From May 21 to May 27, Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to the Middle East. His visit will begin in Oman, and then he will move to Jordan, Israel, the West Bank. In Jordan, Kerry will ...

In a White House press briefing Thursday with visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President Barack Obama reiterated his calls for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down but offered no new details on the administration's approach to hastening ...

Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed optimism Wednesday that the peace talks on the Syrian conflict they're organizing will be successful. After a meeting with Lavrov in Sweden, Kerry said, "Both of ...

During a visit to Russia last week Secretary of State John Kerry announced that Russia would participate in a conference dedicated to the issue of Syria. Russia is among Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's staunchest international allies and has regularly

This weekend saw the end of the nearly two week siege of the foreign and justice ministries by armed militias in Tripoli.  The armed groups had besieged the ministries beginning in late April demanding the passage of a ...

The political stand-off in Libya's capital continued after armed militias, who were demanding passage of a political isolation law, refused to leave their posts after the law was passed by parliament. Instead, after having their demands met, the militias formed an ...

Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) introduced legislation that would significantly increase the U.S.'s involvement in the Syrian conflict. The Syria Stabilization Act of 2013 has five components: the authority to provide weapons, training, and non-lethal supplies to ...

On Wednesday, the Kurdistan Alliance announced that its ministers and members of parliament would resume participation in Iraq's government. The State Department's Acting Deputy Spokesperson Patrick Ventrell said that the U.S. urges "all parties to build on this ...

General Salim Idris, the top commander of the Free Syrian Army, is urging President Obama to intervene in the country's conflict and help defeat Assad's army after American officials confirmed last week the use of chemical weapons ...

Increasing incidents of violence have swept across Iraq in recent weeks and Reuters reports that "tensions are at their highest in Iraq since U.S. troops pulled out more than a year ago." Bombings on Monday and Wednesday ...

On Sunday, men armed with AK-47s, sniper rifles and anti-aircraft guns blocked roads around the Libyan Foreign Ministry. They surrounded the building and called for passage of a political isolation law that would ban officials who had served under the ...

King Abdullah II of Jordan visited Washington this week, meeting with President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and members of Congress. During their meeting on Friday, President Obama congratulated the king on his recent economic and political reforms ...

The State Department's 2012 Human Rights Report on Syria noted a number of human rights problems, the most significant of which were "the regime’s massive, countrywide attacks and strategic use of citizen killings to intimidate and control; specific ...

The White House today established that the U.S. Government now believes with "varying degrees of confidence" the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale against the opposition. However, the Obama Administration stated that, given the ...

Congressmen Peter Roskam (R-IL) and Dan Lipinski (D-IL) introduced a resolution in Congress to prevent a takeover of the Palestinian Authority by Hamas and to promote responsible Palestinian leadership. The bill urges President Mahmoud Abbas to prevent a ...

A gun battle broke out at a Sunni protest camp north of Baghdad early Tuesday. Officials have reported that at least 20 people died and dozens injured. The clash occurred after government security forces entered the camp to make arrests, but ...

The Moroccan government Monday categorically rejected a proposal to allow the U.N. observer mission in the disputed Western Sahara to monitor alleged human rights abuses. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last week suggested in a report to the ...

Iraq will hold Governorate Council Elections in 12 of its 18 provinces on Saturday despite increased violence and a wave of assassinations. On Monday, approximately 20 separate attacks across the country killed nearly 50 and wounded more than 200. In recent months, ...