The capture by Syrian pro-government forces of the strategic Qusayr region is a major victory for President Bashar al-Assad, who is now better placed than ever if a US-Russian plan for peace talks materialises. The nearly three-week battle for Qusayr in central Syria exposed the central role...

  The regime army has reportedly retaken the only border crossing between Israel and Syria, after rebels had captured it earlier in the day. The crossing in the Golan Heights lies in an UN-controlled demilitarized zone. Israeli and Syrian opposition sources said on...

   I am on my knees, hands behind my head, on a border-crossing between Turkey and Syria. A Turkish border guard stoops over me menacingly, the nozzle of his Kalashnikov pressing against my upper thigh as he barks something in an unfamiliar language. What does he want? My...

 Syria's Sana state news agency said the "heroic armed forces have returned security and stability to all of the town". Sana said a large number of "terrorists", as the state refers to the rebels, had been killed and many had surrendered. It said the army was now destroying...