Syria may be sliding towards civil war, the head of the Arab League warned yesterday.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Mounting criticism of monitors' response as French President calls for Assad to stand down

 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.

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.

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.

Anger mounts as killings continue under the noses of inspectors sent to impose peace plan

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.