Syria News

Damascus: The EU decision to lift Syrian oil sanctions to aid the opposition has accelerated a scramble for control over wells and pipelines in rebel-held areas and helped consolidate the grip of jihadist groups over the country's key resources.

However, after nearly 27 months of turmoil, the public opinion pendulum is markedly shifting back in support of the current regime.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting that he will prevent the transfer of weaponry to Hezbollah, implying Syria could be struck in the process.

Syrian troops backed by tanks and warplanes launched an assault Sunday on a strategic rebel-held town near the Lebanese border, pounding the area with airstrikes and artillery salvos that killed at least 30 people and forced residents to scramble for cover in basements and makeshift bunkers, activists said.

Terrorist attacks on Turkish soil won't stop until the country's Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, gives up on his support of rebel forces in Syria, British broadcaster, Neil Clark, told RT.

Witnesses described a frantic scene and close calls after an elderly driver plowed into dozens of hikers marching in a small Virginia mountain town's parade.

In this September 1, 2012 file photo, Syrian detainees who took part in anti-government protests sit in a courtroom before their release, in Damascus, Syria.

The overall geostrategic characteristic of the Syrian military picture is a robust armed struggle for supply routes, lines of communication, major highways and key choke points that is somewhat similar to the initial phase of the first Arab-Israeli War in 1947 - a battle for the roads.

The advanced S-300 Russian air defense system, which Moscow has pledged to deliver to Syria, could reach Hezbollah and beyond, a senior defense official warned on Saturday.

George Sabra speaks during a meeting on the situation in Syria, in Ankara, Turkey, on March 21.

The Syrian opposition claimed on Saturday that the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad used chemical weapons in Damascus and in the northern Syrian city of Sarkib, Israel Radio reported quoting Saudi owned Al-Arabiya news network.

The BBC has seen video and eyewitness testimony that appears to corroborate allegations of chemical weapons' use in the Syrian town of Saraqeb.

CIA chief John Brennan 'was sent to Israel to prevent it from taking action on its own in Syria', according to reports in Israeli media.

For more than two years, the Syrian president has defied predictions that his downfall is imminent.

Most have fled to Jordan and Lebanon, but not have all been registered yet, meaning the true total is likely to be far higher, according to the UNHCR.

The Syrian city of Qusayr lies just 10 miles over the border from Aarsal in northern Lebanon.

Family members of Mohammed Aboud, chant slogans against the Sunni-dominated Free Syrian Army rebel group and the al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra during his funeral in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, May 17, 2013.

A joint U.S.-Russian push to bring together Syria's political opposition and representatives of President Bashar Assad's regime to negotiate a peaceful transition has given their work new urgency.

Don't look for the outcry over the Internal Revenue Service's improper targeting of tea party groups to subside with the ouster of the agency's acting commissioner.

As the situation in Syria continues to deteriorate, threats to Israeli security increase - as do the chances for a military conflagration on the Syrian border.