Bashar Assad, Syrian Uprising | featured news

The United States and its international allies called Friday for new, global sanctions against President Bashar Assad's regime, seeking to step up the pressure after the defection of a top general dealt a major blow to the Syrian leader....

A conference called by special envoy Kofi Annan to end the Syria crisis appeared on the brink of failure as it opened Saturday, with the U.S. and Russia still divided over a role for President Bashar Assad in a transition government....

A surprise assault by Syrian insurgents on a Republican Guard base in Damascus, just a few miles from the presidential palace, elicited a furious military response on Tuesday, with government forces shelling surrounding neighborhoods in an escalation that brought combat in the Syrian conflict close to the heart of the capital.

As Russia and China remain steadfast in their refusal to back UN resolutions condemning President Bashar al-Assad, the BBC news website looks at media coverage of the Syria conflict in both countries and whether broadcasters tend to justify this stance.

A defiant Syrian President Bashar Assad offered no new initiatives Sunday to revive a faltering United Nations peace plan but instead assailed a "foreign conspiracy" stoking violence and denied his government had a role in "monstrous massacres" across the nation.

Governments around the world expelled Syrian ambassadors and diplomats Tuesday, an unusual, coordinated blow to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime following a gruesome massacre that the United Nations said involved close-range shootings of scores of children and parents in their homes.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is tightening his grip on the country during the decrease in violence brought on by U.N. demands, experts on the region say.

A Gulf plan to funnel millions of dollars a month to Syrian rebels - payments earmarked for salaries for the fighters - could amount to a blank check for the opposition to build up an arsenal against President Bashar Assad's forces, analysts say....

Syria says the year-long revolt to topple President Bashar al-Assad is now over, but it will keep its forces in cities to "maintain security" until it is safe to withdraw in keeping with a U.N.-backed peace deal.

Syria has accepted a U.N.-sponsored peace plan, international envoy Kofi Annan said on Tuesday, as troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad raided rebel forces who have taken refuge across the border in Lebanon.