Khaled Oweis

Arab states told Syria on Sunday to "resort to reason" and end the bloodshed after intense protests in Damascus.

Syrian forces kept up attacks on Hama for a third day, residents said, while US senators called on the Obama administration to impose new sanctions.

A two-day assault by Syrian government forces on anti-government protesters in the city of Hama was widely condemned in the West.

Hamas acknowledges the existence of Israel as a reality but formal recognition will only be considered when a Palestinian state has been created, the movement's exiled leader Khaled Meshaal said on Wednesday. Softening a previous refusal to accept the Jewish state's existence, Meshaal said Israel was a ''matter of fact'' and a reality that will persist.