(CNN) — Desperation and a rapidly growing death toll serve as a backdrop for a new effort dozens of countries are launching in hopes of finally stemming the brutal crackdown under way in Syria. At a meeting Friday in Tunisia, world leaders will look to mount pressure against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The meeting of [...]
(CNN) — President Barack Obama’s top military adviser says it is premature to aid in arming the Syrian opposition, reinforcing the belief of a rebel commander that the uprising is an “orphan revolution” without the international support prevalent in other Arab Spring revolts. The claim follows opposition reports Monday that Syrian forces began a 17th [...]
(CNN) — After 16 straight days of bombardment, Homs is such an incessantly bleeding wound that Syrians speak of it now as though it were a norm. Theirs are voices of resignation as food, medicine, water, electricity dwindle and Bashar al-Assad’s forces show no intent of letting up. “Is today Sunday? Wednesday? Saturday? I honestly [...]
Damascus, Syria (CNN) — Syrian security forces and members of a resistance movement comprised of military defectors clashed in the Damascus suburb of Douma, activists groups said Saturday. But activists disagreed on whether dissidents, including the Free Syrian Army, were in firm control. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the opposition held all districts [...]
Zabadani, Syria (CNN) — Crowds in a Syrian town surrounded by government troops cheered Arab League monitors who visited Sunday as others fled the town on foot to escape the fighting inside. Residents of Zabadani, about 50 km (30 miles) northwest of Damascus, lifted one of the monitors onto their shoulders and passed him around [...]
(CNN) — Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad must “stop killing” his people, the head of the United Nations demanded Sunday, as a fact-finding mission to determine whether the Syrian government is abiding by an agreement to end the violence nears a conclusion. “Today, I say again to President Assad of Syria: Stop the violence. Stop killing [...]
Damascus, Syria (CNN) — In a rare and defiant speech Tuesday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad blamed the unabated violence in his country on “external conspiracies,” criticized the Arab League as toothless and said that the international call for reform wasn’t taking into account what the country was really facing: terrorism. While he did not explicitly [...]
(CNN) — The head of an advisory board to the Arab League called Sunday for the withdrawal of observers from Syria, claiming the mission has allowed Syrian officials to continue a brutal crackdown on protesters. “What is happening allows the Syrian regime a cover for the exercise of its inhumane practices under the Arab League’s [...]
(CNN) — More than 5,800 people, including 395 children, died in 2011 during the crackdown on protests in Syria, according to an opposition activist group. The grim tally of “martyrs” from the Local Coordination Committees of Syria totaled 5,862, including 287 prisoners it said were tortured to death. The LCC said 19 doctors and 146 [...]
Cairo (CNN) — Large-scale anti-government protests and more violence unfolded across Syria Friday as tens of thousands of demonstrators converged on public squares to protest President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The protests coincided with reports of increased violence against demonstrators by al-Assad’s security forces, even as an Arab League fact-finding mission works to determine whether the [...]
