Syrian rebels need to wrest back control of territory held by Islamist militants whose involvement in the conflict gives Bashar al-Assad a pretext for more violence, French President Francois Hollande said on Sunday. Radical Islamist groups such as the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front have...

   President   Barack Obama ’s decision to send some light weapons to Syrian rebels may be too little and too late to thwart a regime offensive to retake Aleppo, the nation’s largest city and commercial capital.   Regime forces...

  The Syrian boys looked edgy and awkward. Three months ago their town, the eastern desert city of Raqqa, had fallen to rebel fighters trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad's government. Now the four boys - clad in tight jeans and bright T-shirts - were whitewashing a wall to...

  Lebanon's world famous Baalbek International Festival is looking to move away from the ancient city with its Roman ruins because of spillover violence from Syria's civil war, an official said Friday. The change of venue from Baalbek, where the annual music festival is usually...