The US president has been condemned for not intervening early and removing the Assad regime, but such military action was disastrous in Iraq and Libya, says Christopher R Hill     

Fighting in Syria appeared to have mostly stopped yesterday, the second day of a US-Russian deal on a cessation of hostilities which seemed to be holding despite accusations of violations and air strikes in Aleppo.

President Bashar al-Assad said a military campaign by Russia, Syria and its allies will decide the fate of the Middle East, and a year of US-led air strikes against Islamic State militants had only helped the spread of terrorism.

Russia continued to bomb Syria for a third day yesterday, mainly hitting areas held by rival insurgent groups rather than Islamic State (IS) fighters it said it was targeting.

Hundreds of Iranian troops have arrived in Syria to join a major ground offensive on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad’s government, a further sign of the rapid internationalisation of a civil war in which every major country in the region has a stake.

Russian military jets have carried out air strikes in Syria for the first time, targeting what Moscow said were IS positions.

An unseasonal sandstorm has swept across the Middle East covering Beirut and Damascus with a blanket of yellow dust.

A UN report says the world is facing a challenge of foreign fighters in terror groups on an "unprecedented scale", with about 15,000 in Syria and Iraq alone.

The Syrian government has likely used chlorine gas to attack civilians while the Islamic State group has committed crimes against humanity with attacks on civilians in two provinces, an independent UN commission said yesterday.

Syria’s government has razed thousands of homes as “collective punishment” of communities that back the opposition in the capital Damascus and in Hama province, Human Rights Watch said.

A suicide truck bomb attack on a government checkpoint on the edge of the city of Hama in central Syria has left 30 dead, according to state media and activists.

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

Government forces have killed at least 18 rebels in clashes in central Syria, activists said.

Syrian troops and rebels fought the heaviest battles in months in Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, today.

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.

Iran and Syria condemned a US plan to help rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad and signalled that he intended to stay in power at least until the 2014 presidential election.

At least 65 people were found shot dead with their hands bound in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo yesterday in a new massacre in the near two-year revolt against president Bashar al-Assad, activists said.

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.

1982: Main events

The United Nations envoy tasked with brokering an end to Syria’s civil war is due to meet president Bashar Assad today.

A Syrian government air strike has killed tens of people in a town near the central city of Hama, according to opposition activists.

Syrian rebels are closely monitoring the regime’s chemical weapons sites but do not have the means to seize and secure them, their newly elected military commander has told the Associated Press.

An Islamist suicide car bomber killed at least 50 Syrian security men in Hama province, an opposition group said, in what would be one of the bloodiest single attacks on president Bashar al-Assad’s forces in a 20-month-old uprising.

Fighting raged near a military base in Syria’s north as a ceasefire in the bloody civil war was set begin on Friday at dawn, activists said, illustrating the difficulty of enforcing even a limited truce coinciding with a Muslim holiday.

Syrian government forces appear to have recently made use of cluster bombs, weapons banned by most countries because of the danger they pose to civilians, a New York-based rights watchdog has said.

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 rebels have bombarded a military air base in Aleppo using a tank captured from government troops as activists reported the regime has launched new raids against opposition fighters near the capital Damascus, killing dozens.

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.

Opposition activists in Syria say 30 worshippers have been killed entering a mosque.

The International Red Cross has declared Syria’s 16-month bloodbath a civil war, a status with implications for potential war crimes prosecutions.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has said it now considers the conflict in Syria a civil war, meaning international humanitarian law applies throughout the country.

Syria has denied UN claims that government forces used heavy weapons during a military operation that has brought widespread international condemnation against president Bashar Assad's regime.

A suicide bomber blew up his car in a central Syrian town today, killing three civilians and one security officer, Syria’s state news agency said.

About 220 Syrians, mostly civilians, were killed in a village in the rebellious Hama region when it was bombarded by helicopter gunships and tanks then stormed by militiamen who slaughtered some families, opposition sources said.

International envoy Kofi Annan says he is "shocked and appalled" by reports of a mass killing in the Syrian village of Tremseh.

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.

United Nations observers smelled the stench of burned corpses and saw body parts scattered around a Syrian farming hamlet that was the site of a massacre in which nearly 80 men, women and children were reported to have been killed.

UN monitors entered the Syrian hamlet of Mazraat al-Qubeir yesterday, where opposition activists say at least 78 people were killed, a UN source said.