Syrians have overtaken Afghans as the largest refugee population aside from Palestinians, fleeing to more than 100 countries to escape war in their homeland, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
Iraq's Interior Ministry said on Wednesday that a woman detained by Lebanese authorities was not the wife of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but the sister of a man convicted of bombings in southern Iraq.
The Lebanese army detained a wife and daughter of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as they crossed from Syria nine days ago, security officials said on Tuesday, in a setback to the group as it comes under increased military pressure.
Syria's neighbors Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq are cutting back sharply on the number of Syrians they allow onto their soil as they can no longer cope with the influx of refugees, two prominent humanitarian agencies said on Thursday.
France will start delivering military equipment to the Lebanese army in the first quarter of 2015 as part of a $3 billion contract to help the force fight jihadis from neighboring Syria, a French defense ministry source said on Wednesday.
Syria's neighbors are approaching "host-country fatigue" because of huge demand from refugees for housing, schools, jobs and healthcare and scant resources like water, Jordan's foreign minister said on Tuesday.
The Lebanese government has cut back sharply on the number of Syrian refugees it is allowing into the country, the United Nations representative in Lebanon said on Saturday.
Iran is to give a military grant to the Lebanese Army, the head of Iran's national security council said on Tuesday, boosting security forces that are already backed by Saudi Arabia and the United States.
For decades the opposing poles of Middle East power politics, Saudi Arabia and Iran may be driven to set aside at least some of their differences by the rise of a mutual enemy: Islamic State.
The Lebanese Ministry of Information reportedly realized the market manipulation the broadcaster have done, and had requested Sama to grant the country at least television exclusive rights to broadcast the football games via its state-backed television channel. However, given the fact that Lebanon does not have a president since May 25, attempts to prevent Sama from unintentionally influencing the market prices for the broadcasting cards were futile.
