Damascus / AFP US President Barack Obama said he is “not optimistic” about Syria’s future, as the UN warned time is running out to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in Aleppo which has been pounded by air strikes for nearly a week. Government forces launched a ferocious assault last Tuesday to recapture eastern Aleppo, killing 115 civilians so far. In ...

  Sanaa / AFP A 48-hour ceasefire ended on Monday in Yemen after failing to stem violence across the country, with both sides blaming each other for deadly “violations” of the US-backed truce. The ceasefire, aimed at ending the chaos and bloodshed that has gripped Yemen since March 2015, came into effect on Saturday following the intervention of US Secretary ...

  Ankara / AFP Turkish police detained on Monday the pro-Kurdish co-mayor of Mardin, state media reported, the latest municipal chief of a major southeastern city to be taken into custody in a growing crackdown. Ahmet Turk was detained along with Emin Irmak, co-mayor of central Artuklu district in Mardin, as part of a “terror probe”, the official news agency ...