A U.S.-backed proposal to require the U.N.'s observer mission in occupied Western Sahara to monitor human rights abuses has been rescinded. U.S. diplomats dropped calls to enhance the U.N'.'s observer mission to the disputed territory after ...

The United Nations Security Council issued a statement Friday welcoming Yemen's upcoming National Dialogue Conference and warning of sanctions for spoilers who interfere in the Dialogue. According to the Council, these potential spoilers include former leaders, former opposition ...

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah proclaimed earlier this week, “Anyone who thinks that the armed opposition is capable of the military battle is very mistaken,’” referring to the conflict in Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin on the ...

Photo Credit: AFPFollowing international recognition of the Syrian National Coalition as “the ‘legitimate representative’ body of the Syrian people,” Morocco’s King Mohammed VI encouraged the U.N. Security Council to reach an expedient consensus regarding political transition in ...

The cease-fire which went into effect at 0600 hours on October 26 broke down within four hours of its implementation. Rebels accused the Syrian Army of attacking first, but both sides exchanged gunfire in multiple cities. ...

U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peace Keeping Operations, Herve Ladsous, confirmed that plans are underway regarding a peacekeeping force to Syria, should the regime and the opposition agree to a cease-fire. The final decision will be contingent upon the U.N.-Arab ...

In an op-ed, professor Mark LeVine describes why democratic transitions have been so drastically different across the Middle East. He argued that the initial movement in Syria was not as successful as Egypt or Tunisia due in part to a ...

After the Syrian military shelled the Turkish border town of Ackakale, killing five Turkish citizens, Turkish Prime Minister Recept Tayyip Erdogan responded by proclaiming, “Under the rules of engagement and international law, Turkey will never let the ...

Special peace envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League Kofi Annan has announced his resignation, reiterating that President Bashar al-Assad "must leave office." Annan said, “I accepted this task, which some called ‘Mission: Impossible,’ for I believed it was a sacred duty to do ...

In the midst of days of clashes between rebel forces and the Syrian army in Damascus, four Syrian officials were killed today when a bomb went off during a crisis group meeting of senior ministers and security chiefs. General Assef ...

For the first time since the crisis in Syria began 17 months ago, a senior Syrian diplomat has defected from the Assad regime. Nawaf Fares, a former provincial governor and Syrian envoy to Baghdad since 2008, said that he ...

Amid Syria's spiraling death toll, the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, proposed a new plan to end the country's violence, featuring a "unity government" that would include the participation of President Bashar al-Assad. Annan is set ...

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria (CoI) submitted an update of its findings to the U.N. Human Rights Council today. The CoI report found that "military engagements have escalated dramatically" in recent weeks and that "human rights ...

On Thursday, Syria’s newly elected parliament held its first session. President Bashar al-Assad’s Ba’ath party continues to hold a large majority of the seats in the new assembly. Ali Haider with the National Front for Change and Liberation party ...

On Thursday, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), writing an op-ed in the Washington Post, called for U.S. action to prevent further human rights abuses in Syria. Nine months after President Barack Obama called for the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad, ...

On Monday, Syrian state TV reported nine deaths and 100 wounded when a bomb exploded in the Syrian town of Idlib. State TV blamed the violence on opposition suicide bombers, although opposition forces denied involvement. The International Crisis ...

A devastating explosion shook the Masha Al-Tayyer district in southern Hama. State media reported 16 deaths and blamed ‘armed terrorist groups’ for the violence. Activists estimated the death toll to be closer to 70. A video was ...

Secretary General of the U.N. Ban Ki-Moon announced his decision to expand the observer mission in Syria, placing an additional 300 observers on the ground in Syria by the beginning of next week. Monday saw an escalation in violence, ...

The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a Russia-European drafted resolution on Saturday that authorizes an initial deployment of up to 300 unarmed military observers to Syria for three months. The next day, however, violence ensued in a town ...