The United States, Britain and France launched punitive military strikes against Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime in response to its latest alleged chemical weapons atrocity, President Donald Trump announced Friday. Shortly after Trump began a White House address to announce the action, large explosions were heard in the Syrian capital Damascus, signalling a new chapter in a brutal seven-year-old civil war. "A short time ago, I ordered the United States armed forces to launch precision strikes...

Israeli air strikes have killed four Palestinians in Gaza as European governments sought UN action to end more than six weeks of bloodshed. Fighting flared anew on Tuesday as Egyptian-brokered truce efforts collapsed, with Israel insistent on its demand for security from rocket fire by Gaza militants, and Hamas defiant over its call for an end to eight years of Israeli blockade. The death toll since July 8 now stands at least 2087 Palestinians dead, three-quarters of them civilians according...