Fighting raged on in Syria yesterday, as a hoped-for ceasefire failed to materialise and Turkey intensified its shelling of Kurdish-led

The first of several convoys carrying badly-needed aid to besieged areas of Syria has arrived at its destination.

Russia says it "categorically rejects" accusations of war crimes over the bombing of hospitals in Syria.

Ehud Olmert, once feted for his peace efforts with the Palestinians, yesterday became Israel's first former premier to serve jail time as he began a 19-month sentence for bribery and obstruction of justice.

At least 23 civilians are killed when missiles hit three hospitals and a school in rebel-held Syrian towns today, residents say, as Russian-backed Syrian troops intensify their push toward the rebel stronghold of Aleppo.

The Israeli army said troops shot dead two Palestinian teenagers who were throwing stones at cars in the occupied West Bank yesterday after coming under fire from one of them.

Iran and Saudi Arabia must overcome strained relations and work for stability in Syria and the Middle East, Iran's foreign minister said on Friday, a day after Syrian peace talks brought the rivals to the same table for the first time in months.

Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian teenager as she tried to stab a soldier in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday, Israeli and Palestinian

Iran says it is cracking down on Valentine's Day celebrations and shops engaging in them will be guilty of a crime.

Rebel groups in Syria have told the BBC they will not stop fighting because they do not believe that Russia will end its bombing campaign in support of the government.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said that he intends to retake "the whole country".

Turkish humanitarian groups set up camps in Syria and sent in truckloads of aid yesterday for tens of thousands of people stranded on the border after fleeing a Russia-backed regime offensive on the northern region of Aleppo.

An Israeli soldier was stabbed and lightly wounded in the southern city of Ashkelon yesterday and the assailant was shot, Israeli police said, the latest in a

A Saudi soldier and a civilian have been killed in cross-border shelling from rebel-controlled northern Yemen, authorities said late Saturday. A Saudi patrol was

The key district of Sangin in the southern Afghan province of Helmand is once again on the verge of being overrun by the Taliban, according to an Afghan army

Saudi Arabia's King Salman yesterday called on other countries not to interfere in the kingdom's internal affairs in what appeared to be a rebuke to Riyadh's main foe Iran, which it accuses of attempting to stir unrest.

With rebel forces facing the prospect of a crushing defeat by Syria's Russian-backed regime, their allies Saudi Arabia and Turkey may

Thousands of Syrians were braving cold and rain at the Turkish border yesterday after fleeing a Russian-backed regime assault on

A Syrian military offensive threatened critical rebel supply lines into the northern city of Aleppo yesterday and Damascus echoed its

King Abdullah of Jordan said his country is at "boiling point" because of an influx of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. Ahead