Syrian Politics

The United States has found no evidence to support a Syrian government allegation that opposition rebels used chemical weapons in an attack this week, a US official said Thursday.

The United Nations will investigate whether chemical weapons have been used in the Syria conflict, UN leader Ban Ki-Moon announced Thursday.

US President Barack Obama used a major speech in Israel on Thursday to issue a new call on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down so his country's "future can begin."

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.

Britain, France and the United States called Wednesday for a United Nations inquiry into accusations by the Syrian government and the opposition of chemical weapons attacks.

Syria's regime and rebels on Wednesday called for international investigations into an attack a day earlier in which each side accuses the other of having used chemical weapons.

Jordan's King Abdullah II launched a broadside against regional leaders in an interview published Tuesday in a US magazine, saying Egypt's president has "no depth" in reading the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and that Turkey's premier sees democracy as a "bus ride".

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.

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 government on Tuesday accused rebel forces of using chemical weapons, with state media saying "terrorists" had fired "rockets containing chemical materials" in Aleppo province, killing 15 people.

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.

Syrian warplanes bombed the border area with Lebanon for the first time on Monday, a high-ranking Lebanese army official told AFP, reportedly targeting Syrian rebel positions inside Lebanon.

Syrian rebels have seized several weapons depots in the village of Khan Toman in Aleppo province after days of fierce clashes, a military source told AFP on Sunday.

Lebanon and Jordan are playing with fire by allowing jihadists and weapons to pass across their borders into Syria, the Syrian government newspaper Al-Thawra warned on Sunday.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's wife and his children have made a rare public appearance at a charity fund-raiser in Damascus for mothers of soldiers killed in the two-year conflict, his office said on Facebook Sunday.

The European Union's top diplomat, Catherine Ashton, urged caution Saturday on a proposal by Britain and France to arm the rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday called on the BRICS nations to intervene to end the conflict in his country, in a letter delivered by his adviser Bouthaina Shaaban during a trip to South Africa.

Top opponents and rebels pitted against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad vowed on Friday to continue the fight until there is freedom and democracy in Syria.