Syria

Middle East: Top Assad Aide Assassinated at Syrian Resort
Killing of top Syrian army officer triggers intense speculation about crisis over relations in region

UN Atomic Watchdog to Investigate Claims of Secret Syrian Reactor
US insists that nuclear facility was being built by North Korea, on a remote site bombed by Israel

UN Inspectors Investigate Suspected Nuclear Site in Syria
UN inspectors are to visit Syria to investigate claims by the US that it was building a secret nuclear reactor

Are These Syrian Nuclear Pictures Faked?
Ewen MacAskill: Doubts about the authenticity of three aerial photographs published by the CIA have been raised by the head of anthropology at the University of Minnesota

IAEA to Look Into Syria Nuclear Reactor Claim
IAEA to investigate US claims that Syria has tried to build a nuclear reactor but 'deplores' delay in evidence

UN Censures Us and Israel Over Syria Nuclear Row
Head of IAEA criticizes Pentagon for breaking its responsibilities following claim that North Korea helped Syria's nuclear program

US Claims North Korea Helped Build Syria Reactor Plant
Damascus dismisses video of unit bombed by Israel but US congress told site was set up to produce plutonium

US Claims North Korean Link to Israeli Bombing of Syria
The mystery over the Israeli bombing of Syria took a new twist today when US intelligence agencies showed a video claiming that the target had been a nuclear plant being built with North Korean help

US Claims Video Shows North Korea Helped Build Syrian Reactor
White House set to reveal video images it claims support allegations that North Korea was helping Syria build nuclear reactor

Nuclear Games in the Desert
Leader: The reasons for the release of evidence of Syrian nuclear reactor have nothing to do with the Middle East and a lot to do with North Korea

Fury As Carter Meets Leader of Hamas
Former US president meets Hamas leader in Syria in defiance of furious objections from the US and Israel

Boost for Middle East Summit As Syria Joins in
· Annapolis summit hopes to kickstart negotiations · Broad Arab support, but expectations are low

Come to Summit, Abbas Tells Arab Nations
Syrians and Saudis wanted at Annapolis peace talks · Israel approves shipment of arms to West Bank

What is in a Name? German NGO accepts Aramaean Nation, rejects 'Assyrian' Misnomer!
After 30 years of mistaken predilection for the fallacious terms 'Assyrian' and 'Chaldaean' for the great historical nation of Aramaeans of the Middle East, a positive change!

Plead for the Unification of Aramaeans - Letter to US and French Presidents, UK Premier
Absolutely paranoid is the effort to name other modern Aramaeans as ‘Assyrians’, despite the fact that the Ancient Assyrians left no trace in Mesopotamia, following the extinction of the Assyrian Empire (614 – 604 BCE).

Syria Set to Reject Peace Talks Offer
Damascus suspicious over conference agenda · US secretary of state says event will be serious

Netanyahu Confirms Secret Attack on Syria
Israel's opposition leader, Binyamin Netanyahu, has given the first confirmation from Israel of a mysterious air strike on an unknown target deep in Syria earlier this month - fueling frenzied speculation about exactly what happened.

Do not Call the Illustrious Nation of Aramaeans by the Misnomer ‘Assyrians’!
Continuing our interview with Mr. Gabriel Sengo, Chairman of the Aram Nahrin Organization, we focus on the pernicious and criminal role played by Western Christian missionaries and diplomats in the Middle East, and more particularly among the Aramaeans.

Talking of Peace, Preparing for War
Israel and Syria are issuing contradictory signals about the Golan Heights - hinting at compromise, while readying their troops for battle. Conal Urquhart reports.

Olmert 'offers Golan Heights in Peace Deal'
The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, has passed a secret message to Syria offering to return the Golan Heights as part of a broad peace deal, a well-connected Israeli newspaper reported today.

Olmert 'in Secret Offer to Return Golan Heights to Syria'
Israel demands deal to end Damascus support for Iran - Paper says message sent via Turks and Germans

Olmert Calls for Peace With Syria As Rumours Grow of Secret Talks
Israeli PM seeks to calm fears of war breaking out - US blessing being sought for dialog, say reports

US and Syria Hold Ground-breaking Talks
Efforts to stabilise Iraq by reaching out to its neighbours brought Condoleezza Rice together for an ice-breaking meeting with her Syrian counterpart today, but much-heralded talks with her Iranian opposite number, Manouchehr Mottaki, failed to materialise.

Pelosi Plays Peace Broker in Middle East
Israel is ready to hold peace talks with Syria, the speaker of the US House of Representatives said today after meeting the Syrian president, Bashar Assad, in Damascus.

Europe Leads Bid to Lure Syria in From the Cold
Solana visit trumpeted as first step to end isolation - Damascus sources rule out any change in policies

Victim of Us Torture Flights Wins £4.5m in Damages
A Canadian citizen who spent more than 10 months under torture in a Syrian prison after being swept up in the CIA's secret "extraordinary rendition" programme received a written apology from his government yesterday and C$10.5m (£4.54m) in compensation.

US Warns 'surge' May Take Time
Bush officials work to convince Congress that Bush's plan for extra troops in Iraq will work, as Condoleezza Rice issues a warning to Iran and Syria.

Member of a Powerful Dynasty
A profile of Pierre Gemayel, the anti-Syrian politician shot dead in Beirut.

Our Security Hinges on Our Neighbour Says Syrian Minister
'We are exerting all our efforts' says Moallem - First visit from Damascus official since invasion

Syria Hires British Law Firm for Hariri Assassination Inquiry
· Matrix acts as adviser after UN sanctions threat · Britain tests water for better links with Assad

The Filling in an Unpalatable Sandwich
World Briefing: Only a year ago the conventional wisdom in Washington and European capitals was that the Syrian president was on the skids. Now it seems he is calling the shots, writes Simon Tisdall.

Torture Victim Deported on Faulty Intelligence
Canadian security forces wrongly informed the US that Maher Arar, who was deported to Syria, imprisoned and tortured, was an Islamic extremist suspected of links to al-Qaida, a Canadian inquiry has found.

Bomb Attack on Us Embassy in Syria Foiled
A huge vehicle bomb failed to go off before four gunmen attacking the US embassy in Damascus were stopped by Syrian security forces.

Gunmen Attack Us Embassy in Syria
Four gunmen shouting religious slogans were reported to have attempted to storm the US embassy in Damascus today.

Syrians Open Their Homes to Fleeing Families
Syrians are opening their homes to strangers to stay indefinitely and volunteering their time, clothes and food.

We Would Share Power, Says Exiled Leader of Syrian Islamist Group
The exiled leader of Syria's large, outlawed Islamist movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, has said his group is ready to share power in a future government with other opposition figures.

Ahmadinejad Visits Syria
The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, arrived in Damascus today for a two-day visit to Syria.

Clamour for Reform Drowned Out By a Tide of Patriotism
The posters at the bus stops show either the Syrian flag or a large, simple portrait of the president, Bashar al-Assad. There are no words, for the message is well understood: support the regime.

US Embassy Close to Admitting Syria Rendition Flight
· Statement contradicts ambassador's interview · Correction could leave Britain open to challenge

A Call For Peace
George W. Bush threatens to invade my country "Syria" after Iraq…

Syria's Opposition Creeps Out of the Shadows As Crisis Grows
Dissent brutally put down but Islamists and liberals unite to rally support.

Us Military Action Against Syria Would Lead to Disaster
The opposition wants reform. But America is more interested in changing the Damascus regime's foreign policy.

Could Syria Have Been So Stupid?
Yes, says Brian Whitaker, and full cooperation with the UN following its investigation into the assassination of Rafik Hariri may be the only way the Assad regime can survive.

Syria's Leader Still Has Ways Out of His Fix
World Briefing: Bashar Assad is in a box from which he cannot escape, western diplomats say. But while Syria's president is no Houdini, rumours of his imminent political demise appear exaggerated.

Rogue Syrians Must Be Held to Account, Says Us
Rice calls for UN security council to act against Damascus to retain its credibility.

Syrian State Inquiry Finds Minister Killed Himself
An official investigation into the death of the Syrian interior minister, Ghazi Kanaan, has found that he committed suicide, government newspapers in Damascus reported yesterday amid growing international scepticism.

President Sweats As Us Hawks Turn Up the Heat
President Bashar Assad is not merely fighting to clear Syria's name as an unprecedented UN murder investigation closes in on Damascus. He is fighting for survival - his, and that of his isolated Ba'athist regime.

Aramaeans, Syrians, Syriacs, Assyrians or Chaldaeans?
Many scholars confuse the terms Syria and Assyria. To offer to our readers a pertinent refutation of this confusion, which at times has political backing and targets, we re-publish integrally an excellent contribution by a young Aramaean scholar, John (Yuhannun) Messo.

Syrians' Yearning for Change is Tempered By Fear
Syrians' yearning for change is tempered by fear of how it might come about. David Hirst

Elizabeth II on the Throne of David and Solomon
Are all the peoples living to the north of the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Carpathian and Caucasus mountains, and descendants of the Assyrians and the Ten Lost tribes of Israel? Does Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, sit today on the same throne as did David and Solomon? Are the peoples of northern Europe the inheritors of these great civilizations of pre-classical Antiquity, whose importance was…

Syria's Deputy Leader Quits to Make Way for New Blood
The most senior member of Syria's old guard, its 73-year-old vice-president, Abdel-Halim Khaddam, is to step down to make way for new blood, an official of the ruling Ba'ath party said yesterday.

Report from Baghdad: Inside the Gates of Hell
The latest from Iraq and Afghanistan leaves little room for optimism. The offensive at the Syrian border has failed and anti-American sentiment is nothing short of seething. We are losing the war on all fronts.

US troops kill 75 insurgents
American forces in Iraq have killed around 75 militants during the past 24 hours in a counter-insurgency offensive near the Syrian border, US military officials said today.

Soft power can crack hard cases
Syria's decision last week to restore diplomatic relations with Baghdad after a break of 23 years was portrayed by its foreign minister, Farouk al-Sharaa, as a brotherly gesture that would enhance Iraq's security and stability.Simon Tisdall

World Briefing
Syria's decision last week to restore diplomatic relations with Baghdad after a break of 23 years was portrayed by its foreign minister, Farouk al-Sharaa, as a brotherly gesture that would enhance Iraq's security and stability. Simon Tisdall

Syria Rallies to Assad's Defence
Tens of thousands answer call to support president and denounce American pressure.

Now Syria is at the Top of the Bad Guys' League Table
Jonathan Steele: Neocon pressure for regime change in Damascus is building up. In the world of the American neocons, salsa is not a sexy dance.

The Power of Words
Damascus would do well to defuse anti-Syrian sentiment in Beirut and the wider world with an offer of dialogue, writes Brian Whitaker

'Wedding Video' Contradicts Us Denials
A videotape emerged today apparently showing the wedding party in Iraq that survivors say was attacked by US warplanes last week in raids that killed up to 45 people. The US military has admitted launching air strikes at targets near the Syrian border last Tuesday but insists it attacked...

Bomber's Family 'could Not Know'
A British suicide bomber who joined a murderous attack on an Israeli bar left Britain telling family members he was going to study in Syria, the Old Bailey heard yesterday. The prosecution alleges they knew what he was planning but did nothing. But the wife, brother and sister of Omar...

Europe to Seek Syria Trade Deal
The EU is to pursue its own trade agreement with Syria despite a US decision to impose sanctions - though differences between member states are still blocking a deal. EU foreign ministers are to resume talks on the agreement next week, but Britain and Germany are still demanding tougher...

Another Dip in the Mediterranean in Search of Atlantis
A quest for the lost island of Atlantis began off the southern shores of Cyprus yesterday. After a decade of intense study an American, Robert Sarmast, claims to have assembled evidence to prove that the fabled island lies a mile deep in the sea between Cyprus and Syria.

Sifting the Syrian Sands
Any number of organisations could have carried out last night's attack in Damascus, but the chances of discovering the truth are slim, writes Ewen MacAskill.

Explosions and Gun Battles Rock Syrian Capital
A succession of explosions and gunfire rocked Damascus last night as a band of armed militants opened fire on targets in a district where foreign diplomats, including the British ambassador, live and work. Security forces fought running battles for more than an hour with the assailants in...

Civilians die in gunfights on border
As scores are killed in northern town and Falluja ceasefire is strained, jostling for power intensifies. American troops fighting insurgents killed scores of civilians in protracted battles in a remote town on Iraq's Syrian border last week.

Clashes Between Syrian Kurds and Arabs Claim More Victims
Eleven people have died in further clashes between Arabs and Kurds in north-east Syria, residents and the Turkish security forces said yesterday. The latest incidents bring the death toll in the ethnic violence, which erupted at a football match on Friday, to at least 25. Hundreds more...

Security Fears Close British Embassy in Damascus
Britain's embassy in Syria has been closed to the public for a week for security reasons amid heightened fears of attacks in the Middle East. Last night the Foreign Office refused to discuss what had caused the closure from February 10 - an unusually long period for an embassy to the shut...

Tough Love in Tripoli
Constructive engagement may have brought Libya back into the diplomatic fold, but will it work with Syria and Iran, asks Ewen MacAskill.

UK Plan to Pressure Syria on Weapons
Britain is pressing to use the combined weight of the EU's 'big three' countries to put pressure on Syria over weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and Iraq.

Syria Dusts Off Maps of Golan Heights Battlefields
Brian Whitaker hears talk in Damascus of a strategy to put the focus on a dangerous area.

Syrian Whispers
The lack of press freedom in Syria causes more speculative rumour than it prevents, says Brian Whitaker.

Syria Woos Eu in the Person of the Spanish King
Syria lavished its hospitality on the king of Spain yesterday at the start of a state visit which is seen as bolstering the country despite Israeli and American pressure. The four-day visit - the first by King Juan Carlos - comes two weeks after Israel bombed an alleged terrorist camp...

Impotence of power
Outsiders see Israel's raid on Syria as aggression. To Israelis, it was the act of a nation driven half-mad with grief.

Syria calls on UN to condemn attack
Air strikes were aimed at specific camps used to train terrorists, including one which was financed by Iran, says adviser to Sharon.

US injured Syrians in border fight
US forces engaged in the hunt for Saddam Hussein may have strayed into Syrian territory last Wednesday, triggering a firefight in which five Syrian border guards were injured, Pentagon officials said yesterday.

Syrian troops shot in border clash
US forces hunting for Saddam Hussein and his followers clashed with a Syrian border patrol, seriously injuring at least four guards, officials said yesterday.

Displaced and despised
Rory McCarthy explains how life after Saddam has turned into a nightmare for many of Baghdad's Palestinian and Syrian inhabitants.

Gold bars worth £330m seized at border
US officers said yesterday that their troops had seized what appeared to be gold bars worth about £330m in a truck searched near the Syrian border.

SAS pair freed after escape to Syria
Two SAS soldiers held by Syria after escaping from Iraqis have been freed, it was revealed yesterday. The pair were among 10 special forces soldiers attacked by tribesmen after being dropped by helicopter near Mosul in northern Iraq. The Iraqis captured their Land Rover and heavy weapons.

Spy chief's capture is 'the biggest catch'
The capture of a former Iraqi intelligence chief near the Syrian border was hailed by the former CIA chief James Woolsey yesterday as "the biggest catch so far".

Syria's Stark Choice
The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, must decide whether to purge prominent figures from his regime or face renewed US wrath, writes Brian Whitaker.

Neighbours declare support for Syria
Iraq's neighbours stepped up tensions between the US and the Arab world yesterday by calling for the withdrawal of coalition troops from Iraq and declaring their support for Syria as they met for a summit to discuss the region's postwar future.

Old Guard Faces Crisis As Heat Turns on Syria
At the moment when American forces swept into Baghdad and Iraqis began attacking the symbols of Saddam Hussein's rule, Syrian television interrupted its live coverage of the war to bring viewers a programme about Islamic art and architecture. The scenes in Iraq, apparently, were...

Straw Challenge to Syria on Arms
Jack Straw distanced Britain from America's increasingly critical stance towards Syria yesterday but warned that the government in Damascus had "serious questions" to answer. The foreign secretary arrived in Saudi Arabia for the last stop in a brief four-nation tour of Gulf states who...

Syria: US rattles the sabre but prepares for peace
The accusations coming from all corners of the Bush administration sound familiar - developing weapons of mass destruction while consorting with terrorists. It appears as if the case against Syria is being made in the same way as the prosecution of Iraq was put together in the months before the war on Saddam Hussein.

Blair: No Plans to Invade Syria
· Major combat in Iraq 'over'
· 'Iraqis are rejoicing'
· Two aircraft carriers to return home

EU Aims to Ease Tensions Over Syria
Politicians from Britain and other key European Union states were today working to calm growing tensions over Syria, which had been stirred up by belligerent statements about the country from Washington. The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, today made it clear that Syria was not "next on...

Small successes outweighed
Confusion, looting and tension about Syria overshadow the few achievements of this war. American tanks and troops entered the main square of Tikrit early this morning.

Straw Denies Threat to Syria
Jack Straw insisted today that Syria was not 'next on the list', but warned Damascus to 'cooperate' over chemical weapons and Iraqi exiles.

US marines enter Tikrit
· Firefight in Baghdad
· Seven US PoWs found safe
· Bush: Syria 'needs to cooperate'

Road Map to Nowhere
Ariel Sharon is promising a new peace initiative, but it won't succeed without regime change in Israel. There are 800 miles separating them, innocent victims of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She is a Syrian living in Kuwait City.

Syria Could Be Next, Warns Washington
The United States is ready to threaten military action against President Bashar Assad's regime in Damascus, sources in the Bush administration have told The Observer.

The Road to Damascus
Is Saddam Hussein hiding in Syria? DEBKAfile, an Israeli-owned rumor mill think so. He is supposed to be in the Mediterranean coast town of Latakia in the Cote d'Azur De Cham Resort, a neighbor of the al-Assads, the indigenous dynastic rulers. If so, allowing him entry would be only the latest in a series of manifestly anti-American moves by the Syrian regime.

Baghdad Hospital Bombed
· US troops '19 miles from capital'
· Saddam defiant in new TV statement
· UK 'will not attack Iran and Syria'

Baghdad strike kills 52
· Missile fired on Kuwait City
· British soldier killed by US jet
· Syria denies 'trafficking' Iraqi arms

Assad predicts defeat for invasion force
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad yesterday became the first Arab leader, other than Saddam Hussein himself, to express the hope in public that the US and British forces invading Iraq would be defeated.

US missile kills five Syrians on bus
Five Syrians died and 10 were injured when a US missile hit their bus as they attempted to flee Iraq, survivors of the attack said yesterday. It was the second lethal attack on fleeing civilians reported in two days.

Threat Grounds London-bound Plane
A plane heading for Heathrow was forced to make an emergency landing in Syria yesterday after a bomb threat caused a terror alert. The Qatar Airways flight, carrying 234 passengers and 13 crew, touched down in Damascus after the mid-air alert. It had taken off from Doha and had been due...

Assad Calls Blair Conference Irrelevant
The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, dismissed as irrelevant Tony Blair's planned Middle East peace conference yesterday less than 24 hours after Downing Street announced it. He predicted that the conference, to be held in Britain next month, will fail because it does not address the...

Syrian engagement
In welcoming Syria's President Bashar Assad to Downing Street yesterday, Tony Blair sent some important signals about his view of Britain's role in the world. One message appeared addressed to the Bush administration.

Blair and Assad agree to disagree
The Syrian president Bashar Assad today insisted his talks with Tony Blair in Downing Street had been "realistic and constructive", despite clear differences over a war on Iraq.

Syria makes a virtue of a necessity
When it came to the crunch, Syria - traditionally regarded as one of the most stubborn and hardline Arab countries - cast a "yes" vote, along with the rest of the security council, though it had been widely expected to abstain.

Syria's Sunshine Policy
Well into the 1980's, Syria - which could have been the Switzerland of the Middle East - was derided as its North Korea. Belligerent, steeped in paranoia and xenophobia, and socialist to boot - it revolved around the personality cult of the current president's father, Hafiz al-Assad.

Lost colony revives hopes for rare ibis
A new colony of northern bald ibises, a bird perilously close to extinction, has been discovered in a remote Syrian desert. A survey team has discovered seven birds: three pairs incubating eggs and a lone seventh adult, according to the conservation group BirdLife International.