Alarmed by the rise of al Qaeda in Syria, Saudi Arabia is trying to strengthen rival Islamists with ties to Riyadh and this week helped engineer a consolidation of rebel groups around Damascus under a Saudi-backed leader. That might bolster the opposition militarily as President Bashar...

The  United Nations  is shifting its aid effort for  Syria  to prepare for long-term help to neighbouring countries to cope with the humanitarian crisis, the head of the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday. More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria's...

The situation inside Syria has just gotten a lot more complex. Syria's exiled opposition and the United States have invested heavily in propping up the Free Syrian Army (FSA) as a counterweight to radical groups that emerged as key players in areas liberated from Bashar al-Assad's rule....

  If we confine our choices to leaders with broad appeal in the Arab and Islamist mainstream — excluding both al-Qaida and Kurdish leaders — we get the following five, listed in order. Hassan Abboud 1. Hassan Abboud,  the general...