The first shipment of Russian anti-aircraft missiles has arrived in Syria, Bashar al-Assad has said, according to Lebanese TV.   The Al-Manar TV channel owned by the Shia militant group Hezbollah, which has joined the fighting Syrian people on Assad’s side, said it...

  Syria's foreign minister laid out a hard line Wednesday, saying Bashar Assad will remain president at least until elections in 2014 and might seek another term, conditions that will make it difficult for the opposition to agree to U.N.-sponsored talks on ending the civil war. Any deal...

 Israel's Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon Tuesday signaled that his military is prepared to strike shipments of advanced Russian weapons to Syria, in a rare implied threat to Moscow. Yaalon issued his warning shortly after a top Russian official said his government reserves the right to...

Russia says it will go ahead with deliveries of S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Syria, and that the arms will help deter foreign intervention. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the missiles were a "stabilising factor" that could dissuade "some hotheads" from entering the conflict....