Turkey's foreign minister said on Tuesday he hoped his country and Russia could find a solution over the northern Syrian region of Idlib, a rebel-held enclave which the Syrian government says it aims to recapture.

German chancellor Angela Merkel will host a meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Berlin this weekend, spokesman Steffen Seibert announced on Monday. The surprise meeting is meant to focus on Syria, violence in eastern Ukraine and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. It comes at a time when relations with the US are strained by trade tariffs, hitting both Russian, Turkish and German aluminium and steel exports.

A new study from Australian researchers shows that refugees and new immigrants integrate well in Australia – especially in regional areas. Contrary to recent comments from the multicultural affairs minister, Alan Tudge, that migrants who reside together “largely communicate in their mother tongue [and] are slower integrating”, the research found that refugees were welcomed by their new communities, found it “easy” to get along, and felt a strong sense of belonging to their new homes. Researchers surveyed 214 refugees – 155 adults and 59 children – from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, who all had been recently settled in...

FIVE drones have been shot down by Russian air defences outside one of their Syrian bases in the past 24 hours alone, in just the latest example of the unmanned vehicles being turned into weapons of war.

Between 20,000 and 30,000 Islamic State fighters remain in Iraq and Syria despite the jihadist group's defeat and a halt in the flow of foreigners joining its ranks, according to a UN report released today.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Vladimir Putin will discuss the war in Syria, the conflict in east Ukraine and a disputed pipeline to bring Russian gas to Germany during talks near Berlin on Saturday, a German government spokesman said.

THE UNITED Nations has warned that there could be a “bloodbath” as Syrian government and Russian forces prepare to assault the last major rebel stronghold, in Idlib province, putting millions at risk as airstrikes kill 40 including many children.

At least 39 people have died and many are wounded following a blast that brought down a building in Syria's northern province of Idlibm, reports say.

An explosion at a weapons depot in a rebel-held town in northwest Syria killed at least 39 civilians including a dozen children on Sunday, a monitor said.

An explosion in northern Syria killed at least 36 people Sunday and wounded many others, but the cause of the blast wasn't immediately known, opposition activists said.
The opposition-run Syrian Civil Defense, first responders also known as the White Helmets, said the blast occurred in the village...