Syria’s Prime Minister has escaped an assassination attempt after a bomb exploded near his convoy in Damascus.

Syrian warplanes and artillery have hit targets near Damascus International Airport, following a bloody day of attacks in the Syrian capital that killed dozens and struck deep into President Bashar Assad’s seat of power.

At least 31 people have been killed in a car bomb attack in Damascus near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party and the Russian Embassy, opposition activists say.

A car bomb has exploded at a security checkpoint near the headquarters of Syria’s ruling Baath party and the Russian Embassy in the capital Damascus, killing at least four people, reports say.

A large explosion has shaken central Damascus, near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party and the Russian Embassy.

Militants have issued death threats against employees of Iraq’s election commission, raising concerns about security ahead of the upcoming provincial balloting, officials said.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has appointed a new prime minister to replace one who defected this week to neighbouring Jordan.

Syria’s prime minister has defected to the opposition seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, marking one of the highest profile desertions from the Damascus government.

Syria’s prime minister has fled the country with his family after only two months in the post.

Syria’s prime minister has defected to Jordan with his family after less than two months in the post.

Syrian opposition groups struggled to form a united leadership at a meeting which exposed vast disagreements that have prevented them from effectively leading the uprising against President Bashar Assad.

President Bashar Assad has formed a new government headed by a loyalist member of his Baath Party, Syria’s state news agency has said.

Syria’s president has appointed a new prime minister following last month’s parliamentary elections.

UN observers have found another 13 bound corpses in eastern Syria, many of them seemingly shot execution- style, said the monitoring mission.

Carl Dixon talks to twoof the top writers appearing at this year’s Immrama festival in Lismore

Syria's deputy oil minister has announced his defection in an online video, making him the highest ranking official to abandon President Bashar Assad's regime since the country's uprising erupted a year ago.

Syrian government said voters have approved a new constitution in a vote that the West has dismissed as "a farce" meant to justify deadly crackdowns on dissent.

Syria's authoritarian regime held a referendum on a new constitution today, a gesture by embattled president Bashar Assad to placate those seeking the end of his rule.

The United Nations has a secret list of top Syrian officials who could face investigation for crimes against humanity carried out by security forces in their crackdown against an anti-government uprising, a panel of UN human rights experts said.

Syria’s military today sent tanks and other reinforcements towards the city of Homs in what appears to be preparations by President Bashar Assad’s regime for an offensive aimed at retaking rebel-held neighbourhoods, activists said.

Syrian troops have shelled rebel-held neighbourhoods in the city of Homs, a day after the UN General Assembly condemned human rights violations by the regime.

Syrian troops attacked rebel strongholds in Deraa where the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad erupted nearly a year ago, and the UN chief said crimes against humanity had almost certainly been committed in Syria.

Syrian opposition groups have today rejected proposals for a referendum on a new constitution planned for the end of the month.

ARAB League monitors investigated activist claims that government troops in Hama fired at thousands of unarmed protesters and killed at least six.

PRIME Minister Adel Safar urged Syrians to vote in local elections to save the nation from “conspiracies against us”, but activists struggling to oust President Bashar-al Assad rejected the ballot as irrelevant at a time of violent unrest.

Activists reported yesterday the Damascus headquarters of the ruling Baath party had been hit by rocket-propelled grenades.

Syria’s President Bashar Assad has vowed to continue with a security crackdown to crush ’militants’ who he says are massacring Syrians on a daily basis.

Eight people have died today after three bombs ripped through a sprawling Baghdad market at the beginning of a Muslim festival.

LIBYAN rebel Husam Najjair seems more concerned about the possibility of rebels turning on each other when they try to take control of the capital Tripoli than the threat posed by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.

Thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets across Syria today after a televised appearance by President Bashar Assad, shouting for him to step down.

THE Syrian army launched raids on rebel areas yesterday, defying growing international reproach over the regime’s crackdown on the five-month-old uprising.

Gunmen in plain clothes are randomly shooting people in the streets of the besieged Syrian city of Hama, a resident says.

Syria’s government has endorsed a law that it says will allow the formation of political parties alongside President Bashar Assad’s ruling Baath Party.

SYRIAN president Bashar al-Assad pledged reforms within months to address a wave of protests against his rule, but blamed saboteurs for the unrest and warned that no deal could be reached with gunmen.

Syria’s embattled president said today he would consider political reforms, but Bashar Assad gave no sign he might step down, the key demand of nationwide protests.

Syrian tanks today rolled toward the tense central city of Hama, still mourning the deaths of dozens of protesters.

A SYRIAN mother-of-six who opened the door to a secret policeman in the border town of Deraa just had time to scream “Israelis are more merciful than you” before he shot her dead, relatives said.

More than 200 members have quit Syria’s ruling Baath party to protest at President Bashar Assad’s brutal crackdown on opponents, a human rights activist says.

SYRIAN President Bashar al-Assad yesterday issued decrees ending nearly five decades of emergency law, abolishing state security courts and allowing citizens to protest peacefully, state television reported.

SYRIAN President Bashar al-Assad has appointed Adel Safar, who served as agriculture minister in the government which resigned last week, to form a new government, an official Syrian source said yesterday.

SYRIAN security forces killed at least three protesters in a Damascus suburb yesterday, witnesses said, as thousands turned out in pro-democracy marches despite a reform gesture by President Bashar al-Assad.

A scenic seaside city echoed with gunfire as protesters defied government forces in Syria’s second day of nationwide unrest, burning tyres, attacking businesses and setting the offices of the ruling party aflame.

Protesters against the government of Syria set fire to offices of the ruling party today while hundreds of political prisoners were released in a bid to appease the rioters.