Arab Spring

Syrian rebels have gained ground in the Golan Heights, which is partly occupied by Israel, launching coordinated attacks in the area and in nearby Daraa province, a watchdog said on Thursday.

Syrian rebels have gained ground in the Golan Heights, which is partly occupied by Israel, launching coordinated attacks in the area and in nearby Daraa province, a watchdog said on Thursday.

Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood warned on Thursday that it will defend its headquarters, as opposition activists planned a march on the building where they have previously clashed with the Islamists.

President Bashar al-Assad called the more than two-year deadly conflict in Syria a "battle of will and resistance," in remarks published in newspapers on Thursday.

Syrian opposition leader Soheir Atassi of the Syrian National Coalition grouping said on Thursday she was rejoining the body a day after abruptly "freezing" her membership.

Regime forces shelled areas in the south of Damascus on Wednesday, including the Yarmuk camp, while warplanes bombed areas in the north and centre of the country, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Philippines has asked the United Nations to provide more protection to its peacekeeping forces, Manila said Wednesday after announcing its troops would remain in the Golan Heights after a recent abduction.

The US and UN were attempting to verify claims and counterclaims by Syrian troops and insurgents that chemical weapons were used for the first time in the two-year conflict.

Troops and insurgents Tuesday accused each other of using chemical weapons for the first time in Syria's two-year conflict, as the newly elected rebel premier ruled out dialogue with the regime.

The United States said Tuesday it had seen "no evidence" that Syrian rebels have used chemical weapons and warned it would be "totally unacceptable" for the regime in Damascus to use such arms.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle pledged Tuesday further investment and aid for Tunisia if it stays on track in turning its Arab Spring revolution into a democratic success story.

Syria's opposition will not enter into dialogue with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, the country's newly elected rebel prime minister said Tuesday in his inaugural speech.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi called Tuesday for an urgent halt to the "bloodshed" in Syria after holding talks with Indian leaders in New Delhi.

Baghdad is "looking the other way" as Iran sends military equipment through Iraqi airspace to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime amid the ongoing conflict in Syria, a US official said.

Syria's government on Tuesday accused rebel forces of using chemical weapons for the first time, but the opposition denied the claim, saying instead that government forces might have used banned weapons.

Syria's main opposition National Coalition early Tuesday elected Ghassan Hitto, a former US-based IT executive with Islamist leanings, as prime minister for Syrian rebel-held territory.

The United States is struggling to track a fragmented Syrian opposition and has found it increasingly difficult to get a clear picture of rebel factions, the US military's top officer said Monday.

Syria's opposition coalition met in Istanbul to choose its first prime minister on Monday, as Syrian warplanes bombed northern Lebanon for the first time in what Washington labelled "a significant escalation" of the conflict.

The United States will not oppose moves by some European nations to arm Syrian rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad, top US diplomat John Kerry said Monday.

Syria's rebel chief said in Istanbul on Monday that the mainstream rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) wants an interim government to administer the whole of Syria and not just the areas freed from regime forces.