish-led forces […]

The one world figure who has emerged as the undisputed beneficiary of Donald Trump’s decision to disengage from the Syrian conflict is his Russian opposite number, Vladimir Putin. The precise nature of the relationship between the American and Russian leaders remains one of the great unknowns of the Trump administration. And if Mr Trump was […]

ANKARA (REUTERS) – President Tayyip Erdogan told US President Donald Trump that Turkey will never declare a ceasefire in northeastern Syria and that it will not negotiate with Kurdish forces it is fighting in its offensive into the region. Turkey pressed ahead with its offensive against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in northern Syria on […]

Lebanon has asked for international help battling hundreds of forest fires that broke out on Monday and have spread abroad. The blazes – the worst in decades – started in Lebanon’s western mountains, amid a heatwave and strong winds. Heavy smoke was seen over Beirut and the city of Sidon, and one volunteer firefighter reportedly […]

The Turkish invasion of Kurdish-held territory in northern Syria has complicated an already chaotic war. What began eight years ago as a series of nonviolent protests against the Syrian government morphed into an international conflict, between dozens of local factions, the Islamic State and several foreign countries. Now, an American ally is attacking a group […]

The case of three children believed to be from the UK, trapped in Syria after their parents joined the “Islamic State group” and subsequently died, has raised questions about how they can be repatriated. The children, Amira, Heba and Hamza, were featured in a recent BBC report from a Syrian camp for the families of […]

Putin signs oil agreements and discusses regional security in his first visit to the kingdom since 2007. Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited Saudi Arabia in his first trip to the kingdom in over a decade, signing oil agreements and discussing regional security, in particular, Saudi Arabia’s ongoing rivalry with Iran. A mounted guard escorted Putin’s limousine […]