Middle East, War | featured news

Syrian opposition groups have signed an initial agreement to form a new coalition of forces fighting to end the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, a Syrian delegate at talks in Doha said on Sunday.

Syrian rebels capture a key oilfield in eastern Deir Ezzor province, activists say, the first time such a facility has been taken.

Syrian soldiers backed by tanks entered the Damascus suburb of Mouadamiya on Tuesday, killing at least 20 young men and burning shops and houses before gradually withdrawing from the town, residents and opposition activists said.

President Obama sharply criticized his Republican presidential rivals Tuesday for talking “casually” about going to war with Iran, saying that when such decisions are made for political reasons, “we make mistakes.”

Britain is ready to raise troop numbers in Afghanistan by 500 to 9,500, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday, providing certain conditions are met.