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Syria peace conference opens, divided over Assad

Syria's government and its enemies came face to face on Wednesday for the first time as a peace conference began in Switzerland which world powers hope can at least start a process to end three years of civil war. There was immediate evidence of sharp differences, as U.S. Secretary...

‘Mission of hope’ as Syria peace talks begin

  There can be no talk of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad staying in power; the Syrian opposition leader Ahmed Jarba told the first day of international talks convened in Switzerland to seek peace for the Middle East country. Jarba accused Assad’s forces of supporting...

Car bomb hits Shiite suburb of Beirut

A car bomb ripped through a Shiite neighborhood in southern Beirut on Tuesday, killing at least two people and setting plumes of smoke over the area in the latest attack targeting supporters of the militant Hezbollah group in Lebanon. A series of attacks have hit Lebanon recently as...

Syrian National Council quits opposition bloc

The Syrian National Council (SNC), the biggest bloc in Syria’s opposition-in-exile, announced late on Monday it was quitting the umbrella Syrian National Coalition in protest over the Geneva II peace talks with the Damascus regime. By taking part in the talks, due to start on...

Snubbed Iran doubts success of Syria peace talks

After being uninvited to a peace conference on Syria this week, Iran on Tuesday said the chances of the Geneva II talks succeeding without them are “not that great.” Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi’s comments came a day after the United Nations abruptly cancelled Tehran’s...

Al-Qaeda detainees reveal ties with Assad

Al Arabiya News Channel aired a video on Monday showing detained members of al-Qaeda’s offshoot in Syria, with some telling stories that suggest links to the Syrian regime. There has been heavy fighting between the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)....