Late on Tuesday, an explosion killed 47 members of pragmatic Syrian rebel brigade Ahrar al-Sham, including most of its leadership, dealing a fresh blow to the nation’s armed opposition which could fragment its most important coalition. The opposition rebels were killed when an explosion occurred during a meeting of its top military and religious chiefs, held in the north-eastern province …

American Muslim advocacy group Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Tuesday hinted that racial profiling may be the reason why the bank accounts of several dozens of Americans were closed, without any explanation from the banks. It has also filed a complaint at the US Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to check if race is a factor in the closures. …

On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Russia had withdrawn almost all of its soldiers who had allegedly snuck across international borders to boost separatist forces in Ukraine, and promised greater autonomy for the separatists so that the fragile truce between the two could endure. Poroshenko’s comments come as EU envoys gathered in Brussels to discuss the new set of …

Syrian media on Tuesday accused Arab governments of giving the United States prior consent for military action against extremists. The remarks come ahead of discussions between US Secretary of State John Kerry and US allies in the region to be held on Thursday – they will likely talk about joint action to cope with the threat posed by the Islamic …

International advocacy group Human Rights Watch published a report on Tuesday suggesting that Israel had illegally coerced around 7,000 African migrants to return to Africa, where some might face prosecution. “Israel’s convoluted legal rules thwart Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers’ attempts to secure protection under Israeli and international law. Israeli authorities have… denied them access to fair and efficient asylum …

On Tuesday, British charity Oxfam called in rich countries to let in at least 5% of Syria’s 3 million refugees, and urged them to improve their aid contributions. It also called on them to stop providing weapons to all parties involved in the Syrian conflict which are committing human rights violations. The charity group slammed most of the international community …

The Palestinian government and the United Nations on Tuesday called for international donors to present $550 million in aid to hundreds of thousands who need help in Gaza. The appeal comes only two weeks after Hamas and Israel ended 50 days of brutal violence, in a war which caused the deaths of over 2,100 people. The donors’ conference will be …

Quneitra is a border crossing between Syrian and Israeli controlled territories of the Golan Heights. Syrian Druze from the Golan are permitted to cross through the passage to study, work and live in Syria. Apples grown by Israeli Druze farmers are exported to Syria under the auspices of the Red Cross, and occasional brides cross both ways to their new …

On Tuesday, a Palestinian prisoner arrested by Israeli authorities in July died in an Israeli prison of what the Israeli Prison Authority said was a suicide attempt, an assertion Palestinians deny. The Palestinians identified the man as 35-year-old Raed Abdel Salam al-Jaabari and called for an independent investigation into his death, calling the circumstances as “mysterious”. Sivan Weizman, a spokeswoman …

Canadian ambassador for religious freedom Andrew Bennett said that the current outburst of ethno-religious hatred, expulsions and murders by militants from the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq has risen to the level of genocide. “ISIS is a barbaric terrorist group that has taken Sunni Islam and warped it, distorted it, twisted it and usurped it for its own …