Middle Orient

Syrian forces seized a suburb of Damascus on Thursday from rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad in a push that has shored up government control of the capital’s outskirts, state television reported.

Clashes between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad in Tripoli continued for a third day Wednesday, leaving one dead and 29 wounded so far amid heavy military deployment in the northern city. Schools across Lebanon’s second largest city remained closed Wednesday as fighters in the mainly Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood exchanged rocket-propelled …

The Turkish and Iraqi governments are currently bidding to improve bilateral ties with a series of high-level visits. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari is expected to arrive inAnkara on Oct. 25 to conduct a series of meetings with Turkish officials, including his Turkish counterpart

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari will visit Turkey on Friday. According to the TV channel, issues of bilateral cooperation, the Syrian crisis, economic and regional issues will be discussed during the visit.

Militants killed at least 22 members of the security forces in Iraq on Tuesday, mostly in attacks on police and military checkpoints, with the western Anbar province bearing the brunt of the violence, sources said.

Syria’s opposition in exile resisted calls Tuesday from Western and Arab countries to commit to attending peace talks, saying it would not take part if there was any chance President Bashar Assad remained in power.

A Turkish delegation of high-level officials yesterday passed on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s invite to the Iraqi Prime MinisterNouri al-Maliki during their visit to the country.

Kurdish rebels are ready to re-enter Turkey from northern Iraq, the head of the group’s political wing said at his mountain hideout, threatening to rekindle an insurgency unless Ankara resuscitates their peace process soon. Accusing Turkey of waging a proxy war against Kurds in Syria by backing Islamist rebels fighting …

Lebanese President Michel Suleiman has called Turkish President Abdullah Gül to thank Turkey for its efforts in saving nine Lebanese pilgrims who were being held hostage by the Syrian opposition and getting them home safely.

Bulgaria has asked for an additional EUR 6 M in order to cope with the ongoing refugee influx, Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetlin Yovchev revealed on Monday. Yovchev, who attended an emergency cabinet sitting over the refugee crisis, told reporters