'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
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Syrian rebel commanders have elected a new 30-member leadership council and a chief of staff, a senior rebel said Saturday in a major step toward unifying the opposition that is fighting to oust President Bashar Assad.
Iran lashed out Friday at Turkey for requesting NATO to supply it with Patriot surface-to-air missiles to deploy along the border with Syria, denouncing the step by Ankara as counterproductive.
A Jordanian militant leader linked to al Qaeda warned Sunday that his extremist group will launch "deadly attacks" in neighboring Syria to topple President Bashar Assad, as Damascus lashed out at France for backing Syrian rebels.
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.
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.
Syria said Saturday that it shot down a Turkish military jet because the aircraft had violated its airspace, but Turkey threatened retaliatory action as it searched for its two missing pilots.
Syria's government said Tuesday it was ready to act on a U.N. call to evacuate civilians trapped in the rebellious central city of Homs for more than a week, but it blamed rebels for obstructing efforts to get them out.
Syrian forces pushed out scores of rebels holed up in a rebellious area near the Mediterranean coast Wednesday, and state television said they retook control of the region following eight days of fierce shelling and clashes.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday the Syrian government is responsible for guaranteeing U.N. observers full freedom of movement to monitor the country's tenuous cease-fire, which appeared to be unraveling as regime forces pounded the opposition stronghold of Homs, activists said.
A U.N.-brokered peace deal for Syria appeared to collapse Sunday as the government made a new demand that its opponents provide "written guarantees" to lay down their weapons before regime forces withdraw from cities, a call swiftly rejected by the country's main rebel group.
Arab countries, divided over how to stop Syria's bloodshed, plan to call for the Syrian regime to halt its crackdown on civilians, let in humanitarian groups and free detainees, according to recommendations Wednesday by foreign ministers preparing for a summit this week.
Warnings from Syrian activists of a humanitarian catastrophe in Homs grew more desperate Thursday as government forces resumed shelling an opposition stronghold in the restive central city, where hundreds have died in a weekslong siege.
Pro-government thugs in Syria attacked U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford in Damascus last week, and Syrian television recorded the assault in a news clip widely circulated over the Internet.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Sunday summoned U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford to express its outrage over a trip he took to a restive city to show Washington's support for anti-government demonstrators.
