From the Lebanese border town of Arsal, you can see the smoke as  Syria n government warplanes bomb rebel positions across the frontier. But its problems are even closer. Arsal is Sunni Muslim and the neighbouring town of al-Labwa is Shi'ite. Their fate shows just how dangerous...

The Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church Ignatius Zakka Iwas, the leader of one of world's oldest Christian sects, has died. He was 80. Syrian state news agency SANA said Iwas was admitted into a German hospital for treatment Feb. 20. He died on Friday in Germany after...

The German government has asked federal prosecutors to examine whether German firms broke the law by exporting equipment to  Syria  during the 1980s and early 1990s that may have helped the country to develop chemical weapons. An  economy  ministry spokesman...

Syria, Russia and Afghanistan have the largest numbers of people fleeing their homelands to seek asylum, and most are turning to Europe, the United Nations refugee agency said in a report Friday. Syria's 3-year-old civil war generated 56,351 asylum seekers in 2013, more than double the...