Officials have said a Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteer and three of six Red Cross staffers taken hostage in Syria are free and safe. Robert Mardini, the International Committee of the Red Cross' head of operations for the Middle East, said on Twitter that the four were released "safe and...

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...

  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...