Though the US State Department said it was unable to confirm the reports of attacks by naval ships on the city, the violent crackdown in the Syrian port of Latakia continues apace, with major human rights implications. Yesterday’s reports had attacks from ground troops and tanks as well as shelling from the Syrian Navy, with at least 31 people killed and dozens of others wounded. The crackdowns... 

At least 38 people have been killed after Syrian tanks launched an offensive on another rebel town on Sunday. The attack came as the UN appealed for an immediate halt to violence in the country. Syrian troops stormed several other cities on Sunday raising the overall death toll to 69, according to Reuters news agency. Meanwhile, Agence France-Presse reported about 52 victims. Over 100 are reported... 

The first serious move after months of promised reform, the Syrian government today announced that it was ending its near 50-year ban on opposition political parties, though with a number of caveats. The new law resembles the laws under Mubarak in Egypt, allowing opposition parties but forbidding any based on religion, region, or ethnicity. This would keep the Kurds from forming parties, as well as... 

Supporters of Bashar Assad's government demonstrate on his behalf over the weekend in Damascus, the Syrian capital. Since Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s sharp words last week, the Obama administration has stopped short of calling for President Bashar Assad to resign and has toned down its rhetoric. After sharply escalating its criticism of Syria’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy... 

Army presses ahead in its campaign to overcome anti-regime revolt, prepares to intervene in Al-Bukamal. The Syrian army on Sunday set its sights on the town of Zabadani near the Lebanon border as it pressed ahead in its campaign to overcome an anti-regime revolt, a human rights activist said. In the east, on the frontier with Iraq, security forces were also reported to be preparing to intervene in... 

At least 41 protesters were killed today and another 120 wounded as security forces opened fire on marchers in several areas around Syria. The deaths were the highest single day toll in weeks. But so too was it the biggest march yet, with estimates that around one million Syrians took part in demonstrations nationwide. The largest rally was in Hama, where 500,000 took part in the rally. The largest... 

More than 1,500 Syrian refugees crossed to Turkey on Thursday, according to state-run Anatolian news agency, as the Syrian army swept up to the border in its campaign to stamp out anti-government protests. The provincial government in Hatay said on Friday morning that the total number of refugees registered at the temporary shelter camps had reached 11,739, compared with 10,224 a day earlier. Most... 

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (left) with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has asked Russia to support a draft United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria. Clinton made the call during a phone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday, AFP reported. “With regard to Syria, their discussion focused on action... 

US Special Forces units based at Fort Hood, Texas, have been told to prepare for deployment to Libya no later than July, according to a US military source. The Special Forces would then be followed in September or October by heavy armored units of the First Cavalry Division, currently located in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with other components of the US III Corps. This report was broadcast today... 

The situation around Syria continues to be in the spotlight of the politicians and the media. In recent days the situation in the country has sharply deteriorated. The tone of the comments in various western media outlets is nearly the same: they are blaming President Bashar Assad. At some point Milosevic and Gaddafi were subject to similar attacks by the Western media. Would Syria be subject to the... 

Pro-Western media are completing the “artillery preparation” against Syria. In the West they have already built an image of Assad as a tyrant hated by the people and who is inferior to Gaddafi only in terms of the degree of his undemocratic attitude. Now Western journalists are arguing how many “peaceful demonstrators” he has killed – one hundred, five hundred or two... 

The Syrian government yesterday lifted the country’s 48-year-old state of emergency to try to appease anti-government protesters. But demonstrations continued as opposition leaders dismissed the historic move as an attempt by President Bashar Assad to make out he was making reforms while maintaining his hardline rule. In the country’s third largest city, Homs, security officers opened fire... 

President Bashar al-Assad blames conspirators for the unrest sweeping Syria. Witnesses claim soldiers who disobeyed orders in Banias were shot by security services as crackdown on protests intensifies. Syrian soldiers have been shot by security forces after refusing to fire on protesters, witnesses said, as a crackdown on anti-government demonstrations intensified. Witnesses told al-Jazeera and the... 

Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Syria on Friday and were again met by violent crackdowns from security forces, particularly in the city of Daraa where rights groups report forces opening fire into massive crowds of demonstrators. At least 37 protesters were killed nationwide, and 25 of those in Daraa alone. Several hundred others were also wounded. The toll is the one of the... 

Syrians anti and pro-Assad protesters clash after Friday prayers in Damascus, Syria, Friday, March 25, 2011. Thousands of Syrians took to the streets Friday demanding reforms and mourning dozens of protesters who were killed during a violent, week long crackdown that has brought extraordinary pressure on the country’s autocratic regime, activists and witnesses said. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad...