Middle East/North Africa

The development delivers a blow to political transition talks the United States and Russia plan to lead

Congress has decided it's waited long enough and is ramping up a new round of sanctions.

Russia has sent Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces advanced anti-ship cruise missiles, the New York Times reported, in the latest sign Moscow will continue to help Assad’s regime militarily.

Russia had previously provided the anti-ship cruise missiles, Yakhonts, to the Syrians, but the latest shipment includes advanced radar technology, according to the Times, which cited unnamed American officials.

“It’s a real ship killer,” Nick Brown, editor in chief of IHS Jane’s International Defense Review, told the Times.

The Obama administration is ramping up its sanctions against the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad.

Four senior Syrian government officials, an airline and a private television station will be frozen out of the American financial system.

The Treasury Department announced on Thursday that it was adding Assad's government ministers of defense, health, industry and justice to its list of individuals sanctioned for their role in the mounting violence in the country.

President Obama on Thursday expressed measured optimism about the joint U.S.-Russian call for Syrian peace talks, saying it “may yield results.”

“I do think the prospect of talks in Geneva involving the Russians and [Syrian] representatives about a serious political transition that all the parties buy into may yield results,” Obama said at a joint press conference in the Rose Garden with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

“In the mean time, we’re going to continue helping the opposition and the humanitarian situation,” he added.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Republicans lied to the media when they said the Obama administration engaged in a cover-up on the Benghazi attack.

“For months my Republican colleagues have argued that the Obama administration has engaged in a cover-up surrounding an attack in Benghazi,” Reid said Thursday. “The emails prove there was simply no cover-up.”

A Senate panel is expected to vote next week on arming vetted Syrian rebel groups. 

“He didn’t say why. He just turned it down,” a Defense official told McClatchy.

Kerry's last-ditch attempt to strike a peace deal for Syria has failed to convince key players on Capitol Hill.

Turkey has reportedly struck a deal to explore for oil in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region in a move that’s likely to rile the United States and Iraq.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Tuesday that its state-owned oil firm will work with U.S. giant ExxonMobil Corp. to develop oil in the Kurdish-run area, according to media reports. Erdogan said Turkey would pursue separate arrangements with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

The news could make for a tense meeting between Erdogan and President Obama, who are scheduled to meet this week in Washington, D.C.