Asia, Political Unrest | featured news

Tens of thousands of Syrians poured onto the streets of cities around the country after prayers on Friday to press their demand for the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad, apparently undeterred by concessions from a top ...

Syrian refugees continue to flee across the Turkish border to escape violence, as world powers amplify their outrage over the Damascus regime's tough crackdown on peaceful demonstrators.

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."

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.

A mass protest calling for sweeping changes in Syria’s authoritarian regime turned bloody Friday, with the government and protesters both claiming to have sustained heavy casualties in a restive southern city as the country’s three-week uprising entered a dangerous new phase.

Syria's president appointed a new prime minister Sunday, state television reported, as angry protesters gathered for the funeral processions of four demonstrators killed on Friday.

On a stage once commanded by his brutal father, President Bashar Assad blamed foreign conspiracies for Syria's unrest in a national speech Wednesday that sought to steel his family dynasty against a rebellion similar to those that have toppled regimes across the region.

An "extraordinary number" of security forces flooded Daraa on Monday, patrolling streets and guarding government buildings in an apparent attempt to stave off further protests, a political activist in the city told CNN.