Independent voices from the TWT Communities
The stakes are high, not just for the United States, but for the Middle East, where Syria's strife has spilled over into neighboring countries and even prompted an Israeli airstrike Wednesday.
The danger of Syria's 22-month-old civil war embroiling its neighborhood became even more evident on Wednesday with confirmation that Israel conducted an airstrike on a military target inside its war-torn neighbor.
Russia said Monday it is sending two planes to Lebanon to start evacuating its citizens from Syria, the strongest sign yet that President Bashar Assad's most important international ally has serious doubts about his ability to cling to power.
International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi expressed little hope for a political solution for Syria anytime soon after meeting Friday with senior Russian and U.S. diplomats trying to bring an end to the civil war, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
The State Department has offered a sharp rebuke to the latest speech by Bashar Assad, calling the Syrian president "detached from reality" and bent on perpetuating his regime's "bloody oppression of the Syrian people."
The international envoy to Syria warned Sunday that as many as 100,000 people could die in the next year if a way cannot be found quickly to end the country's civil war.
The international envoy to Syria warned Sunday that as many as 100,000 could die in the next year if a way cannot be found quickly to end the country's civil war.
Russia's foreign minister said Saturday that Syrian President Bashar Assad has no intention of stepping down and it would be impossible to try to persuade him otherwise.
Russia and the United Nations called Thursday for the resuscitation of a peace initiative for Syria that never got off the ground when it was proposed months ago because both parties to the conflict rejected it.
The international envoy to Syria said after talks with the country's leader Monday that the situation was "worrying" and gave no indication of progress toward a negotiated solution for the civil war.
The international envoy to Syria said after talks Monday with the country's leader that the situation is "worrying" and gave no indication of progress toward a negotiated solution for the civil war.
The international envoy tasked with ending Syria's civil war hoped to discuss ways of ending the crisis during a visit to Damascus that began Sunday, officials said, but there appeared little reason for optimism.
Russian and U.S. diplomats are meeting Sunday with U.N. peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi for more talks on the civil war in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, adding that the Americans were wrong to see Moscow as softening its position.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that the United States and Russia are committed to trying again to get President Bashar Assad's regime and the rebel opposition to talk about a political transition in Syria, setting aside a year and a half of U.S.-Russian disagreements that have paralyzed the international community.
Diplomatic efforts to end Syria's civil war moved forward Thursday, with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton joining Russia's foreign minister and the U.N. peace envoy to the Arab country for extraordinary three-way talks that suggested Washington and Moscow might finally unite behind a strategy as the Assad regime weakens.
Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.-Arab League special envoy for Syria, told the U.N. Security Council this week that Syria had plunged into "unprecedented levels of horror."
Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.-Arab League special envoy for Syria, told the Security Council this week that Syria had plunged into "unprecedented levels of horror."
