WORLD
February 19, 2012 | By Patrick J. McDonnell and Rima Marrouch, Los Angeles Times
Two judicial officials were assassinated Sunday in Syria's Idlib province, and the strife-riven nation faced what could be a critical week, almost a year after the bloody rebellion erupted against the government of President Bashar Assad. Authorities said "an armed terrorist group" in Idlib city opened fire on a car carrying a judge, Mohammed Ziyadeh, and a prosecutor, Nidal Ghazal. Also killed was the driver, said the official Syrian Arab News Agency. An opposition activist reached in Idlib contradicted the official version and said Syrian security forces killed the pair because they were cooperating with antigovernment rebels active in the northwestern region, close to the border with Turkey.
WORLD
February 12, 2012 | By Patrick J. McDonnell and Rima Marrouch, Los Angeles Times
Arab leaders meeting in Cairo on Sunday called for a renewed United Nations attempt to help halt violence in Syria, asking the Security Council to create a joint Arab-U.N. peacekeeping force to oversee implementation of a prospective cease-fire. The Arab League request came eight days after a league initiative that called for Syrian President Bashar Assad to cede power was vetoed by Russia and China in the Security Council. Whether the latest Arab League measure would win their approval was unclear.
WORLD
November 25, 2011 | By Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times
Fierce clashes were reported in Syria on Friday as a deadline passed with no agreement from the government of President Bashar Assad to an Arab League demand to accept monitors or face sanctions. The league had given Syria 24 hours to sign a protocol for an observer mission that would monitor efforts to implement a peace plan endorsed this month by Assad's government. The league's social and economic council was expected to meet Saturday to consider sweeping sanctions, which could include suspending flights, halting trade and financial dealings with the government and freezing its assets.
WORLD
June 9, 2011 | By Roula Hajjar and Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times
Gunmen in "military uniform and government cars" were responsible for the recent killings of as many as 120 Syrian security forces in the northwestern city of Jisr Shughur, the official Syrian Arab News Agency said Wednesday. The news agency's statement could signal a dramatic division within Syria's security forces and lend credence to opposition claims of clashes between forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and those refusing to take part in a violent crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators.
WORLD
May 1, 2011 | By Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times
Syrian security forces besieging the city of Dara have been ordered to use "any means necessary" to crush the rebellion that sparked the weeks-long uprising against the regime of President Bashar Assad, a Syrian military source said Saturday. The claim by the military official, who previously has provided accurate information, could explain the violent response of Syrian security forces in Dara over the last two days, which resembles the take-no-prisoners strategy used by Assad's father, Hafez Assad, to put down a 1982 rebellion in the central city of Hama.
WORLD
September 28, 2008 | Ziad Haidar and Borzou Daragahi, Special to The Times
Mystery surrounded a powerful car bomb explosion Saturday that ripped through a residential neighborhood on the outskirts of Damascus, killing at least 17 people and injuring 14 in the deadliest terrorist attack in Syria in more than two decades. Official Syrian television channels broadcast images of the blast's aftermath, including a crushed automobile and the mangled facade of an apartment block with windows blown out. One witness told Syrian television that the bomb was in a sedan.