Former member of Syrian ruling family's inner circle gives first direct account of how shabiha paramilitaries were ordered to kill and torture opponents of the regime A former Assad regime insider has given the first direct account of how Syria's ruling family created the feared...

Gun battles have erupted again in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, with gunmen firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. At least three people were killed in clashes overnight linked to the civil war in neighbouring Syria, Lebanese police sources said. Two gunmen...

In the heart of Syria's devastated city of Homs, once hailed as the "capital of the revolution," President Bashar al-Assad looks down from a banner calling for his reelection. "Because you are a symbol of our victory and our resistance, we implore you to be a candidate for the...

  Ashraf was born the very day the Syria conflict began: March 15, 2011. He is the seventh child in a family from Homs. Within a week of his birth, the conflict arrived in his neighbourhood. For months his family rarely left the house. Some days there was non-stop bombing, others were...