Syria

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Dec. 17 to extend cross-border delivery of humanitarian aid to Syrians in rebel-held areas without Syrian government approval.
     

State Secretary for Global Affairs with Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE), Carmen Burlacu and Iraq's State Secretary Nizar Issa Abdul Hadi Khairallah held bilateral political consultations in Bucharest, MAE reported in a release on Wednesday.

When President Vikto Yanukovych of Ukraine fled his capital Kiev on Feb. 21, 2014, after the Maidan protests, very few could have predicted that it would unfold into a second Cold War between Moscow and the West.

Only five days later on Feb. 26, Russian forces sneaked into the strategic Crimean Peninsula in the Black Sea, essentially occupying the Ukrainian territory.

The Taliban and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) are to blame for paving the way for Islamophobia in the world, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said.

Drawing attention to the recent Taliban attack in Peshawar that killed 130 children, ISIL violence in Iraq and Syria, Erdoğan said there could be "no such Islam."

The German cabinet on Wednesday agreed to send around 100 German troops to northern Iraq to train Kurdish peshmerga forces fighting Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants.
   

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan launched a new broadside against the European Union on Dec. 17 over its condemnation of recent raids on the local media, saying Brussels has no right to give Ankara a "democracy lesson".
      

A visit to Iran by Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Dec. 17 highlighted their opposing views on the Syrian conflict, with both countries saying dialogue was needed to close gaps.
    
"We consider the Assad regime as not having legitimacy," he said at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.
      

Bulgaria's National Security Agency (DANS) apprehended three foreign citizens, wanted in Spain for terrorist activities, reports the BNT public channel.

The two Moroccans and a Brazilian were arrested at the Kapitan Andreevo border crossing with Turkey as they were trying to cross into Turkey en route to Syria.

A new lawsuit has been opened against 19 more suspects on charges of spying, as part of an ongoing investigation into trucks belonging to the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) that were stopped and searched by soldiers in January.

Secretary of state for European Affairs with the Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE), George Ciamba on Monday told the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) reunion in Brussels that it is necessary a consistent support for Turkey and Lebanon in particular in managing the Syrian refugees' situation.