Hafez Al Assad

French president says Syria's Assad has to go

Hollande advocated for pressure and sanctions to force out the Syrian leader, continuing France's tough line on the country, where an anti-government uprising has raged for more than a year.

Syria forces shell Homs as UN votes on observers

United Nations Security Council is tentatively scheduled to vote on a Western-Arab draft resolution authorising an advance UN team to monitor the fragile ceasefire which aims to end 13 months of bloodshed during the uprising against Assad.

Fighting rages in countdown to Syria truce

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria was due to observe a ceasefire from dawn on Thursday, but its fierce attacks on opposition neighbourhoods in the run up to the U.N. deadline fuelled widespread doubts it would comply.

Asma Assad: The pretty face of a brutal regime

As Syria's bloodshed deepens, the British-born first lady has become an object of contempt for many, a Marie Antoinette figure who shopped online for crystal-encrusted Christian Louboutin stilettos while her country burned.

Al Qaeda leader backs Syrian revolt against Assad

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, in a video recording posted on the Internet on Sunday, urged Syrians not to rely on the West or Arab governments in their uprising to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

Syrian troops clash with army defectors

Syrian troops battled army defectors on Sunday in clashes that set several military vehicles ablaze. The fighting and other violence around the nation killed at least eight people.

Clashes between Syrian troops, defectors kills 13

Syrian troops today clashed with armed men believed to be military defectors in a southern village and a northwestern town, killing at least 13 people.