Middle Orient

The U.S. Congress should reject the use of force in Syria in order to protect regional peace, the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon said Thursday. Congress must follow U.S. President Barack Obama’s “rational” policy, Ghazanfar Roknabadi said

Syrian rebels who seized an entry to a Christian town north of Damascus this week have now withdrawn to protect religious and archaeological sites there, an opposition statement said. “Free Syrian Army (FSA) units on Wednesday destroyed posts at Maalula and

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged G20 nation leaders at their summit in the Russian city of St. Petersburg to find a political solution to the “unprecedented” humanitarian crisis in Syria. At a Friday morning meeting on the sidelines of the summit, the UN chief called on world leaders …

Any military operation against Syria should be thorough and aim to end the country’s vicious civil war, according to Ankara, which believes that this requires the removal of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. An intervention against Syria that is forceful and extensive enough to end the war will achieve greater legitimacy …

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that a U.S. strike on Syria will be “in nobody’s interest” and nobody will benefit from it. “As the Islamic republic has already said, any (military) measure against Syria is in the disadvantage of both the region and the United States’ friends,” Rouhani said. 

France released an intelligence report on Monday alleging chemical weapons use by Syria’s regime that dovetailed with similar U.S. claims, as Syrian President Bashar Assad warned that any military strike against his country would spark an uncontrollable regional war and spread “chaos and extremism.” “The Middle East is a powder …

Iranian President Hassan Rohani has said that Iran will continue efforts to prevent a possible military action against Syria by the United States. On Wednesday that U.S. President Barack Obama had won the backing of key figures in the U.S. Congress, including Republicans, in his call for limited U.S. strikes …

Lebanese President Michel Suleiman said Wednesday that heis against any foreign military intervention in Syria and warned against any Lebanese involvement in the Syrian crisis. In a public speech, Suleiman expressed rejection against all scenarios that include a punitive military trike against the Syrian government for its alleged use of …

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and French President Francois Hollande, who held a meeting hours before the G-20 summit talks on the global economy in St. Petersburg started, agreed that President Bashar al-Assad’s recent chemical weapons attack in Damascus suburb should not go unpunished.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that whatever action is required in Syria should be under the UN framework, amid growing pressure on US President Barack Obama from his Russian counterpart and other world leaders not to attack the Arab country.