The UN cultural agency’s chief said she is alarmed by developments in Syria, where clashes with IS militants are getting closer to the ancient city of Palmyra — one of the Middle East’s most famous Unesco world heritage sites.

Syrian government troops carried out hundreds of indiscriminate aerial attacks in the past year, most with barrel bombs, in defiance of a United Nations Security Council demand to stop, a US rights group said, calling for a UN arms embargo.

A Syrian opposition leader called on world leaders to take “immediate action” to end government attacks on rebel-held suburbs of Damascus, amid reports that some 150 people have been killed in government airstrikes in the past 10 days.

Syrian government forces have launched a counter-attack to recapture a gas field seized by Islamic extremists, activists said, as the death toll from three days of fighting there rose to more than 200.

A mortar shell has hit an election rally for Syria’s president Bashar Assad, killing 21 people.

Peace talks to carve a path out of Syria’s civil war got off to a rocky start yesterday as a bitter clash over Bashar Assad’s future threatened to collapse negotiations even before they had begun.

Prominent international war crimes experts say they have received a huge cache of photographs documenting the killing of 11,000 detainees by Syrian authorities.

Syrian planes have bombed several rebel-held areas and opposition fighters fired mortars at Damascus despite the start of a major Muslim holiday.

Eight women and girls have been killed in intense government shelling in the southern Syrian province of Daraa, activists said today.

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

Syria’s devastating conflict entered its third year with no agreement among EU leaders on British and French calls for an easing of the bloc’s embargo to allow arms supplies to the rebels.

Syrian authorities have beefed up security measures in Damascus as rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad urged supporters to mark the second anniversary of the country’s uprising by stepping up attacks against the regime.

Several United Nations peacekeepers from the Philippines who were abducted by Syrian rebels said in videos posted online today that they are safe and sound.

A car bombing near Syria’s ruling party headquarters in Damascus has killed 53 people, according to state media, while mortar rounds exploded near the army’s central command in the city.

Two car have bombs exploded in southern Syria and a rocket slammed into a building in the north in renewed violence that state media blamed on rebel fighters.

At least 60,000 people have been killed in Syria’s civil war, with monthly casualty figures steadily increasing since the conflict began almost two years ago, according to a new analysis released by the UN.

At least 60,000 people have now been killed in Syria’s civil war, with monthly casualty figures steadily increasing since it began almost two years ago, according to a new analysis.

Two large explosions shook Syria’s southern city of Daraa today, causing multiple casualties and heavy material damage, the country’s state-run news agency and activists said.

Two large explosions have struck the southern city of Daraa, causing multiple casualties and heavy material damage, Syria’s state-run news agency said today.

Syrian troops have shelled rebel-held areas and clashed with anti-government gunmen in several parts of the country despite an internationally mediated ceasefire, according to activists.

Syrian activists said rebels and government troops have fought a fierce battle near the border with Jordan.

France's decision to send direct aid to Syria's opposition amounts to so little that it is all but useless, rebels and activists say.

Government warplanes bombed a town in northern Syria today, killing at least 18 people, activists said, while the new UN envoy to the country acknowledged that brokering an end to the nation’s civil war will be a “very, very difficult” task.

The bodies of more than 30 civilians, some of them women and children, were today found in the streets of the Syrian town of Daraya south-west of Damascus, activists said.

Six people, including two women and two children, have been killed in fighting between rebels and regime forces in the southern Syrian city of Daraa, activist groups said today.

Two Syrian journalists have been killed in the capital according to reports today from Syrian state news agency Sana and an Arab satellite station.

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

Dozens of government tanks have converged on Syria’s largest city as president Bashar Assad marshalled his forces to stamp out a five-day rebel fight to wrest Aleppo from the regime’s grasp.

Rebels penetrated the heart of Syria's power elite, detonating a bomb inside a crisis meeting in Damascus that killed three leaders of the regime, including President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law and the Defence Minister Dawoud Rajha.

International envoy Kofi Annan said today he was “gravely concerned” about the latest violence in Syria, citing shelling of opposition areas in Homs and reports of mortar, helicopter and tank attacks near the coast.

Syrian troops and helicopters are clashing with rebels in the central town of Rastan, activists said today.

The new head of Syria’s main opposition group has called for mass defections from a regime struggling to survive by carrying out massacres, as the death toll in the uprising topped 14,000.

Damascus residents have spoken about a night of shooting and explosions in the worst violence Syria's capital has seen since the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime began 15 months ago.

Syrian troops have shelled the southern city of Daraa, killing at least 15 people, activists said today.

Syrian troops have heavily shelled a rebel-held neighbourhood in the flashpoint central city of Homs as the military appeared to be readying to storm the area, activists said.

Syria has granted permission for aid workers to enter four hard-hit provinces, the United Nations said today.

Syrian troops have stormed and shelled districts in a suburb of the capital Damascus, activists said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today called for international backing of an arms embargo and other stronger measures enforced by the UN against Syria if the country fails to abide by a ceasefire designed to end the bloodshed on its soil.

Syrian forces used live fire, tear gas and clubs to beat back tens of thousands of protesters who took to the streets across the country yesterday in powerful and often jubilant displays of defiance.

A fragile ceasefire brokered by the UN took hold in Syria today with regime forces apparently halting widespread attacks on the opposition but still defying demands by international envoy Kofi Annan to pull troops back to barracks.

A deadline for a United Nations-brokered ceasefire passed today without reports of major violence, opposition activists said, hours after Syria promised to observe a halt in fighting.

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has said increased attacks by government forces on Syrian cities violates the Security Council's demand for an end to hostilities.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned that the crisis in Syria is getting worse and claiming more lives every day even though President Bashar Assad’s government insists it is withdrawing troops ahead of a UN deadline to end the violence.

Syrian troops have launched a fierce assault on a Damascus suburb, days ahead of a deadline for a UN-brokered ceasefire.