Middle Orient

France said on Thursday that the international community would need to respond with force if allegations that the Syrian government was responsible for a chemical attack on civilians proved true. “There would have to be reaction with force in Syria from

Syria’s main opposition group accused the government of “massacring” more than 1,300 people in chemical weapons attacks near Damascus Wednesday, as the UN Security Council called for “clarity” and expressed “strong concern” over the allegations.

Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby called on Wednesday for United Nations inspectors to immediately investigate reports of a chemical attack near the Syrian capital that activists say has killed more than 200 people,

If the facts surrounding the killing of civilians with chemical weapon in Syria are proven, the international community should react to this, according to a message from the Turkish Foreign Ministry posted on its official website on

The French president plans to ask the U.N. to visit the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack near Damascus.

UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi will not take part in crunch talks next week between Russian and US officials on a long-delayed Syria peace conference, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds swarmed across a bridge into neighboring Iraq’s northern self-ruled Kurdish region over the past few days in one of the biggest waves of refugees since the rebellion against President Bashar Assad began, U.N. officials said Monday.

Top Russian and US officials will meet in The Hague next week to discuss preparations for a long-delayed international peace conference on Syria, Russia’s deputy foreign minister said on Monday. “This meeting will take place in the middle of next week in The Hague,” Russia’s Deputy

The Syrian army has recaptured rebel-held positions in Latakia, home province of President Bashar al-Assad, state-run SANA news agency reported Monday quoting a military source.

N inspectors arrived in the Syrian capital on Sunday, on a mission to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons, as Syria’s government vowed to fully cooperate with them. Syrian plainclothes security men whisked away the 20-member team, led by Swedish