damascus popularity and damascus trends

A series of car bombings have hit the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Basra on Monday, killing an estimated 48 people. No group has taken responsibility for the attacks which targeted several Shiite districts of the Iraqi capital as well as the oil-rich predominantly Shiite city of Basra, in southeastern Iraq. Bombs exploded at a restaurant and bus stop in Basra, and were...

Battle for Qusair believed to be edging in favour of loyalist forces, and role of Hezbollah marks new escalation in crisisSyrian and Hezbollah troops have pushed deep into the strategic border town of Qusair after a ferocious artillery and mortar blitz that is thought to have killed more than 50 residents and laid bare the Lebanese militia's direct support for the Assad...

Damascus vows to retaliate to future attacks, as Russians to send naval task force to defend base in Tartus    

Police: Saturday’s confrontation due to "illegal march"; Palestinians say rioting in response to reverse age discrimination.

In a rare interview conducted in the library of the presidential palace in Damascus, he warned America and Russia that peace talks were no nearer the negotiating table.

Im US-Bundesstaat Virginia ist am Samstag ein Auto in eine Parade von rund 1.000 Wanderern gerast. 50 bis 60 Menschen wurden verletzt, wie der örtliche TV-Sender WCYB berichtete. Der Unfall ereignete sich auf einer Brücke im Ort Damascus, wo die Parade anlässlich eines Wanderer-Festivals stattfand.

Netanyahu responds to 'Sunday Times' report that Syria has missiles aimed at Tel Aviv following alleged IAF strikes in Damascus; IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Mordechai says report is "not credible" and "far fetched."

DAMASCUS, Va. (AP) -- 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. Investigators were looking into whether the motorist had suffered a medical emergency before the accident....

While revelers in the rural Virginia town of Damascus took part in an annual parade, an elderly man had a 'medical episode' and drove straight through the crowd.

A driver described as an elderly man struck hikers marching in a parade in Damascus, a small Virginia mountain town, with more than a dozen suffering serious injuries.    

Car drove into a group of hikers at a parade in Damascus, Va.

DAMASCUS, Va. (AP) -- About 50 to 60 people were injured Saturday when a driver described by witnesses as an elderly man drove his car into a group of hikers marching in a parade in a small Virginia mountain town....

Report claims weapons used in Damascus and another town.

Dispatch: Front line in south-east Damascus now lies at the gates of one of the holiest sites for Shia Islam, the resting place of granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammed.    

Moscow-supplied Yakhonts guided missiles could be used to fight any seaborne intervention attempt by US and the westRussia has defended its arms sales to Syria as being for purely defensive purposes after reports that Moscow had delivered advanced anti-ship missiles to the Damascus regime.While not directly confirming the reported arrival of Russian Yakhonts missiles,...

As many as 700 Europeans have joined opposition forces (pictured in Damascus) fighting the Assad regime in Syria, officials in Berlin have said.

Unannounced meeting with PM Netanyahu and senior Israeli figures comes amid concerns over Syrian weaponsThe CIA chief has made an unexpected visit to Israel to meet senior political and military figures to discuss the deteriorating security situation in neighbouring Syria.John Brennan, who took up his post two months ago, met the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu,...

BEIRUT (AP) -- About 30 security agents showed up just after midnight, breaking down the door to an apartment in the town of Daraya near the Syrian capital of Damascus. They grabbed a 24-year-old university student and drove off....

The 193-member U.N. General Assembly today "strongly" condemned the Syrian government for its "indiscriminate" shelling and bombing of civilian populations and the commission of "widespread and systematic" human rights in a conflict that has dragged on for more than 2 years and left more than 70,000 people dead. The resolution -- which was co-sponsored by most Arab...

Before and after images obtained by Channel 2 show the container terminal, a storage area at the Damascus Airport that were reportedly hit by an Israeli strike targeting a weapons transfer meant for Hezbollah.

The fourth blackout of its kind in recent memory.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - France is floating a proposal that the European Union ease an arms embargo for Syrian rebels but delay acting on the decision to intensify pressure on Damascus to negotiate an end to Syria's civil war, a French diplomat said on Wednesday.

BEIRUT (AP) -- Activists say Syrian rebels and Islamic fighters have joined forces in a push to reopen an arms supply route and retake a key town near Damascus that fell back to President Bashar Assad's troops last month....

Amateur videos appear to show a Syrian government helicopter in flames in Idlib and air strikes in Damascus and Homs

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin is hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks focusing on the situation in Syria, amid concerns that Moscow could soon provide Damascus with advanced missiles....

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Syria's information minister says Damascus needs more details about a proposed U.S.-Russian initiative before it decides whether to attend. The main opposition group has taken a similar stand....

Syria has denied responsibility for two car bombings on Saturday in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli that killed an estimated 46 people and injured 100 others. Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said his country "did not commit and would never commit such an act because our values would not allow that." Turkish police have arrested nine Turkish citizens suspected...

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says rebels have been dealt setback in effort to force path through Deraa provinceSyrian troops have taken control of a town near the main road linking the capital, Damascus, with Jordan, an advance in the regime's campaign to drive rebels from the south, an activist group has said.Rebels seeking to topple President Bashar al-Assad are...

BEIRUT (AP) -- Syrian troops have taken full control of a town near the highway linking the capital Damascus with Jordan, a new advance in the regime's campaign to drive rebels from the strategic south, an activist group said Monday....

Tensions simmer in wake of attacks as Damascus accuses Ankara of stoking conflict    

DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syrian rebels on Sunday released four Filipino U.N. peacekeepers they abducted last week in a dramatic incident that prompted warnings from the Philippines that the nation might pull out its contingent from the Golan Heights.Meanwhile, a Syrian official said President Bashar Assad's troops have the right to enter the Israeli-occupied Golan whenever they...

Mourners gather in Turkey’s Reyhanli to bury victims of Saturday’s car bomb attacks as Ankara blames Syrian forces and Damascus denies involvement. Sunita Rappai reports.

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Syrian rebels on Sunday released four Filipino U.N. peacekeepers they abducted last week in a dramatic incident that prompted warnings from the Philippines that the nation could pull out its contingent from the Golan Heights....

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A militant Palestinian group in Damascus said it is forming combat units to try to recapture Israeli-occupied territory, in particular the Golan Heights, after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Hezbollah that they would support such operations.

Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire visiting Syria with other peace activists    

Filipino Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said he recommended to President Benigno Aquino that he withdraw its peacekeeping forces from the Golan Heights after four soldiers were abducted Tuesday. The Syrian rebel Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade said it is holding the soldiers "for their own safety" and has posted two videos of the men to show that they have not...

WARSAW/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's foreign minister said on Friday Moscow had no new plans to sell an advanced air defense system to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but left open the possibility that it could ship such systems to Damascus under an existing contract.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Threats from Damascus and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah to turn the Golan Heights into a "resistance front" against Israel could end nearly four decades of calm across the increasingly tense ceasefire line separating Israeli and Syrian forces.

Syria threatened an immediate response to any new Israeli strike, after two reported attacks on military targets, as its Lebanese ally Hezbollah said Damascus would arm it with 'game-changing' weapons despite those strikes.

Syria threatened an immediate response to any new Israeli strike, after two reported attacks on military targets, as its Lebanese ally Hezbollah said Damascus would arm it with 'game-changing' weapons despite those strikes.

Comments by US secretary of state, John Kerry, throw international efforts to resolve crisis into further uncertaintyInternational efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis reached new levels of uncertainty on Thursday when John Kerry, the US secretary of state, insisted that Bashar al-Assad could not be part of a future transitional government – casting doubt on a US-Russian...

BEIRUT (AP) -- Syria will supply "game-changing" weapons to Hezbollah, the chief of the Lebanese militant group said Thursday, less than a week after Israeli airstrikes on Damascus targeted alleged shipments of advanced Iranian missiles bound for Hezbollah....

Families living in the beleaguered suburbs flee when shells begin to fall    

According to krebsonsecurity.com, Network Solutions has seized more than 700 domain names “belonging to various Syrian entities, including a prominent Syrian hacker group and sites associated with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad”. According to the story the seizures all occurred within a three- to four-day period in mid-April. “The apparently coordinated...

The well-resourced organisation, which is linked to al-Qaida, is luring many anti-Assad fighters away, say brigade commandersSyria's main armed opposition group, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), is losing fighters and capabilities to Jabhat al-Nusra, an Islamist organisation with links to al-Qaida that is emerging as the best-equipped, financed and motivated force fighting...

Obama backs South Korean president's strategy on North Top news: President Obama endorsed Tuesday South Korean President Park Geun-hye's strategy for resolving tensions on the Korean Peninsula after meeting with her at the White House. Still, some tensions remain between the United States and South Korea over the degree to which the South should engage the North...

Internet connections in Syria are coming back online after a nearly day-long outage, according to data from service tracking companies. The outage began at approximately 3 p.m. ET Tuesday, sparking fears the country's military was preparing an assault against rebel forces following an Israeli airstrike on a Hezbollah-bound shipment of guided missiles in Damascus. On top...

Soldiers – some young, others ‘Dad’s Army’ reservists – man checkpoints in the Syrian capital    

BEIRUT (AP) -- The Syrian regime on Tuesday dispatched an obscure proxy, a Damascus-based Palestinian militant group, to threaten retaliation for two Israeli airstrikes over the weekend....

According to Lebanese media, Syrian president describes alleged Israeli airstrikes on his country as "an act of terrorism" that his army is able to confront, during a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Salehi in Damascus.

Fears of Israel being dragged into Syria's civil war grew last night after a notorious Palestinian militant group said it had been given the "green light" by Damascus to start attacking Israeli targets.    

Syrians forced by the ongoing violence to leave their homes are often displaced more than once and are concentrated around Aleppo and rural Damascus, the United Nations emergency relief arm today said, as aid agencies faced bureaucratic hurdles and insecurity trying to reach hard-to-access areas.

The Onion got hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army, who proceeded to send out a bunch of tweets that could have been mistaken for actual Onion tweets making fun of the sort of thing that Syrian propagandists would tweet if they hacked the Onion's Twitter (see after the jump for the full list). But no, [...]    

BEIRUT (AP) -- In his first response to Israel's weekend airstrikes, President Bashar Assad said Tuesday that Syria is capable of facing Israel, but stopped short of threatening retaliation for the strikes near the Syrian capital of Damascus....

The Obama administration restated its caution despite airstrikes near Damascus by Israel and new questions about the use of chemical weapons in Syria’s civil war.    

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan condemned on Tuesday Israeli air strikes on targets near Damascus, saying they were an opportunity for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government to cover up its own killings.

The Obama administration insisted it would not veer from its approach, despite strikes near Damascus by Israel and new questions about the use of chemical arms in Syria’s civil war.    

DAMASCUS Israeli air raids on Syria at the weekend killed at least 42 soldiers, a watchdog said Monday, fuelling international concern over a spillover of the conflict, as Damascus warned it would strike back. UN human rights investigator Carla del Ponte, meanwhile, said that rebels have used the deadly nerve agent sarin in their fight to oust Syria’s regime, although...

Maj.-Gen. Golan downplays tension after alleged Syria attack.

Israel's bombardment of Mount Qassyoun military facility outside of Damascus claims lives of a number of of Bashar al-Assad's elite Republican Guard with dozens still unaccounted for.    

A little later, The Onion bites back, with predictable results.

Israeli air raids on Syria at the weekend killed at least 42 soldiers, a watchdog said Monday, fuelling international concern over a spillover of the conflict, as Damascus warned it would strike back.    

The Obama administration insisted it would not veer from its approach, despite strikes near Damascus by Israel and new questions about the use of chemical arms in Syria’s civil war.    

Kerry to meet Putin to discuss growing crisis as UN investigators row back on panellist's commentsThe US and United Nations have cast doubt on claims by Carla del Ponte that Syrian rebel forces might have used the nerve agent sarin."We are highly sceptical of any suggestions that the opposition used chemical weapons," said White House spokesman Jay Carney. "We think it...

Iran’s leaders warned of sectarian conflict after reports that Syrian rebels raided a shrine outside Damascus and made off with the remains of the revered figure buried there.    

BEIRUT (AP) -- From Israel's perspective, its airstrikes near Damascus were more about Iran than Syria: Tehran's shipment of guided missiles destroyed in the weekend attacks would have posed a potent threat had the weapons reached Iranian proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon....

Israel launched airstrikes early Sunday into Syria for the second time in three days raising concerns of the spread of the Syrian conflict. Israeli jets reportedly hit several critical military facilities near Damascus, killing dozens of elite troops near the presidential palace, according to a Syrian military official. Opposition activists and fighters, as well as residents,...

Israel strikes military facility in Damascus, U.N. investigator says rebels used sarin Top news: The Syrian government charged Sunday that an overnight airstrike that targeted what is believed to be a military research center in Damascus was carried out by Israel, a development that marks the most significant international military action in the ongoing Syrian...

Politician close to Binyamin Netanyahu says weekend bombing raids were 'against Hezbollah and not against the Syrian regime'Israel sought to avoid a direct confrontation with the Syrian regime on Monday by stressing that air strikes across its northern border at the weekend were intended to prevent weapons reaching Hezbollah in Lebanon rather than further destabilise the...

Syrian military source says IAF used byproduct of uranium enrichment process, a dense material able to penetrate heavy protection, in alleged strike in Damascus; downplays strategic importance of strike.

The claims came as Syria’s civil war threatened anew to spread beyond its borders following an Israeli airstrike near Damascus.    

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel sought to persuade Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday that its recent air strikes around Damascus did not aim to weaken him in the face of a more than two-year-old rebellion.

Israeli airstrikes on a military research centre near Damascus were a "declaration of war," Syria's deputy foreign minister said Sunday.

Syria’s deputy foreign minister calls the bombings a ‘declaration of war,’ as the U.S. considers intervention

Israel would not confirm that it had carried out the airstrikes, but the four explosions near the Syrian capital demonstrated a firepower more potent than any seen before in the country’s civil war.