Ba'ath Party

AMMAN (Reuters) - Security forces shot dead 17 people in Syria on Tuesday and rebels killed seven police in an ambush, activists said, after the U.N. human rights chief put the death toll from nine months of protest against President Bashar al-Assad at 5,000.

AMMAN (Reuters) - More than 5,000 people have been killed in nine months of unrest in Syria, the U.N. human rights chief said, as an insurgency began to overshadow what had initially been street protests against President Bashar al-Assad's 11-year rule.

AMMAN (Reuters) - More than 5,000 people have been killed in nine months of unrest in Syria, the U.N. human rights chief said, as an insurgency began to overshadow what had initially been street protests against President Bashar al-Assad's 11-year rule.

AMMAN (Reuters) - More than 5,000 people have been killed in nine months of unrest in Syria, the U.N. human rights chief said, as an insurgency begins to overshadow what had been mostly peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad.

AMMAN (Reuters) - More than 5,000 people have been killed in nine months of unrest in Syria, the U.N. human rights chief said, as an insurgency begins to overshadow what had been mostly peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Prime Minister Adel Safar urged Syrians to vote in local elections on Monday to save the nation from "conspiracies against us" but activists struggling to oust President Bashar-al Assad rejected the ballot as irrelevant at a time of violent unrest.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Prime Minister Adel Safar urged Syrians to vote in local elections on Monday to save the nation from "conspiracies against us" but activists struggling to oust President Bashar-al Assad rejected the ballot as irrelevant at a time of violent unrest.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Prime Minister Adel Safar urged Syrians to vote in local elections on Monday to save the nation from "conspiracies against us" but activists struggling to oust President Bashar-al Assad rejected the ballot as irrelevant at a time of violent unrest.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Prime Minister Adel Safar urged Syrians to vote in local elections on Monday to save the nation from "conspiracies against us" but activists struggling to oust President Bashar-al Assad rejected the ballot as irrelevant at a time of violent unrest.

Syrians were voting Monday in municipal elections even as violence raged in some parts of the country where security forces were pressing a deadly crackdown against dissent.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - In the shadow of an earthen dam and buried under rubble and trash scattered across the al-Sadah waste ground lies one of the most frightening places in Baghdad at the peak of Iraq's sectarian slaughter.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A series of bombs tore through crowds of Shi'ite pilgrims celebrating a major ritual across Iraq on Monday, killing at least 32 people, mostly women and children, and wounding scores more, local police and witnesses said.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Three bombs tore through crowds of Shi'ite pilgrims celebrating a major ritual in Iraq's Hilla city on Monday, killing least 22 - mostly women and children - and wounding 60 more, local police and witnesses said.

AMMAN (Reuters) - At least a dozen Syrian secret police have defected from an intelligence compound, activists said Sunday, in what appeared to be the first major desertion from a service that has acted as a pillar of President Bashar al-Assad's rule.

AMMAN (Reuters) - At least a dozen Syrian secret police have defected from an intelligence compound, activists said Sunday, in what appeared to be the first major desertion from a service that has acted as a pillar of President Bashar al-Assad's rule.

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Three bombs exploded in a market in Iraq's southern oil city of Basra Thursday, killing at least ten people and wounding dozens, security sources said.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Moves by some of Iraq's mainly Sunni Muslim provinces toward increased autonomy threaten to heighten sectarian tensions and put pressure on Iraq's already frail central government as U.S. troops depart at the end of the year.

France on Wednesday called for the creation of humanitarian corridors in Syria, as President Bashar al-Assad's forces reportedly gunned down at least four civilians in a new round of violence.

LONDON (Reuters) - The chilling spectacle of Muammar Gaddafi's brutal end last month and the capture of his son Saif al-Islam this week, far from deterring Bashar al-Assad, seem to have energized him into redoubling his efforts to crush Syria's eight-month rebellion.

Analysis: Syria's Assad seen ignoring Gaddafis' fate