TheRepublic.com - Bashar Assad News

Clashes in Lebanon feed fear of Syria spillover

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:19:50 -0400

BEIRUT - Lebanese supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad fired heavy machine guns and lobbed mortar shells at each other Thursday in some of the worst fighting in the port city of Tripoli in years.

Kerry: US, allies ready to step up aid to rebels

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:04:42 -0400

AMMAN, Jordan - The U.S. and several key allies looked again Wednesday for a strategy to end Syria's civil war, their united efforts unable at the moment to stem the Assad regime's military gains and Washington still unwilling to join those providing the rebels with lethal military aid.

EU bid to label Hezbollah wing terror group

Wed, 22 May 2013 13:44:55 -0400

BRUSSELS - The European Union is reassessing whether to declare the Lebanese party Hezbollah's military wing a terrorist organization, a move it has long shied from despite pressure from the U.S., officials said Wednesday.

Will Senate bid lure Rogers from his House seat?

Wed, 22 May 2013 03:19:20 -0400

WASHINGTON - Republican Rep. Mike Rogers has pulled off a rare feat in a bitterly divided Congress - a working, productive relationship with Democrats in overseeing the nation's 16 spy agencies.

Senate panel approves weapons for Syrian rebels

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:25:54 -0400

WASHINGTON - A Senate panel voted on Tuesday to provide weapons to rebels battling the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad, the first time lawmakers have endorsed the aggressive U.S. military step of arming the opposition in the 2-year-old civil war.

US slams Russian anti-ship missiles going to Syria

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:38:34 -0400

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration denounced Russia on Friday for providing Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime with anti-ship missiles, saying the weapons would only worsen a war that Washington and Moscow have been promising to work together on stopping.

Syria ex-minister leads rebuilding plan

Fri, 17 May 2013 02:20:37 -0400

BEIRUT - A six-member U.N. team led by a former Syrian planning minister is drawing up a comprehensive postwar reconstruction plan even as the country's civil war rages on with no apparent end in sight.

Syrian troops flush out rebels from prison

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:35:29 -0400

BEIRUT - Syrian government troops on Thursday flushed out rebels who had stormed a prison compound in the northern city of Aleppo in a bid to free hundreds of political prisoners inside.

Congress rethinks 9/11 law on military force

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:22:24 -0400

WASHINGTON - Congress is rethinking the broad authority it gave the president to wage a war on terror after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in light of how President Barack Obama has used the power to target suspected terrorists with lethal drone strikes.

Turkish PM talks Syria with Obama at White House

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:33:17 -0400

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama said Thursday that the U.S. and Turkey will keep ramping up pressure to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad from power, but there's "no magic formula" to stop his violence.

Attacks against Lebanese Alawites deepen fears

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:06:06 -0400

TRIPOLI, Lebanon - Lebanese members of the Syrian leader's Alawite sect fear their tiny community will be a casualty of the civil war raging in the neighboring country.

13 detained in Turkish bombings, death toll to 51

Tue, 14 May 2013 14:49:21 -0400

ANKARA, Turkey - Four more people have been detained in connection with two car bomb attacks that killed dozens in a Turkish town near the Syrian border, bringing the number of suspects in custody to 13, Turkey's prime minister said Tuesday.

Kerry expects Syrians to attend transition talks

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:20:25 -0400

STOCKHOLM - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry issued a stern warning Tuesday to Syria's government, saying that new help will be given to opposition forces should President Bashar Assad's regime decide to back out of upcoming negotiations aimed at ending Syria's two-year war.

Obama: UK should seek EU changes, not 'break' ties

Mon, 13 May 2013 17:05:46 -0400

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama waded into British politics Monday, suggesting that the United Kingdom seek to reform its relationship with the European Union before it decides to simply break away from it.

French minister to discuss shaky Libya on US trip

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:24:37 -0400

PARIS - Terror groups ousted from Mali appear to be trying to set up a new haven in Libya, France's defense minister said Monday, vowing to discuss ways of helping Tripoli improve its shaky security with U.S. officials later this week.

Attacks on Sunni mosques fuel fears in Iraq

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:20:40 -0400

BAGHDAD - A sharp rise in attacks on Sunni holy sites in Iraq is feeding fears that the country could spiral into a new round of sectarian violence similar to the bloodletting that brought Iraq to its knees in 2006 and 2007.

Putin and Netanyahu to discuss Syrian conflict

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:27:54 -0400

MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin's talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Russia on Tuesday will focus on the situation in Syria, the Kremlin said, amid growing concerns that Moscow may soon provide Damascus with an advanced anti-aircraft weapon.

Walters announces her retirement on 'The View'

Mon, 13 May 2013 13:44:31 -0400

NEW YORK - Barbara Walters said Monday that retirement from her epochal television career is near, but it's not happening right away.

Turkey testing Syrians for chemical weapon wounds

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:11:40 -0400

ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey is testing injured Syrians seeking treatment across the border for chemical weapon wounds, the foreign minister said Thursday.

NBC's Richard Engel back to Syria after kidnapping

Wed, 08 May 2013 18:17:01 -0400

NEW YORK - NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel is back quickly and safely from his first trip to Syria since he and his team were kidnapped and held captive there last December.

White House: Syria's future can't include Assad

Wed, 08 May 2013 13:28:21 -0400

WASHINGTON - The White House says that Syria's future cannot include President Bashar Assad.

Analysis: Syria has limited response options

Tue, 07 May 2013 17:21:41 -0400

BEIRUT - 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.

UN says 4 peacekeepers detained on Golan Heights

Tue, 07 May 2013 13:17:13 -0400

UNITED NATIONS - A Syrian rebel group detained four U.N. peacekeepers on patrol on the Golan Heights in a tense area that separates Syria and Israel, the U.N. said Tuesday.

Corker: US moving closer to arming Syrian rebels

Tue, 07 May 2013 08:25:08 -0400

WASHINGTON - A Republican member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is predicting the U.S. will soon be "arming the rebels" seeking to overthrow Syria's Bashar Assad.

Ind. Sen. Donnelly returns from Middle East trip

Tue, 07 May 2013 06:39:21 -0400

INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly says Syrian opposition leaders he met with last week told him they don't want American troops involved in their civil war against President Bashar Assad's forces.