An alliance of Free Syrian Army-related insurgent groups said on Monday it was skeptical about a Russian proposal to help rebels, and that Moscow must stop bombing rebels and civilians and withdraw its support for President Bashar Assad.
The United States said it could launch air strikes and act jointly with its arch-enemy Iran to support the Iraqi government, after a rampage by Sunni Islamist insurgents across Iraq that has scrambled alliances in the Middle East.
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad\’s forces used chemical weapons on a small scale against rebel fighters in Syria\’s civil war, the White House said on Thursday.
Austria began the withdrawal of its 380 soldiers from the United Nations peacekeeping force on the Golan Heights.
Brush fires from stray mortar bombs were still ablaze on the occupied Golan Heights on Friday as Israeli farmers returned to their fields, a day after battles in Syria\’s civil war reached a U.N.-manned border crossing.
Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad fought off an attempt by rebels to seize the sole crossing between Syria and Israel on Thursday, while army troops sought to ram home strategic gains further to the north.
Syria fired on and damaged an Israeli army jeep, and Israel retaliated with a missile attack, the Israeli military said.
A mortar shell fired from Syria landed in the Golan Heights in Israel for the second straight day.
Syria\’s government and rebels accused each other of launching a deadly chemical attack near the northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday in what would, if confirmed, be the first use of such weapons in the two-year conflict.
Syrian rebels holding 21 U.N. peacekeepers near the Israel\’s Golan Heights in southern Syria said on Friday no talks were under way to free the men and gave no indication that they would be released soon.
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