GENEVA At least 29 children and newborns are reported to have died in a teeming camp in northeastern Syria over the past 8 weeks, mainly due to hypothermia, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday. About 23,000 people fleeing fighting in Deir al-Zor between Islamic State and the U.S.-backed …

BEIRUT Islamic State on Thursday denied being behind a suicide blast that hit the governing council of insurgent-held Idlib in northwest Syria on Tuesday, its Amaq news service said. The explosion, which targeted the “Salvation Government” building of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militia in Idlib this Tuesday was not connected …

NEAUPHLE-LE-CHATEAU (FRANCE) Forty years ago this month, the man who would go on to lead the Islamic revolution in Iran lived in a simple house in a village outside Paris, spending his days cross-legged under an apple tree in the garden, contemplating insurrection. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had fled Iran in …

KAFR LUSIN (SYRIA) Outside a camp for the displaced in northwest Syria, 15-year-old Sabaa al-Jassim hacked away at a mountain of trash hoping to find scraps to sell for food. Using a hooked metal rod, he stabbed at acrid household waste in the village of Kafr Lusin, looking for plastic …

MELBOURNE An Australian air strike on Iraq in 2017 “may have” killed up to 18 civilians, the Australian government confirmed late on Thursday, following a year-long investigation. Australia is part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Two Australian Super Hornets dropped bombs on a …

SAN FRANCISCO Facebook said Thursday it took down hundreds of accounts from Iran that were part of a vast manipulation campaign operating in more than 20 countries. The world’s biggest social network said it removed 783 pages, groups and accounts “for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior tied to Iran.” The …

DUBAI Iran said on Thursday a new European mechanism to facilitate non-dollar trade with the country was a first step for the European Union to fulfill its commitments under a nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers, state television reported. France, Germany and Britain have set up the mechanism in …

WASHINGTON In a rebuke of President Donald Trump, the Republican-led U.S. Senate advanced largely symbolic legislation on Thursday opposing plans for any abrupt withdrawal of troops from Syria and Afghanistan. The Senate voted 68-23 in favor of a non-binding amendment, drafted by Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell saying it was …

PARIS/BERLIN France, Germany and Britain have opened a new channel for non-dollar trade with Iran to avert U.S. sanctions, although diplomats say it is unlikely to allow for the big transactions that Tehran says it needs to keep a nuclear deal afloat. Washington’s major European allies opposed last year’s decision …

ISLAMABAD A convicted child-sex offender, who was part of a gang that exploited teenage girls in a northern English town, has been arrested in Pakistan where he fled during his trial, the British High Commission in Islamabad said on Thursday. Choudhry Ikhalaq Hussain, 41, was part of a group of …