GAZIANTEP, TURKEY—Syrian rebels warn their five-year-long struggle to oust President Bashar al-Assad will go underground, if they are deserted by Western backers or an attempt is made to foist an unacceptable political deal on them. They will wage a relentless guerrilla campaign against the Assad regime and “foreign invaders” from Iran and Russia, turning the […]Load more...

VOA News A new report finds that some 470,000 people have been killed since Syria’s civil war began nearly five years ago and that the new casualty figure is nearly twice that of past United Nations estimates. According to the independent, non-profit Syrian Center for Policy Research, 400,000 Syrians were killed in violence linked to […]Load more...

VOA News The director of the Central Intelligence Agency said Islamic State fighters in Syria have used chemical weapons. John Brennan said there are a number of instances where the terrorist group has used «chemical munitions on the battlefield.»  His comments were featured in excerpts from the television news show 60 Minutes. The full interview with […]Load more...

Daniel Schearf February 12, 2016 4:55 AM MOSCOW—Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is to meet with the head of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, Friday at a security conference in Munich after the Western military alliance and the United States announced plans for the biggest military build-up in Europe since the Cold War.The United States is planning […]Load more...

LESBOS, GREECE—There’s little room left in the graveyards on this windswept island.  Aid workers on Lesbos struggle to bury the growing number of refugees’ bodies pulled from the sea. Of the more than a million people who have found safe haven in Europe this past year, many have come through Lesbos first. But in crossing […]Load more...

VOA News Pope Francis, head of the Roman Catholic Church, has embarked on a trip that will take him to Mexico, with a stop in Cuba for a historic meeting with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill. Kirill is in Cuba for a state visit. The Holy See announced last week that […]Load more...

Danila Galperovich MOSCOW—Alexei Navalny, the well-known Russian opposition activist and founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, filed a lawsuit against Vladimir Putin in Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court on Thursday. Navalny detailed his case against the Russian president in an exclusive interview with VOA’s Russian service.Q: What is the substance of your suit against Vladimir Putin? A: […]Load more...