Does Assad meeting signal a shift in France's policy?

A secret visit by French parliamentarians to Damascus is raising questions about a possible major shift in France's Syria policy.

Syria

Questions remain over Turkey's training of Syrian opposition

Many argue that Ankara’s prime motive in signing the accord is to improve strained ties with Washington.

Syria

Syrian regime, allies lose decisive battles in Aleppo

The regime and its allies have suffered heavy losses in an offensive against the opposition’s largest stronghold in the northern countryside of Aleppo.

Lebanon

Regional events have Hamas in political limbo

Various events and unresolved regional crises have fed Hamas' reluctance to forge regional alliances and take decisive positions on developments in the Arab world.

Saudi Arabia

Kurdish journalists use IS media strategy to their advantage

Kurdish journalists are trying to counter Islamic State propaganda by showing the world the horrors that the group has committed.

Iraq

Turkish military mission becomes media circus

Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party framed its cross-border mission to evacuate the Tomb of Suleiman Shah as a victory for the nation, but political opposition and social media commenters saw much to mock about the operation.

Syria

Was Hezbollah's Mughniyeh an unintended target?

A security source from Beirut tells Al-Monitor how the perpetrators of the 2008 assassination of Hezbollah's military commander might not have known they were targeting the elusive Imad Mughniyeh.

Palestine

Turkish army enters Syria to evacuate tomb

The Turkish army successfully evacuated its soldiers from the Tomb of Suleiman Shah in Syria in coordination with Kurdish forces on the ground.

Syria

Can returned extremist fighters be rehabilitated?

Participants in a White House summit on countering violent extremism say the most useful aspect was exchanging information on the sidelines of the meetings about how to prevent recruitment of vulnerable youth and rehabilitate foreign fighters returning home from Syria and Iraq.

Syria

Should US back UN plan for cease-fire in Aleppo?

UN Syria envoy says that "assurances will not be enough" to end fighting; Turkey’s border a "strategic problem" in anti-Islamic State campaign.

Syria

Syria opposition forces claim regime attack in Daraa futile

The opposition forces in southern Syria say that the regime, which has launched a battle with its allies Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is not advancing there.

Syria

Jordan rejects land offensive against IS, for now

Observers believe that Jordan is being dragged into a land offensive against the Islamic State in Syria, using the execution of its pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh as cover.

Jordan