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Obama warns Syria on chemical weapons

Agence France-PresseApril 27, 2013 05:00
US President Barack Obama has warned Syria that using chemical weapons would be a "game changer," as he faces rising pressure at home and abroad to intervene in the country's bloody civil war. But speaking Friday, a day after US officials said they suspected the use of the deadly agent sarin in small-scale attacks, Obama warned that Washington must act prudently, and establish exactly if, how and when such arms were used.

Syria opposition urges UN to act over chemical arms

Agence France-PresseApril 26, 2013 06:35
Syria's opposition on Friday urged the UN Security Council to take immediate action after the United States said for the first time the regime probably used chemical weapons. The call came as British Prime Minister David Cameron said that growing evidence of the use of chemical weapons by President Bashar al-Assad was "extremely serious" and called for increased foreign pressure on the Syrian regime.

Hezbollah under increased pressure over Syria fighting

Agence France-PresseApril 24, 2013 23:45
Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement came under increasing pressure over accusations it is backing regime troops in Syria, as a rebel leader warned of the risk of sparking a sectarian war. Inside Syria soldiers seized a key town near Damascus from rebels following weeks of fierce clashes, a monitoring group said, and each side blamed the other after fighting destroyed the minaret of Aleppo's ancient Umayyad mosque.

Syria rebels reject Lebanon Salafists' jihad call

Agence France-PresseApril 24, 2013 08:15
Syria's main rebel Free Syrian Army on Wednesday rejected calls for jihad (holy war) by radical Sunni sheikhs from neighbouring Lebanon. "Our official position as the Supreme Military Command of the Free Syrian Army... is that we thank them but we reject any calls for jihad in Syria," FSA political and media coordinator Louay Muqdad told AFP. "We reject any presence of foreign fighters, regardless of where they are from. We have said that what we are missing in Syria is weapons, not men," he added.

Syria chemical weapons fears, fierce clashes near Homs

Agence France-PresseApril 23, 2013 16:01
Fears resurfaced Tuesday of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad resorting to chemical weapons as rebels battled regime and Hezbollah forces in fierce fighting in Homs province. In Brussels, US Secretary of State John Kerry told foreign ministers from the 28 NATO nations that the alliance must stand prepared for threats from Syria, including the possible use of chemical weapons which Washington has said would be a red line, drastically changing the issues at stake.

Syria says EU has no right to buy oil from rebels

April 23, 2013 11:02
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria said on Tuesday the European Union had no right to buy crude oil from the opposition, after the EU eased an embargo to help those fighting President Bashar al-Assad. In a letter to the United Nations Security Council, Syria said no party "can take any measure that would prejudice the sovereign rights of states over their natural resources ... for the benefit of the opposition ... which represents foreign interests."

EU eases Syria oil embargo in fresh help to rebels

Agence France-PresseApril 22, 2013 15:01
The European Union offered fresh aid Monday to Syria's opposition, easing an EU oil embargo in favour of the rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad, but stopping short of supplying offensive weapons. In a new signal of support, EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg formally adopted measures enabling EU companies on a case-by-case basis to import Syrian crude and export oil production technology and investment cash to areas in the hands of the opposition.

US appalled by reports of Syria massacre

Agence France-PresseApril 22, 2013 14:01
The White House said Monday it was appalled by "horrific" reports of a new massacre in Syria after a watchdog group said over 100 people, many of them civilians, were killed in a town near Damascus. "We are appalled by horrific reports that hundreds of Syrians were killed over the weekend in a Damascus suburb," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "As the violence drags out while President Assad clings to power, we cannot lose sight of the men, women and children whose lives are being so brutally cut short."

Syria opposition names George Sabra interim chief

Agence France-PresseApril 22, 2013 11:31
The Syrian National Coalition named veteran dissident George Sabra as caretaker leader of the main opposition grouping on Monday, following the resignation of Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib. Sabra "was assigned today to carry out the functions of the head of the Coalition until elections for a new president," one of the Coalition's main constituent groups, the Syrian National Council, said in a statement. sah/kir

Up to 500 feared dead in Damascus suburb - activists

April 22, 2013 11:30
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN (Reuters) - At least 109 people have been documented as killed and up to 400 more are likely to have died in an almost week-long offensive by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on a rebellious Damascus suburb, opposition activists said. If the accounts are confirmed, the killings in the mainly Sunni Muslim suburb of Jdeidet al-Fadel would amount to one of bloodiest episodes of the two-year-old uprising against Assad. Many of the dead were civilians, the activists said.
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