Middle East, Wars | featured news

Internet services in Syria's capital resume after a two-day blackout, as clashes between government forces and rebels around Damascus intensify.

An Internet blackout and complete lack of phone service has not stopped the infamous international hacker group Anonymous from its cyberwar on the Syrian regime. The hacker group, which has been credited with online attacks on governments, international banks and even the CIA, claims it is retaliating against the embattled regime of Bashar al-Assad, which it believes had shut down online and cellphone access this week, perhaps in preparation for a major offensive.

“They are a legitimate representative of the Syrian people’s aspirations,” the American ambassador to Syria said Thursday. An official announcement of recognition was expected Dec. 12.

Syrian hospital officials say twin car bombs have killed at least 34 people in a Damascus suburb.

Before the civil war, Ramiz Moussa was a middle class civil servant who processed fines for littering, illegal construction and disturbing the peace in Aleppo, Syria's largest city....

In Damascus, two mortar shells struck the upscale neighborhood of Mazzeh during the morning rush hour Thursday.

Israel and Hamas have agreed to a cease-fire, the Egyptian foreign minister said Wednesday, ending eight days of fighting that killed more than 140 Palestinians and five Israelis. The cease-fire is set to start at 9 p.m. Cairo time (2 p.m. ET), Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr announced in a news conference alongside visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

France on Tuesday ended its combat operations in Afghanistan, pulling hundreds of troops from a base in a volatile region northeast of Kabul and fulfilling promises to end its combat role on a faster track than other NATO allies....

Hamas said a truce had been reached between Israel and Gaza, though Israel couched the news by saying an agreement was close but not a done deal. Hamas official Ayman Taha said the truce would go into effect early Wednesday, according to Reuters news service.

Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers traded fire and tough cease-fire proposals Monday, and threatened to escalate their border conflict if diplomacy fails.