Russia called Thursday for the closing of the Turkey-Syrian border to prevent ISIL and the Al-Nusra Front terrorist groups from receiving foreign fighters and weapons into Syria - and from exporting oil, artifacts and other goods.

Darko Lazar

In the most tangible sign yet of a thaw in relations between Saudi Arabia and "Israel", Tel Aviv is untroubled by Egypt's decision to cede sovereignty over two Red Sea islands to Riyadh.

Tiran and Sanafir are two tiny, entirely uninhabited specks of land, which sit in the narrow sea passage between Egypt and Saudi Arabia. But the strategically placed islands provide a valuable outpost for controlling entry into the Gulf of Aqaba, as well as the ports of Eilat and Aqaba in "Israel" and Jordan, respectively.

By Ken Stone

Global Research, April 16, 2016

Damascus: Today, the members of the Second International Tour of Peace to Syria were offered the privilege of accompanying the Patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church as he went to vote in the Syrian parliamentary elections.

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Syrian Awqaf(Religious Endowments) Minister Mohammad Abdul-Sattar al-Sayyed praised the high turnout in the ongoing parliamentary elections in the Arab country, saying that holding the polls is a response to the cruelties of foreign-backed terrorists in Syria.