Ayman al-Zawahri

* Al Qaeda group overshadows Syrian rebel fighters * Jihadis' aims go beyond toppling Assad * Rebel break-up complicates calculation for West By Mariam Karouny BEIRUT, May 17 (Reuters) - The most feared and effective rebel group battling President...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The most feared and effective rebel group battling President Bashar al-Assad, the Islamist Nusra Front, is being eclipsed by a more radical jihadi force whose aims go far beyond overthrowing the Syrian leader. Al Qaeda's Iraq-based...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Thursday blacklisted four Syrian government ministers, an airline and a television station it said helped the Assad government in its two-year crackdown on opposition forces. The same day, the State...

* U.S., Russia optimistic they can make Syria meeting happen * Some envoys concerned Syria peace conference is doomed By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS, May 15 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday warned against allowing...

UNITED NATIONS, May 14 (Reuters) - Britain and France have delayed a Syrian request for Islamist al-Nusra Front to be designated by the United Nations as a terrorist group because they want the militants to instead be listed as an alias of al Qaeda,...

* Turkish support key in any military intervention * Iraq memories fuel scepticism on chemical weapons claims * Jordan concerned by Islamist fighters among rebel ranks * U.S. allies ultimately seen toeing Washington's line By Nick Tattersall...

The abduction of two Christian bishops in Aleppo earlier this week has heightened Christian fears and deepened sectarian tensions in Syria and the region, senior Christian leaders told The Daily Star Thursday. As The Daily Star went to press, there...

April 25 (Reuters) - Canadian police say they have foiled a plot they say was backed by "al Qaeda elements in Iran" to derail a passenger train. Iran says it is opposed to the ideology of al Qaeda. Diplomats and officials say there is no evidence of...

NEW YORK (AP) — A senior al-Qaida leader and member of Osama bin Laden's inner circle was due in court to face a charge he plotted against Americans in his role as the terror network's top propagandist who lauded the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and...

WASHINGTON (AP)— A U.S. official says a drone strike in Pakistan’s northwest tribal region has killedal-Qaida’s second-in-command. The death of Abu Yahya al-Libi is a significant blow to the terror network, which has lost a string of...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A year after the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida is hobbled and hunted, too busy surviving for the moment to carry out another Sept. 11-style attack on U.S. soil. But the terrorist network dreams still of payback,...

3 GOP primaries Tuesday, but Romney and Obama act as though the fall campaign is all but set MILWAUKEE (AP) — Republican front-runner Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama are trading jabs even before Republicans vote in their latest...