Middle East, Uprising | featured news

At least 2,600 people have died in the six months of unrest that has swept Syria, the U.N.'s top human rights official said Monday, as a panel was named to investigate abuses in the Arab country....

Reuters reports that Syrian President Bashar Assad and Arab League Chief Nabil Elaraby have agreed to measures that could end months of violence. DP news reports that Syria said Assad and Elaraby agreed on a number of “practical steps” to speed up the reform process.

Syria saw a wave of violence and arrests Sunday as the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross visited Damascus to address issues including caring for the wounded and access to detainees during the government's crackdown on a 5-month-old uprising.

Security forces in the Syrian capital of Damascus intensify checkpoints and patrols to keep an overnight surge of protests from spreading into the heart of the city, a stronghold for President Bashar Assad.

Visa and MasterCard credit cards are no longer valid in Syria under new U.S. sanctions targeting Damascus because of its deadly crackdown on a 5-month-old uprising, officials said Thursday.

The downfall of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is likely to pave the way for increased Western attention to Syria and embolden protests against President Bashar al-Assad.

Five months into the country's uprising, a defiant Syrian regime continues its relentless assault on pro-reform protesters in the face of international rebuke and calls for restraint.

The Syrian military defied growing condemnation and sent tanks into Deir al-Zour, the fifth-largest city in the country.

Security forces bombed the city for a second day on Monday as the government continued its campaign to crush a popular uprising against the Syrian regime.

Security forces and plainclothes gunmen opened fire on crowds of Yemenis marching through a southern city Monday in an intensifying crackdown against the uprising.