Unconfirmed reports said the plane was flying to Syria’s Latakia province. A Russian military plane has disappeared from radar just minutes after take-off from the Black Sea resort of Sochi, local media have said. They quoted a source at the emergency ministry as saying the missing aircraft was a Tu-154. The country’s defence ministry later … Read more
Germany has launched a Europe-wide manhunt for a “violent and armed” Tunisian man, saying he is a suspect in Monday’s Christmas market attack in Berlin. But authorities are under fire after it emerged that the 24-year-old Anis Amri, a rejected asylum seeker, was potentially dangerous and already under investigation. The interior minister of Germany’s most-populous … Read more
The United Nations General Assembly has voted to establish a special team to “collect, consolidate, preserve and analyse evidence” as well as to prepare cases on war crimes and human rights abuses committed during the conflict in Syria. The General Assembly adopted a Liechtenstein-drafted resolution to establish the independent team with 105 in favour, 15 … Read more
Clashes between Turkish-backed Syrian rebels and ISIL fighters have intensified around the northern Syrian town of Al-Bab, resulting in the deaths of 14 Turkish soldiers, the military’s highest single-day toll of its four-month campaign inside the country. Wednesday’s battles, in which another 33 Turkish soldiers were wounded and 138 ISIL members were also killed, were … Read more
An American social media celebrity says he was removed from a New York-bound plane in London after speaking Arabic on the aircraft. Adam Saleh posted video of the incident on Wednesday to his Twitter feed. “Delta airlines kicked us out for speaking Arabic to my mom on a plane,” Saleh tweeted. By the time of … Read more
Bana Alabed – the seven-year-old Syrian who tweeted about life inside rebel-held east Aleppo – has met Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Bana and her little brother have been pictured sitting on Mr Erdogan’s knee in the presidential complex in Ankara. President Erdogan sent a special representative to Syria to collect Bana and her family … Read more
At least four policemen and one suspect have been killed in clashes on the outskirts of Karak city in southern Jordan after security officers stormed an apartment, according to security sources. Two more suspects were arrested after Tuesday’s gun battle in Wesya village, which came shortly after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant … Read more
ISIL claimed responsibility for Monday’s lorry attack on a Christmas market in Berlin as German investigators said they were pursuing multiple leads. The claim came at the end of a challenging day for German officials, who are still hunting for the person, or people, behind the incident. ISIL, or the Islamic State of Iraq and … Read more
Heavy gunfire and injuries have been reported in the village of Wesya in the southern Jordan province of Karak after security officers stormed an apartment. Tuesday’s violence came shortly after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack at a popular tourist destination in Karak city. At least … Read more
Evacuations have resumed from east Aleppo, with buses and ambulances leaving rebel areas of the Syrian city. At least 350 people reportedly left rebel enclaves late on Sunday, heading towards other rebel-held territory. Among those to have left is seven-year-old Bana Alabed, who had tweeted about conditions in besieged areas of Aleppo. A separate evacuation … Read more
Gunmen attacked police patrols in the historic southern Jordanian city of Karak Sunday, killing five people, including a Canadian female tourist and four police officers, according to Jordanian security sources. At least nine people were also wounded in the attack, which started when gunmen fired at a police patrol that went to check on a … Read more
France has presented a UN Security Council draft resolution on sending observers to Aleppo to monitor evacuations and report on the protection of Syrian civilians, according to the text obtained Saturday by AFP. The measure, circulated to the council late Friday, could be put to a vote on Sunday despite resistance from Russia, Syria’s ally … Read more
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has voiced alarm “over reports of atrocities against a large number of civilians” in Syria’s city of Aleppo. Mr Ban urged all the sides, particularly Syria’s government and its allies, to protect civilians. UN humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland earlier said Syria and Russia were “accountable” for any atrocities committed by pro-government … Read more
The Islamic State (IS) group has retaken the Syrian city of Palmyra, hours after Russian air strikes appeared to have driven it back. The governor of Homs province, Talal Barazi, said government forces were now regrouping outside the ancient city, preparing to launch a fresh assault. IS held the city from May 2015 until it … Read more
A look inside the ruins after they were recaptured from so-called Islamic State in March Islamic State group fighters have re-entered Palmyra, nine months after losing the ancient Syrian desert city. Monitoring groups say militants and pro-government forces fought fiercely in the centre of Palmyra. An activist there told the BBC that the city was … Read more
Iraqi police fired shots in the air and threatened to whip crowds with a hose as residents tried to overrun the first distribution of aid by UN agencies inside Mosul on Thursday, a scene of the desperation in areas retaken from Islamic State. The distribution aimed to reach 45,000 people in total at several locations … Read more
British Prime Minister Theresa May has said that she wants to deepen defence cooperation with Gulf countries and work towards signing “an ambitious trade agreement” with them. Addressing the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) annual summit in Bahraini capital Manama on Wednesday, May said Britain wanted to “make a more permanent and more enduring commitment to … Read more
French police are searching for a masked attacker suspected of stabbing an elderly woman to death in a retirement home for Catholic missionaries in southern France, according to authorities. An unusually large police operation was launched to search for the suspected attacker on Friday, believed to be armed with a shotgun and a knife. The … Read more
The Turkish military has said that three of its soldiers have been killed and 10 more wounded in Syria by an air strike allegedly launched by Syrian government forces. A statement from the Turkish armed forces on its website said that the attack occurred at 3:30am local time [00:30 GMT] on Thursday. “In the air … Read more
France has accused Syria and its allies of using political uncertainty in the US to launch “total war” against opposition-held areas in the country and called for new sanctions on Bashar al-Assad’s government for the use of chemical weapons. Making the accusations after a weekly cabinet session on Wednesday, Jean-Marc Ayrault, France’s foreign minister, said … Read more