Syrian rebels fired grenades at tanks and troops while regime armor shelled Damascus neighborhoods on Monday, sending terrified families fleeing the most sustained and widespread fighting in the capital since the start of the uprising 16 months ago.
Russia on Monday accused the West of effectively trying to use blackmail to secure a new U.N. Security Council resolution that could allow for the use of force in Syria.
Syria on Sunday denied U.N. claims that government forces used heavy weapons during a military operation that left scores dead and brought immediate international condemnation, while the International Committee of the Red Cross said it now considers the conflict in the country a civil war.
The U.N. singled out government forces Friday for blame in the latest massacre in Syria, a frenzy of killing that raises new questions about whether diplomacy has any chance to end the crisis more than 16 months into the bloodiest revolt of the Arab Spring.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and international envoy Kofi Annan stepped up pressure on the divided U.N. Security Council on Friday, urging that it demand a halt to the escalating violence in Syria and promise "consequences" if the conflict doesn't end.
For years, pundits, politicians and columnists - including me - have fiercely criticized the United Nations. This institution has become a political cesspool controlled by totalitarian states and rogue nations that despise democracy, liberty and freedom. It's only getting worse with time.
Syrian President Bashar Assad has discussed the possibility of forming a transitional Syrian government as proposed by an international conference in Geneva last month, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Wednesday.
Syria's president has agreed to a new U.N.-brokered peace plan focusing on calming the most violent areas of the country, then expanding to the entire nation, international envoy Kofi Annan said Tuesday.
International envoy Kofi Annan has arrived in Iraq on an outreach tour to Syria's allies in the Mideast.
