Bashar Al Assad

By Reuters | Beirut | 22 Mar 2012

More than a dozen people died in clashes across Syria on Thursday, opposition activists said, as a UN Security Council call for an immediate end to the fighting fell on deaf ears.

In the worst incident, 10 civilians, including three children and two women, died when their small bus was shot up in northern town of Sermeen as they tried to flee to Turkey, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.

Source : Reuters | Damascus | 19 Mar 2012

A heavy firefight broke out on Monday between Free Syrian Army rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in a main district of the capital Damascus, witnesses said.

The sound of heavy machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades echoed through the night from the western neighbourhood of al-Mezze, one of the most heavily guarded areas of the capital and home to several security installations, residents told Reuters by telephone.

By Crispian Balmer and Dominic Evans | Reuters | Beirut | 15 Mar 2012

Flag-waving supporters of President Bashar Assad took to the streets of Syrian cities on Thursday in an orchestrated show of loyalty to coincide with the first anniversary of an increasingly bloody uprising against his rule.

Official media announced government forces had cleared “armed terrorists” from the northwestern city of Idlib, suggesting the army was gaining ground in the revolt, which has cost at least 8,000 lives, according to the United Nations.

Source : Guardian News & Media | 15 Mar 2012

Bashar al-Assad took advice from Iran on how to handle the uprising against his rule, according to a cache of what appear to be several thousand emails received and sent by the Syrian leader and his wife.

The Syrian leader was also briefed in detail about the presence of western journalists in the Baba Amr district of Homs and urged to "tighten the security grip" on the opposition-held city in November.

By : Iqbal Siddiqui | The Crescent | London | 12 Mar 2012

Thanks to the intense international news focus on current events in Syria, no one can be unaware of the increasingly bloody internal conflict in that country, which is arguably reaching the level of civil war. But the level of coverage can have, ironically, the effect of distorting and diminishing people’s understanding of issues rather than increasing it. I would like to focus on some little noted elements of the situation there.

Source : Reuters | Homs | 12 Mar 2012

Dozens of civilians were killed in the Syrian city of Homs, opposition activists and Syrian state media said on Monday, although they disputed responsibility for what both sides called a massacre.

The carnage in Homs, as well as a military assault on the northwestern city of Idlib, coincided with a weekend peace mission by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, who left Damascus on Sunday without agreement on a truce or humanitarian access.

By Ben Hubbard | AP | Beirut | 07 Mar 2012

Syria’s President Bashar Assad said Tuesday he was determined to go on fighting what he called “foreign-backed terrorism,” while US President Barack Obama said it was only a matter of time before dictator left office.

But Obama said it was a mistake to think the US could take unilateral action there.

“Ultimately this dictator will fall,” Obama said at a news conference, adding that it was not a question of if but when Assad would be forced out.

By Oliver Holmes | Reuters | Arsal | 05 Mar 2012

Braving Syrian army patrols and treacherous winter weather, hundreds of people fled into Lebanon in the last 24 hours to escape the heaviest shelling of their border towns in a year-long crackdown on protests against President Bashar Assad.

In the hillside town of Arsal in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, residents say between 100 and 150 families arrived from Syria on Sunday — one of the biggest refugee influxes so far.

By Zeina Karam | AP | Beirut | 01 Mar 2012

Syria’s main opposition group formed a military council Thursday to organize and unify all armed resistance to President Bashar Assad’s regime as the conflict veered ever closer to civil war.

The Paris-based leadership of the Syrian National Council said its plan was coordinated with the most potent armed opposition force — the Free Syrian Army — made up mainly of army defectors.

By Agencies | Beirut/Amman | 27 Feb 2012

At least 31 Syrian civilians and soldiers were killed on Sunday in fighting over Syria’s future that coincided with a vote on a new constitution that could keep President Bashar Assad in power until 2028.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appealed to Syrians in the military and business who are still supporting Assad to abandon the embattled leader.

Clinton said at a news conference in Morocco on Sunday that she had a message for those holdout backers.