DAMASCUS, May 14, 2013 (AFP) Syria is willing to carry out a joint investigation with Turkey into deadly attacks in the border town of Reyhanli that Ankara has accused Damascus of masterminding, a Syrian minister said on Tuesday. "If the government of (Prime Minister Recep Tayyip) Erdogan calls for a joint, transparent investigation by the two countries, we have no objection, in order to find the truth," In ...

WASHINGTON,May 10, 2013 (AFP) US Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday there was "strong evidence" that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had used chemical weapons against rebel forces. "This fight is about the terrible choices that the Assad regime has made with its willingness to kill anywhere... to use gas, which we believe there is strong evidence of use of," Kerry said during a Google+ ...

MOSCOW, May 10, 2013 (AFP) British Prime Minister David Cameron and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday discussed joint options for ending the crisis in Syria amid a new diplomatic push to resolve the two-year conflict. Cameron's rare call on Putin at his summer vacation residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi came three days after top US and Russian diplomats agreed to make a joint effort in sear ...

GENEVA , May 06, 2013 (AFP) A UN team of investigators into rights abuses in Syria stressed Monday there was no conclusive proof of either side in the conflict using chemical weapons, despite a team member's claims to the contrary. "The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic wishes to clarify that it has not reached conclusive findings as to the use of chemical weapons i ...

DAMASCUS, May 5, 2013 (AFP) Israel carried out an air strike near Damascus airport overnight, targeting Iranian missiles destined for Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement, a senior Israeli source said on Sunday. "The attack was very close to the airport, the target was Iranian missiles which were destined for Hezbollah," he told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. Earlier the official Syrian SANA news a ...

May 5, 2013 (AFP) ISRAEL carried out a rocket attack on the Jamraya scientific research centre in Damascus overnight, the official Syrian news agency SANA has reported. The agency did not say whether there were any wounded or dead. The "Israeli attack aims at loosening the noose around the terrorists in the eastern Ghouta" region, near Damascus, Syrian television added. If confirmed, the attack would be Isr ...

CAIRO, May 02, 2013 (AFP) – UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is thinking about stepping down as the Syrian war becomes more intractable, but is likely to stay on until at least mid-May, a senior aide said on Thursday   UN and Arab diplomats said on Wednesday the veteran envoy was on the verge of quitting over his frustration with international divisions over Syria and the increased militarisation ...

April 30, 2013 (AFP) Hezbollah fighters are aiding troops in Syria to combat the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad, the head of the powerful Lebanese Shiite movement confirmed on Tuesday. "A large number of (rebels) were preparing to capture villages inhabited by Lebanese," so it was "normal to offer every possible and necessary aid to help the Syrian army, popular committees (pro-government milit ...

April 30, 2013 (AFP) The chief of powerful Lebanese Shiite Muslim party Hezbollah, a close Damascus ally, said on Tuesday that Syria's friends would not let the embattled regime of President Bashar al-Assad fall. "Syria has true friends in the region who will not allow Syria to fall into the hands of the United States, Israel and 'takfiri' groups," Hassan Nasrallah said in a television broadcast, referring ...

April 28, 2013 A former army general from the chemical weapons branch, Zahir al-Sakit, said he was instructed to use chemical weapons during a regime battle with the FSA in the southwestern area of Hauran. But instead, Sakit disobeyed the orders and swapped the chemicals with disinfectant water he called “Javel water.” “I was given orders to execute the use of poisonous chemicals in caves and tunnels that a ...

April 28, 2013 The Syrian government ordered the use chemical weapons against the Free Syrian Army (FSA) during select battles with Syrian regime forces, a defected general told Al Arabiya late Saturday. A former army general from the chemical weapons branch, Zahir al-Sakit, said he was instructed to use chemical weapons during a regime battle with the FSA in the southwestern area of Hauran. But instead, Sa ...

April 22, 2013 (Al Arabiya with AFP ) The Syrian National Coalition’s interim president said Monday the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has declared war on the Syrian people amid reports the movement is leading the fight against rebels in the central province of Homs. “What is happening in Qusayr in Homs is Hezbollah declaring a war on the people of Syria,” George Sabra said in a press conference in Istan ...