An Alawite village in the central province of Hama was seized by Islamist fighters on Sunday, Reuters news agency reported, adding that the fighting was “part of an offensive to try to cut off supply routes from Damascus to the north of the country.” The fighters, battling...

  Russia  and  China  on Monday rebuffed the United States,  France  and Britain and other states by failing to attend negotiations on a draft U.N. Security Council resolution to boost aid access in  Syria , diplomats said. Australia ,...

Activists and rebels said an al Qaeda splinter group had withdrawn its forces from Syria's oil-rich eastern province of Deir al-Zour on Monday after days of heavy fighting with its rivals, Reuters said. Islamist opposition groups joined forces with some secular...

An Arab-Iranian poet and human rights activist, Hashem Shaabani, has been executed for being an "enemy of God" and threatening national security, according to local human rights groups. Shaabani and a man named Hadi Rashedi were hanged in unidentified prison on January 27, ...