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Iran invited to Syria peace conference

Iran has received a verbal invitation to attend the proposed peace conference on Syria, the Islamic Republic's deputy foreign minister said on Tuesday without specifying who extended the invitation. "Ten days ago, we received a verbal invitation to take part in this conference," Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian told reporters in Moscow. "The conference will be successful if all the influential countries take part."

Turkey arrests key suspect in deadly border blasts

A key suspect in twin car bombings that killed 52 people in a Turkish city near the Syrian border last month has been arrested while trying to flee to country, local officials said Tuesday. "An individual who appears to be one of the main suspects of the twin attacks was arrested on the evening of June 10 as he tried to cross the (Syrian) border," the governor's office in the southeastern province of Hatay, where the bombs went off, said in a statement.

Syria rebels converge on airbase as US mulls support

Syrian rebels have clashed with government troops after converging on a military airport in Aleppo, a monitoring group and state media said, as the United States said it was considering "all possible options" to help the opposition. Buoyed by victory in the strategic town of Qusayr on the border with Lebanon, President Bashar al-Assad's troops have been readying to open a northern front in Aleppo province on the border with Turkey.

Syria opposition condemns child execution

Syria's main opposition group lashed out Monday at the execution a day earlier of a 15-year-old child at the hands of unidentified Islamist gunmen who accused him of blasphemy. "The National Coalition condemns every act that violates the Syrian people's values and the principles of the (rebel) Free Syrian Army," the group said in a statement. "Anyone who breaches treaties and international conventions, and commits any war crimes will stand trial, regardless of who they are," the Coalition added.

Syria rebels fire on Iraq border posts, one killed

Syrian rebels on Sunday opened fire on two Iraqi border posts along the southern edge of the two countries' frontier, killing one guard and wounding two others, officials said. Iraqi border guards Colonel Nayif Zaili said Syrian rebels fired on two posts which lay two kilometres (1.25 miles) from the Al-Waleed border crossing linking the two countries. One Iraqi border guard was killed and two others were wounded, he said. A doctor at a nearby hospital confirmed the toll.

Syria's online troops wage counter-revolutionary cyber war

Sometimes, attacks in Syria's bloody civil war start not with a bullet or a bomb blast, but with an innocuous-looking email. A message pings into an inbox, apparently from a friend or colleague. The recipient clicks a link, and suddenly hackers are one step closer to snatching sensitive information - including passwords to a company's social media sites.

Syria raid on Lebanese pro-revolt area: security official

Syrian helicopters fired rockets near a Lebanese border area whose residents back the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad, a security official said, in the latest incident rasing new concerns of Syria-related escalation in Lebanon. The late Friday raid was second such Syrian strike against the Sunni-majority border areas in less than a week. "Syrian helicopters fired rockets at the Wadi Hmeid area near (the town of ) Arsal. There were no casualties," the Lebanese official said on condition of anonymity.

EU commits another 400 million euros of aid to Syria

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union will send another 400 million euros ($523 million) of aid to Syria and its neighbors, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Thursday, calling Syria "a stain on the world's conscience". Barroso said the EU was already the biggest humanitarian donor in response to the crisis, committing more than 840 million euros to alleviate what he called "the most dramatic humanitarian situation in the last decade".

Russia fears alleged Syria gas attacks may be pretext for intervention

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia, a fierce opponent of foreign military intervention in Syria, voiced concern on Thursday that unnamed powers might use allegations of chemical weapons attacks to justify such action. "The issue of chemical weapons has become the subject of speculation and provocation," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference with his German and Finnish counterparts. "I do not rule out that somebody wants to use it to state that a red line has been crossed and a foreign intervention is necessary," he said.

Arab League condemns Hezbollah's role in Syria

By Ayman Samir and Asma Alsharif CAIRO (Reuters) - The Arab League on Wednesday condemned the military intervention in Syria by the Lebanese Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah, Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby said. A resolution issued after a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo expressed "strong condemnation" of all forms of foreign intervention, especially that by Hezbollah, he said.
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