Awakened by the sound of gunfire, Ahmad could hear the armed men knocking on his brother's door, shouting insults and calling the family "dogs". Ahmad's sister-in-law said the gunmen told her husband to "bow to your god, Bashar" -- the Syrian president. She and her husband and...

Russia and Iran will be keen to see Bashar al-Assad step down as soon as his seven-year term is up in 2014,  according  to  Professor Fawaz Gerges , the director of the Middle East centre at the London School of Economics. He said that the way Russia and the United States...

For the past year, rebel groups that took their war to  Syria 's main cities have been unable to finish what they started. Pinned down by air power and shelling that can hit them wherever they are, opposition fighters have barely advanced in Aleppo and Damascus; their gains in some areas...

   The BND has traditionally good relations with Syria. In early May, according to ARD information also traveled to a meeting in Damascus BND President Schindler. There he is said to have spoken with the Syrian intelligence to use the findings of the Syrian colleagues ....