At least 65 people were found shot dead with their hands bound in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo today in a "new massacre" in the near two-year revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, activists said.
Syrian government defectors and opposition figures formed a body today that would step in to prevent the collapse of state institutions if President Bashar al-Assad is overthrown.
Government war planes bombed opposition-held areas of Syria and President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels fought on the outskirts of the capital Damascus on New Year's Day today.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will deliver a rare speech on Sunday about the uprising against his rule, which has killed 60,000 people and brought civil war to the edge of his capital.
Turkey's prime minister said his country did not want war but warned Syria not to make a "fatal mistake" by testing its resolve, and its army retaliated for a third day running after more mortar rounds from Syria landed on its soil.
Global hacking network Anonymous said it will shut down Syrian government websites around the world in response to a countrywide Internet blackout believed to be aimed at silencing the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad.
The United States is racing to finalize elements of its Syria strategy, planning new steps to shape and strengthen the still-fragmented opposition as signs build that the country is nearing a tipping point in the 20-month rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad.
The United Nations' four-month-old observer mission in Syria will withdraw from the country next week, diplomats and UN officials said, yet another blow to the world body's efforts to broker an end to the conflict.
US forces could move against Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, President Barack Obama warned, notably if he deploys his chemical weapons against rebels trying to overthrow him.
Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that he was "honored, flattered, humbled and scared" at the prospect of leading international efforts to broker peace in Syria's worsening 17-month conflict.
Damascus and Syria's second biggest city, Aleppo, came under shell fire today as troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad stepped up efforts to crush rebels threatening the government's two main power centres.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appointed Health Minister Wael al-Halki as prime minister today, after the defection earlier this week of Prime Minister Riyad Hijab. Meanwhile, Syrian forces continued to pound rebels today in a strategic district of Aleppo.
At least 11 people were killed in fierce fighting that broke out in a Damascus suburb today when Syrian forces mounted an armoured attack to try and regain the area from rebels, opposition activists said.
International envoy Kofi Annan said on Friday he was "frustrated and impatient" a week after a massacre in Syria of 108 people shocked the world, but Russia said his peace plan was still the best hope for Syria.
Syrian government forces killled more than 200 people, most of them civilians, in a village in the province of Hama, opposition activists said.
Syrian troops backed by helicopters and tanks have struck back in Damascus against rebel fighters emboldened by a bomb attack against President Bashar al-Assad's inner circle.
Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad shot dead five protesters after Friday prayers, activists reported, while the government said an army officer was killed as violence marred a ceasefire brokered by international peace envoy Kofi Annan.
UN-Arab League mediator Kofi Annan's deputy told the Security Council that the swift deployment of more observers to Syria was needed despite continued risks and persistent violence, though some council members have expressed reluctance.
Syria is nearing full-blown sectarian civil war that would be catastrophic for the entire Middle East, Western nations said, urging Russia to end its support for President Bashar al-Assad and put pressure on him to stop the bloodshed.
"How cynical that, even as Assad was receiving former (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Syrian Army was conducting a fresh assault on Idlib and continuing its aggression in Hama, Homs, and Rastan," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the UN Security Council.
Syria has pledged to withdraw all military units from towns by April 10 to pave the way for a ceasefire with rebels two days later, th ough Western envoys were sceptical about Damascus' intent to halt its year-long assault on opponents.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that Syria's conflict is deepening and attacks on civilian areas show no sign of abating, despite assurances from Damascus that it has begun withdrawing troops under an international peace plan.
Syrian forces have killed more than 7,500 civilians since a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad began, a UN official said, and Hillary Clinton, the top US diplomat, suggested the Syrian leader may be a war criminal.
The United States should lead an international effort to protect key population centers in Syria through air strikes on President Bashar al-Assad's forces, US Senator John McCain said.
UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan meets President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday to press for a political solution to Syria's year-long uprising and bloody crackdown in which thousands of people have been killed.
Armoured forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad thrust deeper into the central city of Homs, firing rockets and mortar rounds to subdue opposition districts, activists said, a day after Russia said Assad wants peace.
Syrian forces opened fire with live ammunition on demonstrators in Damascus overnight, wounding at least four, activists said as unrest continued to spread in the capital.
Western and Arab nations mounted the biggest diplomatic push in weeks to end Syria's crackdown on the opposition, but the talk in a marble-lined Tunisian hotel risked being overtaken by the increasingly vicious armed conflict on the ground.
Twelve people were killed in Syria, where a peace plan monitored by Arab observers has failed to douse a 10-month-old struggle between President Bashar al-Assad and his foes.
The secretary-general of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent was shot dead as he travelled outside the capital Damascus in a clearly marked vehicle, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.
More than 200 people were killed in shelling by Syrian forces in the city of Homs, activists said, as the UN Security Council prepared to vote on a draft resolution backing an Arab call for President Bashar al-Assad to give up power.
Syrian forces killed dozens of protesters despite assurances by President Bashar al-Assad that a crackdown was over, and thousands of people rallied across the Arab nation with renewed vigour demanding political freedoms.
Syria faced growing economic sanctions and condemnation over "gross human rights violations," but President Bashar al-Assad showed no sign of buckling under international pressure to end his military crackdown on popular unrest.
At least 23 people were killed as Syrian tank forces battled opponents of President Bashar al-Assad in Homs, residents said, ahead of a planned visit by Arab League monitors to verify whether he is ending a violent crackdown on unrest.
Thousands of Syrians have fled the historic town of Maarat al-Numaan to escape troops and tanks pushing into the north in a widening military campaign to crush protests against President Bashar al-Assad.
Syrian tanks shelled the city of Hama after Ramadan prayers, residents said, on the third day of an armoured assault to crush some of the largest street protests against President Bashar al-Assad in a five-month uprising.
Syrian forces killed 15 civilians in the city of Homs on Wednesday, an activists' group said, despite international calls for President Bashar al-Assad to end a bloody crackdown on protests against his rule.
Syrian security forces have released 300 people detained in the coastal city of Banias and restored basic services, a rights group said, within hours of the government saying the threat from protests was receding.
Syrian helicopter gunships fired machineguns to disperse pro-democracy protests, witnesses said, in the first reported use of air power to quell unrest in Syria's increasingly bloody three-month-old uprising.
Syrian tanks stormed a border town overnight, residents said, in the latest assault to crush a three-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad that has driven thousands of refugee to flee to Turkey.
Syrian security forces arrested two veteran opposition figures and a group of female protesters, adding to thousands of political prisoners in the country, rights groups said.
Hundreds of Syrians have been charged with "degrading the prestige of the state," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, in President Bashar al-Assad's drive to crush protests against his autocratic rule.
Syrian forces shot dead six civilians in an attack on Sunni districts in the mixed city of Banias, rights campaigners said, raising sectarian tension in a country gripped by pro-democracy protests.
Syrian security forces opened fire on protesters at a funeral, witnesses said, and an announcement that President Bashar al-Assad would lift 48-years of emergency rule failed to quell fury on the streets.
Syrian forces fired shots at hundreds of protesters who had gathered overnight in Homs city in defiance of warning by the authorities to halt what they called an insurrection, a rights campaigner said.
Security forces killed more than 60 people across Syria during demonstrations demanding the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad, and the United States imposed new sanctions on key figures.