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  Syrian government forces consolidate grip around Aleppo

  Agence France-Presse . Maaret al-Naasane, Syria | Updated at 10:56pm on February 17, 2020

  Syrian regime forces made new gains Sunday in their offensive against the last major rebel bastion in the northwest, seizing villages and towns around second...

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  Qatar says talks stall with Saudi to defuse Gulf crisis

  Agence France-Presse . Doha | Updated at 01:21am on February 17, 2020

  Talks between Doha and Riyadh to resolve a two-year regional spat have stalled, Qatar’s foreign minister said, after a flurry of diplomacy late last year...

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  Saudi women smoke in public to ‘complete’ freedom

  Agence France-Presse . Riyadh | Updated at 01:00am on February 17, 2020

  Rima settles in a chair at an upscale Riyadh cafe, looks around carefully, and seeing no one she recognises, drags on her electronic cigarette and...

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  Ongoing Libya violence deeply troubling: UN

  Agence France-Presse . Munich | Updated at 12:00am on February 17, 2020

  The situation in wartorn Libya is ‘deeply troubling’, a United Nations representative said Sunday, warning that a fragile truce was hanging ‘by a thread’ as...

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  Rocket attack hits near US embassy in Baghdad

  Agence France-Presse . Baghdad | Updated at 11:59pm on February 16, 2020

  Multiple rockets hit an Iraqi base hosting American troops near the US embassy early Sunday, the latest in a flurry of attacks against US assets...

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  Air strikes kill 31 in Yemen

  Agence France-Presse . Dubai | Updated at 12:48pm on February 16, 2020

  Thirty-one people were killed in air strikes on Yemen Saturday, the United Nations said, the victims of an apparent Saudi-led retaliation after Iran-backed Huthi rebels...

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  Syrian chopper downed over rebel area, killing crew

  Agence France-Presse . Damascus | Updated at 10:40pm on February 15, 2020

  A Syrian military helicopter was shot down over the last major rebel bastion in northwest Syria on Friday, the second such incident in a week...

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  Iran could reverse nuclear breaches if Europe acts: Zarif

  Agence France-Presse . Munich | Updated at 10:39pm on February 15, 2020

  Iran would be willing to move back towards the 2015 nuclear deal if Europe provides ‘meaningful’ economic benefits, the country’s foreign minister said Friday, The...

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  Turkey hits back at Moscow over Idlib claims

  Agence France-Presse . Ankara | Updated at 10:37pm on February 15, 2020

  Turkey on Saturday hit back at Russian accusations of failing to honour a 2018 deal by insisting it carried out its responsibilities in Idlib, Syria’s...

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  Israeli attack on Damascus kills fighters

  Agence France-Presse . Beirut | Updated at 12:00am on February 15, 2020

  Israeli strikes on Damascus airport killed seven fighters, a war monitor said Friday, the latest in a string of attacks targeting Iran’s military presence in...