Syria has never had a large Shiite population, but in recent years there has been an increase in conversions to Shiism within Syria’s Sunni, Ismaili, and Alawite populations. The geographical proximity of Iran to Syria has always led to a certain degree of Iranian influence there,...

  Its almost 15 months since the news agencies surfaced the first such incident since the Syrian uprising on March 15, 2011, ''Syrian air force pilot  flew into neighboring Jordan and defected with his Russian-made fighter jet.'' Zaman Alwasl was pleased to...

The death toll from a week of clashes in Lebanon between supporters and opponents of Syria’s regime has risen to 13, a security official said on Sunday. Two people died in clashes on Saturday and another two were killed early on Sunday in the northern port city of Tripoli, the official...

      The UN and Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, said Saturday from Tehran that Iran’s participation at the Geneva II conference on the Syrian crisis, scheduled for next month, was essential. Diplomat sources...