site.news_by_theme Syria
Peace hopes dim as Syrian army targets Damascus area
Syria's army has launched a fierce assault around Damascus, blasting rebel strongholds and sealing the main entrances to the capital, witnesses said, as prospects for peace talks dimmed.
07 February 2013
Syria opposition head seeks talks with Assad's VP
The United States has strongly backed a move by Syria's opposition chief to open dialogue with President Bashar al-Assad in a bid to end 22 months of warfare that has cost tens of thousands of lives.
05 February 2013
Assad fumes as Israel admits Syria air strike
Israel has implicitly confirmed it staged an air strike on Syria last week, with President Bashar al-Assad accusing the Jewish state of trying to further destabilise his war-torn country.
04 February 2013
US, Russia seek to iron out Syria differences
The US and Russia meet in Germany Saturday in a new bid to iron out their differences over the war in Syria, with the head of the opposition saying the world must not be a bystander to the tragedy.
02 February 2013
Germany security talks begin with Syria in focus
Syria's opposition chief said the international community must not be a bystander to the tragedy of the Syrian people as US and other officials, ministers and military brass gathered for the Munich Security Conference.
02 February 2013
Russia 'concerned' by reported Israeli strikes
Russia said Thursday it was checking reports of an Israeli air strike against Syria but would condemn the "unprovoked" attack if the information proved true.
01 February 2013
Massacre plunges Syria deeper into 'horror' spiral
The Syrian war has reached "unprecedented levels of horror", UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said Tuesday after dozens of men were killed in a grim new massacre.
30 January 2013
Russia says Assad blundered, as regime courts opposition
Russia's prime minister has said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made a "grave, perhaps fatal error" by delaying political reforms, as Damascus courted opposition forces.
29 January 2013
British PM reaches out to Europe at Davos
British Prime Minister David Cameron insisted he was not turning his back on Europe as he came face to face with world leaders for the first time since unveiling plans for an EU referendum.
27 January 2013
Women join ranks of Assad forces in Syria's Homs
At 40 years of age, Abir Ramadan joined the all-female unit of Syria's new paramilitary force, pledging loyalty to Bashar al-Assad in the armed struggle against those seeking to topple the president.
24 January 2013
HRW urges Egypt to halt deportations to Syria
Egypt government unlawfully expelled two Syrian refugees back to the war-ravaged country last week, and two Palestinians from Syria now risk being deported.
19 January 2013
Syria rebels planning to break Aleppo deadlock
Rebels trying to break a months-long deadlock in their battle for Syria's second city Aleppo say they are cutting supply routes ahead of simultaneous assaults on regime bases.
18 January 2013
Campus blasts kill at least 82 in Syria's Aleppo
Twin blasts ripped through university buildings in Syria's second city Aleppo on Tuesday killing at least 82 people and wounding scores more, on the first day of exams for students.
16 January 2013
Factories close, workers flee: Syria industry losing steam
Once cogs in a dynamic industrial engine that helped power Syria's economy, the factories in a sprawling zone in the heart of battle-ravaged Aleppo now stand largely silent, the workers mostly fled.
16 January 2013
Assad's removal from power 'impossible': Russia
Russia said Sunday that removing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power was not part of past international agreements on the crisis and was impossible to implement.
14 January 2013
Russia calls for 'transition process' in Syria
Russia called Saturday for the launch of a political transition process in Syria, a day after peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met with diplomats from Moscow and Washington in a bid to resolve the nearly two-year-old conflict.
12 January 2013
UN peace envoy to meet Russian, US officials on Syria
UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi was set to meet top US and Russian officials Friday to discuss the Syrian conflict, a day after Damascus denounced his "bias" against President Bashar al-Assad.
12 January 2013
New Syria newspaper fights 'lies of war'
Truth is said to be the first casualty of war, but Khaled al-Khatib and a small group of journalists running a new newspaper in Syria's rebel-held territories are determined to keep the patient alive.
11 January 2013
Syria's other struggle: balancing sharia and justice
In the heart of Syria's rebel territory, away from the blasts and bullets of the frontlines, another struggle is playing out: one for a new justice system that could shape the future face of the country should the regime fall.
09 January 2013
Syria's Alawite area Assad's last resort: analysts
The last option for Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, who is determined not to back down after 21 months of deadly conflict, is to battle to the end from a fortified Alawite statelet, analysts believe.
06 January 2013