Bloomberg Turkey is seeking US support to lead a ground offensive against IS main stronghold in Syria, a Turkish official said, a move that could give President Recep Tayyip Erdogan more influence in the conflict and undermine Kurdish groups linked to separatists he’s fighting at home. Troops and Syrian rebels loyal to Ankara would advance on Raqqa through areas ...

  BEIRUT / AP Syrian government forces and their allies from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah reached the outskirts of Palmyra in their push to drive IS militants from the ancient town, activists said on Tuesday. The advancing forces reached the town’s southwestern gateway, located about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from its famed Roman ruins, according to the activist-run Palmyra Coordination ...

  MOSCOW / AP President Vladimir Putin says Russia will close its military base in Kyrgyzstan if the government of the Central Asian nation asks it to. Putin was speaking on Tuesday in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, as part of a Central Asian tour. The Kyrgyz president said in December that the base should close when the lease runs out at ...