Abdel-Karim al-Khadar, a rights advocate and opponent of Islamist extremism, was senteced to 10 years by a Saudi "anti-terrorist" court for criticizing the regime.
A new coalition of 13 armed organizations announced the formation of the Democratic Forces of Syria, which is now planning a major offensive against ISIS.
Several PKK sympathizers have been arrested in connection with the Ankara suicide blasts—but the Turkish left charges that the ruling AKP collaborated with ISIS in the attack.
A Cairo court found the brother of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri innocent of terrorism charges in a case stemming from the 2013 repression of Muslim Brotherhood protests.
The US and Russia each groom their own rival proxy forces to fight ISIS and the Nusra Front—which in turn pledge to turn Syria into "another Afghanistan."
Amnesty International accuses Syrian Kurdish forces of ethnic cleansing against Arabs and Turks in areas liberated from ISIS, raising pressure on Kurdish authorities for an accounting.
Kurdish and Turkish activists are continuing to demand "peace despite everything" after twin suicide blasts at an Ankara anti-war rally killed at least 100 and injured twice as many.
Citing "damning evidence" of war crimes, Amnesty International is calling for the suspension of transfers of certain arms to the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen.
In a claim convenient to Russian war propaganda, a group of Tatars calling themselves the Crimean Jamaat reportedly pledged loyalty to Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's Syrian franchise.
With tensions high between Turkey and Russia, Moscow's intervention risks drawing the Kurds into the geopolitical game and escalating divisions within the Syrian resistance.
The Syrian regime says Russian air-strikes hit "ISIS dens"—but a look at the map indicates the strikes were nowhere near ISIS territory, and targetted rebel forces hostile to ISIS.
An Aleppo-based seed research center, forced by the war to flee to Beirut, has made an emergency request for seed stock from a "doomsday" vault on a remote Arctic island.
