Syria News

A senior State Department official said Tuesday it remains to be seen whether Iran will be invited to an international conference aimed at pushing forward a peace plan for Syria.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry issued a stern warning Tuesday to Syria's government, warning that new help will be given to opposition forces should President Bashar Assad's regime decide to back out of upcoming negotiations aimed at ending Syria's two-year war.

Syria denied responsibility for car bombings in a Turkish border town that killed 46 people, as Turkey's government urged the world to act against the Assad regime but stopped short of calling for NATO intervention.

In one of the deadliest attacks in Turkey in recent years, two car bombs exploded near the border with Syria on Saturday, killing 43 and wounding 140 others.

Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday the transfer of advanced missile defense systems from Russia to Syria would be a 'destabilizing' factor for Israel's security.

The United States and Russia, deeply divided over the crisis in Syria, announced a new push Tuesday to get the Assad regime and opposition rebels to negotiate an end to the conflict.

Rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad detained four U.N. peacekeepers on Tuesday in area that separates Syria and Israel, raising tension between the two countries just days after the Jewish state launched back-to-back airstrikes near Damascus.

The White House is sticking to President Barack Obama's assertion that Syrian dictator Bashar Hafez al-Assad's use of chemical weapons would be crossing a "red line," but declined to say what would happen if he crossed that red line.

The Arab League and its leading member, Egypt, may want to see the end of the Assad regime, but Israeli airstrikes against Syrian regime targets in recent days drew condemnation from both.

Discussions within the Obama administration in favor of providing arms to the Syrian rebels are gaining ground amid new indications that President Bashar Assad's regime may have launched additional chemical weapons attacks, U.S. and other diplomatic officials say.

The world is watching the situation in Syria transform before its eyes - with an uptick in bombings and allegations of chemical weapons use - but deciding what to do about it is no easy feat.

President Obama signaled Tuesday he would consider U.S. military action against Syria if 'hard, effective evidence' is found to bolster intelligence that chemical weapons have been used in the 2-year-old civil war.

Senior U.S. House members say American intervention in Syria's civil war is likely, but they signaled the Obama administration has yet to settle on what that will entail.