UN chief Ban Ki-moon has warned that Syria risks a ”catastrophic civil war” following a massacre that sparked global outrage.
The United States told the Syrian government on Thursday it was committed to seeking a peace deal between Syria and Israel.
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/ 24 February 2009
Human Rights Watch on Tuesday urged Syria to abolish its repressive security court, a ”kangaroo court” whose verdicts cannot be appealed.
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/ 22 October 2008
Tensions have risen in recent weeks after thousands of Syrian troops were deployed close to the Lebanese border.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Wednesday he would use this week’s visit to Russia to expand military ties with Moscow.
The mysterious assassination of a top Syrian army officer and right-hand man to President Bashar al-Assad has triggered intense speculation.
Europe, North Africa and the Middle East launched the Union for the Mediterranean on Sunday pledging cooperation on water, energy and education.
At least one person was killed and six injured on Saturday in a powerful blast that shook a residential building in the Lebanese city of Tripoli.
United States President George Bush used a visit to Israel on Thursday to denounce Democratic party offers to negotiate with America’s enemies in the Middle East as comparable to appeasement of Hitler. Although Bush did not name any Democratic politician, the party’s presidential contender Barack Obama has offered to open negotiations with the Iranian leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Former United States president Jimmy Carter met Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Damascus on Friday for talks expected to focus on ways to include the Islamist group in efforts to achieve Palestinian-Israeli peace. High-level Hamas members also attended the meeting, at which Carter would also raise with Meshaal the fate of an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas.
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/ 20 December 2007
United States President George Bush is to embark on a week-long tour of the Middle East in the new year to nudge Israelis and Palestinians towards an end to their decades-long conflict and to bolster an Arab coalition against Iran. It will be the first time in his seven years as president that Bush will have visited Israel, the West Bank, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.
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/ 22 November 2007
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was hosting a summit with the Palestinian and Jordanian leaders on Thursday as Arab foreign ministers mull whether to join a United States-sponsored peace conference next week. Mubarak met Jordan’s King Abdullah II in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to discuss preparations for the conference.
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/ 17 October 2007
The Turkish Parliament Wednesday voted to allow military strikes against Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq, despite stiff United States opposition and appeals from Baghdad for time to purge the rebels. A government motion seeking a one-year authorisation for one or more incursions into Iraq was approved.
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/ 6 September 2007
Syria accused Israel on Thursday of bombing its territory and warned it could respond, but Israel Radio carried a denial there had been an air strike. The official Syrian news agency said there were no casualties or damage and that Syrian air defences fired on the incoming planes shortly after midnight.