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

Obama administration officials are split over whether to arm Syria’s rebel forces or make other military moves that would deepen US involvement in the conflict.

Syrian rebels have attacked a village in the country’s east, killing dozens of Shiites, mostly pro-government fighters, activists said.

The Obama administration could decide this week to approve lethal aid for Syrian rebels, officials said.

Syrian troops backed by fighters from Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group are clashing with rebels near a strategic town captured by government forces earlier this week, according to activists.

The United Nations warned half of all Syrians will need humanitarian aid by the end of 2013 and launched what it said was the largest emergency appeal in history to cope with the civil war crisis.

Syrian troops ousted rebels from the strategic town of Qusair near the Lebanese border yesterday, after a devastating 17-day assault led by Hezbollah fighters from across the frontier.

The Syrian army has triumphantly announced the capture of a strategic town near the Lebanese border, telling the nation it has “cleansed” the rebel-held Qusair of “terrorists” who are fighting President Bashar Assad’s troops.

President Bashar Assad’s army is now in full control of the embattled border town of Qusair where fighting raged with rebels for nearly three weeks, Syrian state TV said today.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was still seeking a formal Syrian response to its request for urgent access to the besieged town of Qusair after a minister said aid efforts should wait until the fighting was over.

A doctor in an embattled Syrian town near the border with Lebanon says 300 seriously injured residents need to be evacuated for medical treatment.

Hezbollah fighters and Syrian rebels have exchanged fire in a remote area of eastern Lebanon overnight, leading to a number of deaths on both sides, according to a Lebanese security official.

A UN diplomat says Russia has blocked a Security Council declaration that would have criticised the Syrian regime’s offensive against the rebel-held town of Qusair.

US and Russian diplomats met yesterday to try to accelerate frustratingly slow peace efforts in Syria, where the signs point only to a worsening conflict.

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said the “right decision” had been reached after European Union foreign ministers agreed to end the embargo on supplying arms to opposition forces in Syria.

The Syrian government has agreed in principle to take part in an international conference in Geneva next month aimed at ending the country’s civil war, its foreign minister said yesterday.

The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah has warned that the fall of Syrian president Bashar Assad’s regime would give rise to extremists and plunge the Middle East into a “dark period”.

The Syrian government has agreed to a conference on the country’s future proposed by Russia and the United States, Russia’s foreign ministry said today.

Syrian troops pushed into a rebel-held town near the Lebanese border yesterday, fighting house-to-house and bombing from the air.

The Syrian military today launched an offensive to retake a strategic rebel-held town near the Lebanese border, a government official said, as activists reported that regime airstrikes and shelling of the town have killed at least 16 people, including opposition fighters.

Thousands of Sunni Muslims fled a Syrian coastal town today, a day after reports circulated that dozens of people, including children, had been killed by pro-government gunmen in the area, activists said.

Six days of fighting in a Damascus suburb has killed more than a hundred people and possibly many more, activists said today, in what the government also acknowledged may be a dramatic spike in the rising death toll in Syria.

Syrian rebels have captured large parts of a military base in the strategic central Homs province, near the border with Lebanon, according to activists.

Syrian government forces pounded areas in the central province of Homs today in a renewed push to regain control of rebel-held territories, and activists said at least 38 people were killed in shelling there over the past 24 hours.

The UN’s top human rights body has voted to condemn Syria over the killing of more than 100 civilians last week.

The UN’s top human rights body has voted to condemn Syria over the killing of more than 100 civilians last week.

Gunmen have killed 11 workers at a state factory in central Syria, activists say, the second execution-style shooting reported in the country in less than a week.

Syrian troops shelled a rebel-held area of Homs and sent reinforcements to border areas today.

Syrian government shelling and offensives against rebel-held towns killed at least 74 people across the country today, activists have said.

At least 28 people have been killed by Syrian government shelling and offensives against rebel-held towns, activists said today.

Syrian troops began pulling out today from some calm cities and headed back to their bases a week ahead of a deadline to implement an international ceasefire plan, a government official said.

Syrian army defectors killed six government troops in heavy fighting today in the country's rebellious central region, activists said, in the latest sign that the nation's uprising may be shifting toward civil war.

The Syrian army shot dead at least five people in a town near the Lebanese border and stormed another town near Turkey's border, activists said.

SYRIAN security forces shot dead at least 15 people yesterday after tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets demanding the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad, witnesses said.