UN Syria envoy says Damascus gave positive signals on local truce push
UN is pushing initiative to create truces and improve aid access in defined areas, starting with northern city of Aleppo
U.N. says 13.6 million displaced by wars in Iraq and Syria
Number of displaced same as population of London; UN says world becoming numb
Turbulent path for Syrian Kurd fighters' "first foreign female recruit"
A Canadian-born immigrant to Israel becomes first foreign woman to join Kurds battling Islamic State in Syria
Syria's Assad says UN envoy's local ceasefire bid "worth studying" -state media
MIDEAST-CRISIS/SYRIA-INITIATIVE (UPDATE 2):UPDATE 2-Syria's Assad says UN envoy's local ceasefire bid "worth studying" -state media
New food aid enters Iraq as hunger becomes weapon in Islamic State battle
Islamic State controls a large chunk of the country's wheat supplies
Local ceasefires best way to ease Syrians' suffering -researchers
Local leaders should have more prominent role in reaching local peace settlements - report
Lebanon's Druze community fearful as Syria's war moves closer
"The danger has become very close to us, it is right in our faces and in our lives." Druze official
Iraqi military reach Baiji; Baghdadi's fate unclear
Military effort to break Islamic State siege of Iraq's biggest refinery triggers fierce clashes with militants
A female fighter of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) uses a pair of binoculars as she looks towards areas controlled by Islamic State fighters in the southern countryside of Ras al-Ain
A female fighter of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) uses a pair of binoculars as she looks towards areas controlled by Islamic State fighters in the southern countryside of Ras al-Ain November 9, 2014. REUTERS/Rodi Said