Russia said it was surprised that the United States was backing an "odious" resolution at the UN Human Rights Council condemning the Syrian regime's use of foreign fighters, saying it undermined peace efforts.   "To my huge astonishment, we have learnt that apart from the...

Along with no-fly zone plans, the White House is considering arming parts of the Syrian opposition and formally recognizing the Syrian opposition council, reports Josh Rogin. The White House has asked the Pentagon to draw up plans for a no-fly zone inside Syria that would be enforced by...

This piece is part of " Obama and the Middle East: Act Two ," a series of policy proposals for the president's second term by Washington Institute fellows. The Assad regime's brutal suppression of the Syrian uprising has spurred a humanitarian disaster, with the United Nations now...

 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...

The Syrian regime on Tuesday accused U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay of “flagrant bias” a day after she warned violations in the war-torn country had reached “horrific dimensions.” The Syrian delegation to the U.N.’S Human Rights Council “strongly denounced the flagrant bias of...

While Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria is helping Assad regain military foothold in key areas of the country, it promises a more vicious and prolonged sectarian conflict in the longer run. The involvement strongly backed by Iran, could open the door for the West to arm the opposition in hopes...

A British doctor who left his home, family and job in the UK to help civilians wounded by the conflict in  Syria  has died after the makeshift hospital he was working in was shelled. Dr Isa Abdur Rahman, 26, was working as a volunteer in the north-western city of Idlib with the...

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...

Russia is to go ahead with deliveries of  anti-aircraft missiles  to the Syrian government,  the BBC reports . Sergei Ryabkov, the deputy foreign minister, has said the S-300 missiles were a “stabilising factor” that could dissuade “some hotheads” from joining the conflict....

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...

UK’s Hague says EU failure to agree on extending arms embargo effectively ends ban on supplying arms to Syrian rebels. European foreign ministers have lifted an arms embargo on Syria, paving the way for individual EU member states to provide weapons to the Syrian rebels.   The...

   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 ....

  Reliable sources  to Zaman Alwasl have confirmed arresting a gang that claims belonging to Free Syrian Army-FSA- but it  works in robbery, kidnapping people and other practices which assault to the revolution reputation .   Shariah's...

  ''The European Union should be prepared to amend its arms embargo on  Syria '',  Britain said on Monday,  so that EU countries could supply some rebel groups with weapons and said if that were not possible each country could have its own sanctions policy. "It...

  Two rockets fired at Hezbollah-controlled southern Beirut bring  Syria 's escalating civil war deeper into the heart of Lebanon and closer to unrestrained regional conflict. The two-year-old conflict in  Syria  has already tumbled into Lebanon's Bekaa Valley,...

 More than 70 people were killed in a wave of bombings in markets in Shi'ite neighbourhoods across Baghdad on Monday in worsening sectarian violence in Iraq. No group claimed responsibility for the blasts. But Sunni Muslim Islamist insurgents and al-Qaeda' s Iraqi wing have...

,  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"....

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem landed in Baghdad on Sunday on an unannounced visit for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a senior government official said. It was unclear how long the visit would last and whether Muallem would meet with any other Iraqi officials. "The...

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...