Syrian regime forces took control of a town south of Idlib city on Tuesday in a significant advance for regime leader Bashar al Assad as he seeks to recapture territory in the country's northwest, a war monitor and state media said. Assad's campaign to regain Idlib province, the last opposition bastion in a nearly nine-year-long civil war, has sparked a new exodus of thousands of civilians towards the border of ...
![A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad next to Syrian Grand Mufti Ahmed Hassun and Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halaqi attending prayers on the eve of the anniversary of the birth of Islam's Prophet Mohammed at the al-Hamad mosque in Damascus. [AFP]](/sites/default/files/styles/d08_traditional/public/im/iraq/000_Nic6284371.jpg?itok=e8uU_RYf "A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad next to Syrian Grand Mufti Ahmed Hassun and Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halaqi attending prayers on the eve of the anniversary of the birth of Islam's Prophet Mohammed at the al-Hamad mosque in Damascus. [AFP]")
![This combination of two recent pictures made on January 9, 2014 shows (at L) Iranian president Hassan Rouhani in Tehran in a picture released by the Iranian Presidency and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. [AFP]](/sites/default/files/styles/d08_traditional/public/im/iraq/000_Par7758484.jpg?itok=NeoeWgIf "This combination of two recent pictures made on January 9, 2014 shows (at L) Iranian president Hassan Rouhani in Tehran in a picture released by the Iranian Presidency and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. [AFP]")
