Syria

Read recent Syrian news stories and current events on Newser.com

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150 Dead in Syria After 2 Days of Violence

Death toll mounts even as Assad agrees to international observers

(Newser) - Security forces pursuing anti-government activists and army defectors shot dead at least 47 people in Syria today, pushing the toll for two days of violence to nearly 150 even as the regime prepared to allow in foreign monitors under an Arab League plan aimed at stopping the bloodshed. Syrian state...

Syrian Army Guns Down Deserters

More than 70 reportedly gunned down in one province

(Newser) - Syria finally agreed to allow Arab League observers into the country yesterday, in a deal that is supposed to help usher in the end to the crackdown on anti-government protesters—but even as it did so, troops yesterday slaughtered army deserters who were attempting to leave their bases. More than...

Syria Finally OKs Arab League Observers

Will be free in their movements, but can't access some military sites

(Newser) - Syria finally signed an agreement to allow Arab League monitors into the country today, after the Arab League accepted 70% of the changes demanded by Damascus. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said that Syria signing the long-awaited deal was a sign that Bashar al-Assad’s regime was pushing for a...

Syrian Defectors Kill 27 Soldiers

Civil war fears grow amid anti-government attacks

(Newser) - Syrian army defectors killed at least 27 of their former comrades in Daraa province today, in one of the deadliest battles yet in what many fear is a budding Syrian civil war, activists tell the AP . The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says it has eye-witness reports of at least...

Syria Death Toll Tops 5K
 Syria Death Toll Tops 5K 
Dec 13, 2011 6:54 AM CST

Syria Death Toll Tops 5K

20 more killed yesterday

(Newser) - The death toll in the Syria protests now tops 5,000, according to the UN human rights chief, who wants the situation referred to the International Criminal Court. That number, which does not include soldiers or security personnel killed by the opposition, is up by 1,000 from the one...

Syria Votes Amid Strike, Violence

At least 31 killed in latest wave; opposition holds general strike

(Newser) - Syria's official news agency says voters are "flocking" to the polls to vote in today's local elections—but with activists calling for a voting boycott, the actual turnout is likely to be small. Some 43,000 candidates are running for more than 17,500 seats, al-Jazeera reports....

Syrian Oil Pipeline Explodes
 Syrian Oil Pipeline Explodes 
Dec 8, 2011 8:53 AM CST

Syrian Oil Pipeline Explodes

Government blames protesters, protesters blame government

(Newser) - An explosion ripped through a pipeline pumping oil to the Syrian flashpoint city of Homs today, sending thick plumes of smoke into the sky, the New York Times reports. Syria's state-run Sana news agency blamed the blast on "armed terrorist groups," while anti-government activists speculated that the...

Syria Uprising: President Bashar al-Assad Tells Barbara Walters He Did Not Order Crackdown (VIDEO)


 Assad: I Didn't 
 Order Crackdown 
barbara walters interview
Dec 7, 2011 7:29 AM CST

Assad: I Didn't Order Crackdown

He feels no guilt, says he tried to protect his people

(Newser) - A defiant Bashar al-Assad sat down with Barbara Walters and denied ordering a brutal crackdown against Syrian protesters, saying that he feels no guilt because "I did my best to protect the people." In fact, most of the dead are his own supporters and troops, Assad insisted, blaming...

New Clashes Leave 25 Dead in Syria

Reports growing of army defectors fighting Syrian forces

(Newser) - Violence sweeping across Syria killed 25 people today, most of them in a battle between troops and a growing force of army defectors who have joined the movement to oust the autocratic Bashar al-Assad, activists said. The pre-dawn clashes in the city of Idlib between regime forces and defectors killed...

UN: Syria Now a &#39;Civil War&#39;
 UN: Syria Now a 'Civil War' 
Dec 1, 2011 11:51 AM CST

UN: Syria Now a 'Civil War'

Because so many soldiers are defecting army

(Newser) - Words that describe the situation in Syria: conflict, uprising, revolt ... civil war? The latter now applies, according to the UN's top human rights official. Navi Pillay today said that more than 4,000 people are dead, though "really the information coming to us is that it's much...

UN: Syrian Forces Killed, Tortured 256 Children

Human Rights Council adds to pressure on President Assad

(Newser) - A UN investigation concluded today that Syrian forces committed crimes against humanity by killing and torturing hundreds of children, including a 2-year-old girl reportedly shot to death so she wouldn't grow up to be a demonstrator. The inquiry added to mounting international pressure on President Bashar Assad, a day...

Arab League Sanctions Syria
 Arab League Sanctions Syria 
Nov 27, 2011 9:22 AM CST

Arab League Sanctions Syria

Syria calls move a betrayal of Arab solidarity

(Newser) - The Arab League has approved sanctions against Syria to pressure the regime to end its deadly eight-month crackdown on dissent. Damascus slammed the move as a betrayal of Arab solidarity. At a press conference in Cairo, Qatar Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim said 19 of the League's 22 member...

Syria Misses Key Deadline, Reports 6 Pilots Killed

Damascus ignores Arab League request to allow in observers

(Newser) - Tensions in Syria continue to rise in ominous fashion: The Syrian armed forces said today in a rare televised statement that six elite military pilots were killed in an ambush in the city of Homs. The statement also warns that Syria will "hit back" at any attempt to cause...

Rice: Syria on Verge of Civil War

Bashar al-Assad is 'no friend' of the US, says former secretary of state

(Newser) - Syrian President Bashar Assad is taking his country to the brink of civil war, says former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. She tells CNN's State of the Union that Assad "is no friend of the United States" and that his overthrow would be a "great thing" for...

Syrian Rebels Escalate, Shell Baath HQ

Rebels takes credit for big escalation of violence against Assad regime

(Newser) - Two rocket-propelled grenades rocked the Baath party headquarters in Damascus this morning just before dawn, the first insurgent attack in the Syrian capital since unrest began in March, reports the Telegraph . The Syrian Free Army took credit for the attack, although the AP said that it could not confirm the...

Troops Crack Down in Syria, Egypt

Tahrir Square strike comes 9 days before elections

(Newser) - So much for peaceful transitions of power in Syria and Egypt, where regime forces brutally cracked down on protesters today. In Syria, the day after officials agreed "in principle" to let the Arab League oversee a peace process, troops invaded a region near the Turkish border and a town...

Syria Agrees 'in Principle' to Let Observers In

As violence from dissidents mounts

(Newser) - As anti-government protests intensified and armed rebels started attacking government installations, Bashar al-Assad's regime has agreed "in principle" to allow Arab League observers into Syria, a senior official tells the AP . "Syria has agreed in principle to the Arab League proposal ," he said. "We are...

Arab League Gives Syria 3 Days
 Arab League Gives Syria 3 Days 
Nov 17, 2011 7:25 AM CST

Arab League Gives Syria 3 Days

Assad must accept its peace plan, let monitors in

(Newser) - The Arab League has given Syria three more days to implement its peace plan, offering to send monitors to the country to ensure the bloodshed has stopped, in what amounts to a temporary reprieve from Saturday’s decision to suspend the country . But Qatar’s foreign minister insisted that sanctions...

Bloody Wave Claims 70 in Syria
 Bloody Wave Claims 70 in Syria 
Nov 15, 2011 6:00 AM CST

Bloody Wave Claims 70 in Syria

Bashar Assad soldiers targeted by army defectors

(Newser) - More than 70 Syrians died in a single day yesterday, many of them soldiers killed at the hands of army defectors in Daraa, activists tell the AP . The bloody wave was also felt in Homs, where the morgue had taken in 19 bullet-riddled corpses. Witnesses on the ground in Daraa...

Jordan's King to Syrian Prez: 'Step Down'

King Abdullah's comment is latest blow for Assad

(Newser) - Jordan's king said today that Syrian President Bashar Assad should step down for the good of his country, the first Arab leader to publicly make such a call as Syria's neighbors close ranks against an increasingly isolated regime. "If Bashar has the interest of his country, he...

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