Protests in Iran over targeting of Ukraine aircraft go to the heart of rifts in its society

Demonstrators consider ‘shadow government’ as they face rising violence

Damascus International Fair’s success masks issues with rebuilding the Syrian economy

Cypriot government says Varosha proposal violates UN Security Council resolutions

Wooden merchant ship found near Protaras transported cargo between Syria and Turkey

US survey failed to prepare ground forces for influx from Islamic State enclave in Syria

Human Rights Watch voices extradition fears on country of 4,000 political prisoners

September 1993 was the best of times for Palestinians. Now they face the worst of times

Washington risks conflict with Russia and Iran, President Assad’s chief backers

Analysis: Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital demolishes 70 years of US policy

Bashar al-Assad praises troops amid continued push to drive Islamic State from the city

Transport minister pulls permits for 22,000 new Porsche Cayennes with cheat software

‘Tens of thousands come to pray in the lead-domed al-Aqsa mosque, the world’s third holiest Islamic site’

Isolating Iran empowers ultra-conservatives and confirm their view of US as ‘Great Satan’

Turkish president dismantling country’s secularism, which will alienate liberal Turks

John Hourican became chief executive of the Bank of Cyprus following the country’s economic melt-down in 2013

This week’s episode of ‘World View’ also looks at the prospect of a truce in Syria

US president’s order to ‘track and slay’ jihadi group’s leaders signals turnabout in policy

In Damascus, Homs, Hama, and coastal cities, Syrians live as normally as they can

Neither Russian military nor Syria’s coastal enclave is secure from attack