Two people were killed when mortar fire hit the grounds of the Damascus Opera House in the Syrian capital, state media said on Sunday. Government forces are also battling rebels in Damascus' outskirts including the eastern suburb of Mleiha, which saw heavy fighting on...

The U.S. government is finalizing a plan to increase training and small-arms shipments for Syrian rebels, two U.S. security sources said on Friday, as Syrian government troops gain momentum following the collapse of U.S.-backed peace talks. The United States would increase...

  Former Lebanon warlord Samir Geagea, a staunch opponent of Syria and the Shiite movement Hezbollah, will stand for the presidency in May, his Christian Lebanese Forces party said on Friday. Geagea, 61, was the only leader from the 1975-1990 civil war ever jailed, but was...

Within the small community of minority Arabs where he lived in southwest Iran , Hashem Shaabani was known as a teacher, an advocate for civil rights and a poet. But to the Islamic Republic he was seen as a threat. Shaabani, 32, was arrested in February 2011 and accused of...