The message came from an unknown sender shortly after Iskandar's daughter disappeared. She had been missing three days when it arrived, taken while en route to the airport in the capital Damascus. "We have your daughter Judy. We will tell you a time and place to bring the money," the...

Secretary of State John Kerry called on Monday for a peace conference on Syria "very soon" but said peace would not be possible without a transition government to replace President Bashar al-Assad. "We believe it is urgent to set a day, to convene the conference and work toward a new...

  Once seen as the capital of Syria's revolution, Homs is now caught in a vicious stalemate between regime and rebel forces. James Harkin, the British Guardian reporter visits a divided city, where kidnappings are rife and chemical disarmament a low priority I first met Abu Ali at...

A Sufi Muslim shrine was blown up in eastern  Syria  on Sunday, opposition activists said, blaming al Qaeda-affiliated militants who have joined in the increasingly sectarian civil war. Militants placed explosives at the shrine of Sheikh Eissa Abdelqader al-Rifaiy in the...