Syria, Syrian Rebels | featured news

Dozens of people were killed and many more wounded in an air strike that hit a Syrian bakery where a large crowd was queuing for bread on Sunday, activists said.

With rebels trying to penetrate Syria's capital, Damascus, President Bashar Assad may appear to be heading for a last stand as his weakened regime crumbles around him....

President Barack Obama declared Syria's main opposition group the sole "legitimate representative" of its country's people Tuesday, deeming the move "a big step" in the international diplomatic efforts to end Syrian President Bashar Assad's embattled regime.

The negative experience in Libya has taken on new urgency as the Obama administration considers whether to play a direct role in arming rebels in Syria.

U.S. and allied intelligence have detected Syrian movement of chemical weapons components in recent days, a senior U.S. defense official said Monday, as the Obama administration again warned the Assad regime against using chemical weapons on Syrian rebels.

“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.

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.

France's foreign minister raised the prospect Thursday of sending "defensive weapons" to Syrian rebels, saying his country will ask the European Union to consider lifting its arms embargo on the Middle East nation....

The United States declined to follow France in fully recognizing a fledgling Syrian opposition coalition on Wednesday, saying the body must prove its worth, after its predecessor was dogged by feuding and accusations of Islamist domination.