A Syrian rebel army chief urged the world today to protect civilians in Syria, saying Arab peace monitors had failed to curb President Bashar al-Assad's violent response to a 10-month-old revolt against his rule.
Arab League warns of Syria slide into civil war
Saturday 14 January 2012
Syria may be sliding towards civil war, the head of the Arab League warned yesterday.
Leading article: The Arab League must withdraw
Friday 13 January 2012
If there was ever much hope that Bashar al-Assad might be willing to compromise, it has now been comprehensively dispelled. Far from moderating his position, the Syrian President's defiant speech this week makes clear that he is digging in. Alongside wearily familiar lines blaming foreign conspiracies for the rebellion that has claimed more than 5,000 civilian lives since March, he made alarming promises to crack down with an "iron fist" on the terrorists causing such upheavals.
Cameraman killed in Homs as press come under fire
Thursday 12 January 2012
A French TV cameraman became the first Western journalist to die in the 10-month-old Syrian uprising, killed by grenade fire during a government trip to the restive city of Homs.
![Supporters of President Assad at a rally in Damascus yesterday Supporters of President Assad at a rally in Damascus yesterday](https://web.archive.org/web/20120118172804im_/http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article6287768.ece/ALTERNATES/w80/pg-27-assad-afp-getty.jpg)
Robert Fisk: Assad faces his people's hatred – but as their anger grows, his excuses are still just the same
Wednesday 11 January 2012
It was the Assad Speech of the Year. There was an international conspiracy against Syria. True. Arab states opposed to Syria were under "outside pressure". True, up to a point. Nobody could deny the seriousness of these plots. True. After all, the Syrian government itself registers 2,000 dead soldiers, while the UN estimates civilian dead at 5,000. And when Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan warned that the violence in Syria was "heading towards a sectarian, religious war", there were few supporters of President Assad who would disagree with him.
Syrian troops ignore observers
Monday 09 January 2012
Syrian troops have fired on protesters in the city of Homs as Arab League observers toured the area to see whether the regime is keeping its pledge to halt the crackdown on dissent.
Suicide bomber kills 25 in Syria
Saturday 07 January 2012
An explosion ripped through a busy junction in the Syrian capital, Damascus, yesterday, hitting a police bus and killing up to 25 people in what Syrian authorities said was the second suicide attack in as many weeks.
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20120118172804im_/http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article6286024.ece/ALTERNATES/w80/syria.jpg)
Up to 25 killed in Damascus blast, says Syria
Friday 06 January 2012
An explosion ripped through a busy intersection in the Syrian capital today, hitting a bus carrying police and killing up to 25 people in what Syrian authorities said was the second suicide attack in as many weeks.
Activists accuse Syria of 'torture chambers'
Thursday 05 January 2012
An activist group accused the Syrian regime today of torturing hundreds of people to death in overcrowded prisons, jails and illegal detention centers across the country since an uprising began in March.
![Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad](https://web.archive.org/web/20120118172804im_/http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article6284601.ece/ALTERNATES/w80/pg-29-syria-ap.jpg)
Arab League to discuss fate of Syria mission
Wednesday 04 January 2012
Mounting criticism of monitors' response as French President calls for Assad to stand down
![Nicolas Sarkozy said Syrians should be allowed to determine their own future. French President Nicolas Sarkozy says Europe needs Britain](https://web.archive.org/web/20120118172804im_/http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article6276178.ece/ALTERNATES/w80/Pg-5-sarkozy-afp.jpg)
France says Syrian regime is committing massacres
Tuesday 03 January 2012
French President Nicolas Sarkozy accused Syrian leader Bashar Assad of "barbarous repression" today and demanded that he step down, saying the regime is massacring its own people.
Syria gas pipeline hit by explosion
Tuesday 03 January 2012
A gas pipeline in central Syria was hit by an explosion today in an attack the government blamed on terrorists, the state-run news agency said.
Arab League calls for end to Syria shooting
Tuesday 03 January 2012
Syria's regime has withdrawn heavy weapons from cities and freed about 3,500 prisoners, but protesters are still being shot, according to the head of the Arab League.
![Burhan Ghalioun, SNC chairman: A political scientist and Paris-based professor, Ghalioun is seen by some as a consensus figure with the potential to draw together the
fragmented opposition movement Burhan Ghalioun, SNC chairman: A political scientist and Paris-based professor, Ghalioun is seen by some as a consensus figure with the potential to draw together the fragmented opposition movement](https://web.archive.org/web/20120118172804im_/http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article6284074.ece/ALTERNATES/w80/Pg-22-leader2-reu.jpg)
Arab League told to pull its monitors out of Syria
Monday 02 January 2012
Anger mounts as killings continue under the noses of inspectors sent to impose peace plan
Assad rivals sign democracy deal
Sunday 01 January 2012
Syria's two largest opposition groups have signed an agreement to set up a democracy after President Bashar Assad's regime falls, suggesting that Mr Assad's opponents will accept nothing less than his departure from power.