GAZIANTEP, TURKEY—Thousands of Syrian villagers are fleeing homes in the countryside south of Aleppo in the face of a government ground assault backed by Russian airstrikes, one of four major offensives mounted since Russia’s military intervention in the long-running Syrian civil war. The three other offensives are focused mainly on rural areas in the provinces […]
UNITED NATIONS—President Barack Obama is making the case for diplomacy and collective action – highlighting U.S.-led efforts in the Middle East – as he addresses the United Nations General Assembly on Monday. A White House official said Obama will point to the recently completed nuclear deal between the P5+1 and Iran as an example of […]
Islamist rebels have captured a major airbase from government forces in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, according to Syrian state television and a war monitoring group. The state TV report on Wednesday announced the military retreat from Abu Duhur military airport, where the Islamist extremists had imposed a nearly two-year-long siege. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory […]
SEOUL—U.S. defense officials say annual drills by American and South Korean military forces were halted temporarily to avoid contributing to a dramatic increase in tensions between North and South Korea – a dispute that prompted Pyongyang to declare it is in a “quasi-state of war.” North Korea routinely condemns the allies’ annual military exercises and […]