The western Syrian town of Qusair has become a fiercely contested battleground between the forces of President Bashar al-Assad and rebel fighters. On 19 May, following weeks of skirmishes and bombardment by artillery and aircraft, government troops backed by Hezbollah militants launched a...

Russia says Damascus has agreed "in principle" to attend an international conference on the Syria crisis set to be held in Geneva in June. Its foreign ministry said the Syrian government would participate "in order for Syrians themselves to find a political path to a solution". It...

For analysts familiar with the politics of Syria, the country’s descent into chaos amounts to an all-too-predictable pattern. It also parallels what  Rami Makhlouf , a major regime figure and first cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, bluntly announced in an interview with...

Endgame for the Syrian National Coalition   The international conference called for by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to end the conflict in Syria may not actually take place. And if it does, it is unlikely to succeed. At...