There is reason for pessimism about this week’s conference in Geneva on the Syrian civil war. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has shown that he cannot be dislodged through force, and the rebels insist that they have no interest in any plan that does not involve his immediate departure...

The Obama administration first learned last November about a harrowing trove of photographs that were said to document widespread torture and executions in Syrian prisons when a State Department official viewed some of the images on a laptop belonging to an antigovernment...
An international conference convened to find a peaceful political solution to the ongoing war in Syria started with a furious showdown on Wednesday, as opposing sides unleashed their anger in opening remarks, an indication of what is to come. In front of an audience made up of...