Middle East, Syria | featured news

A man identifying himself as the deputy oil minister, Abdo Hussameldin, appeared in a video posted to YouTube on Wednesday, and said he had left his post.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry says the violent crackdown by Bashar Assad's regime in Syria shouldn't be tolerated, but the United States and the international community must respond "in a responsible way."...

Syrian Red Crescent officials have handed over the bodies of two foreign journalists who were killed in Syria to embassy officials.

As bloody month after bloody month goes by, the United States grows ever more committed to overthrowing the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The cause is undoubtedly a just one: Avaaz, the human rights group that has been most deeply involved in the Syria crisis, reported Thursday morning that "17 civilians were beheaded or partially beheaded by regime security forces" outside of Baba Amro, the besieged Homs district that will likely soon fall to al-Assad's tanks, if it hasn't already.

The U.N. is deploring the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria and calling on authorities to grant "unhindered access" for aid workers.

Syrian artillery pounded rebel-held areas of Homs as President Bashar al-Assad's government announced that voters had overwhelmingly approved a new constitution in a referendum derided as a sham by his critics at home and abroad.

At least 89 people in Syria have been killed nationwide on the eve of a constitutional referendum.

As the death toll grows in Syria, so do the desperate pleas for help. "What is the world waiting for?" asked one Syrian woman this week while holed up in a makeshift bomb shelter with her sick son. "For us to die of hunger and fear?"

The United States, Europe and Arab nations are preparing to demand that Syrian President Bashar Assad agree within days to a ceasefire and allow humanitarian aid into areas hardest hit by his regime's brutal crackdown on opponents.

Security forces were out in force in Damascus on Sunday as rebels plan a repeat of protests that have threatened President Assad's grip on the capital.