New Istanbul bookstore-cafe focuses on Arab culture, refugee experience

A small group of Syrian intellectuals has founded a bookstore-cafe in Istanbul, hoping to bridge cultures and promote Arab refugees' rich literary and cultural heritage.

Syria

Assad’s 'reputation trap' for Moscow

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in his fear of losing the support of Russia, may be backing Russia into a corner of sorts.

Legacy: Gulf

European countries to Turkey: We pay, you keep Syrian refugees

Syrian refugees are the new ping-pong between EU countries and Turkey.

Syria

Facebook users take aim at crime, security checkpoints, life in Syria

Syrians are using social media to share their experiences, including at regime-controlled checkpoints, in this case with the goal of reaching decision-makers and improving the treatment of those stopped at them.

Syria

Turkish daily exposes transfer of weapons to IS

The feud between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his rivals in the Gulen movement is turning up news: Is there a link between exposure and the police raid of newspaper offices?

Syria

IS intensifies attacks outside Aleppo

After news broke of the US-Turkish plan to establish a safe zone in Syria, the Islamic State stepped up operations against opposition forces in Aleppo's northern countryside.

Syria

Turkey's 'foot-dragging' on fight against IS continues

Diplomats say Turkey’s sincerity will be judged by its determination to continue its active support of the US-led coalition against the Islamic State.

Syria

Turkey’s protracted PKK problem

Although many Kurds do not like the leftist and secular agenda of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the PKK has shown great resilience, in part as the result of the fragmented Iraqi and Syrian states and political missteps by Turkey.

Iraq

Syria's Palestinians divided over whom to support

The war in Syria has split the allegiance of some Palestinians, with Hamas in Yarmouk supporting the armed opposition and those in Nairab aligned with the Syrian regime.

Palestine

Saudi king wants Obama to tackle Iranian 'mischief'

King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud will make clear during his White House visit that Riyadh’s lukewarm support for the Iran nuclear deal depends on the United States keeping Tehran in check.

Saudi Arabia

Ankara needs to explain its turnaround in dealings with PKK

As confrontations persist between Turkish government forces and the Kurdistan Workers Party, the government has remained mum about the reasons for the breakdown of the Kurdish peace process.

Syria

Syrian Shiites take up arms in support of Assad's army

Syria's tiny Shiite community is taking greater steps toward arming itself as the civil war grinds on.

Syria