,  Friday, May 24, 2013 Smoke and fire rises after explosives were dropped by a Syrian government warplane in Yabroud near Damascus, Syria, Monday May 20, 2013. The Syrian regime claims there is no civil war in the country but that the army is fighting foreign-backed terrorists...

  Syria's foreign minister says President Bashar al-Assad's government has agreed "in principle" to take part in peace talks in Geneva planned for June. Walid Muallem told reporters in Baghdad that the conference was "a good opportunity for a political solution to the crisis in Syria"....

At least 40 people reported killed in what residents say is the worst fighting since the start of the civil war. Syria's western border town of Qusayr has come under fire for a seventh straight day as government forces backed by the Lebanese Hezbollah movement battled to drive...

Two rockets have hit a district in the southern part of Lebanon's capital, wounding at least four people. One rocket struck a car dealership in the Mar Mikhael district on the edge of Beirut on Sunday, injuring four Syrian workers, security officials said....