Asia, Syria | featured news

After more than a thousand reported deaths from a government crackdown on dissidents and chilling videos of violence on social media, the unrest in Syria has drawn international attention -- albeit no response from the United Nations Security Council.

Meanwhile, a refugee crisis keeps growing in Turkey, where at least 3,000 Syrians fled across the border in recent days to makeshift tent cities set up by relief agencies and the Ankara government.

Syria plunged deeper into chaos and bloodshed Friday as adamant pro-democracy protesters took to the streets across the country in cities and towns including Homs, Lattakia, Amouda, Izram, Dara, Der Ezzor and Qamishli in mass protests that mark what protestors have called "Friday of Tribes."

A delegation of human rights organizations and their lawyers Tuesday accused the Syrian government of committing crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands, according to a statement released by the group.

Tanks stormed the town of Talbiseh on Monday, a day after surrounding it, and at least 10 people were wounded, a resident said, in an expanding military campaign in central Syria to crush dissent against Baathist rule.

In a major turnaround, Syria is pledging full cooperation with U.N. attempts to probe strong evidence that it secretly built a reactor that could have been used to make nuclear arms, according to a confidential document shared with The Associated Press on Sunday....

Syrian army troops backed by tanks and helicopters on Saturday took a prominent mosque that had been controlled by residents in a besieged southern city, killing four people, a witness said.

At least seven people are killed in the city of Dara, a flashpoint in the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime. Military officers say troops have been ordered to fire on any protester, but activists report that some are resisting.

Tens of thousands of peaceful demonstrators march after Friday prayers in cities across Syria to demand the overthrow of the Assad regime. At least 57 protesters are reported killed as security forces respond to the unprecedented challenge with tear gas and bullets.

Women, children and students took to the streets in Syria on Wednesday, lending their voices to a monthlong uprising that President Bashar Assad insists is the work of a foreign conspiracy.