Syria News

OTTAWA A federal judge says national security laws are not intended to shield intelligence agencies from embarrassment.

Council on Foreign Relations .A His new book, Guardians of the Revoltion: Iran and the World in the Age of the Ayatollahs , he traces the course of Iranian policy since the 1979 revolution.A In the excerpt below we learn about the relationship between Iran and Syria.

Although his jail term was supposed to end in April, Nizar Rastanawi is still incarcerated in the notorious Sednaya prison close to Damascus.

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has named a new ambassador to Syria after leaving the post vacant for a year, in a sign of warming relations between the two Middle East countries, Saudi media said on Tuesday.

A Saudi diplomat said Monday that the kingdom has appointed a new ambassador to Syria, the strongest sign yet of the solidifying reconciliation between the two rival Arab nations.

Syrian authorities should immediately make public the fate of all detainees at Sednaya prison, at least nine of whom are believed to have been killed when military police used lethal force during unrest in the prison last July, Human Rights Watch said today.

Syria and Yemen Sunday signed 13 documents, Memos of Understanding and executive programs to boost cooperation in various fields, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported.

Syria mends US, Arab ties as ally Iran in turmoil SAM F. GHATTAS : ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER Jul 3, 2009 Syria's leader sent a July 4 message full of praise to President Barack Obama on Friday and invited him to visit Syria - the latest signs Damascus is hedging its bets in Mideast politics, warming up to its rival the United States at a time when ...

ABU DHABI // Washington's decision to dispatch an ambassador to Damascus after a four-year diplomatic absence marks a breakthrough in US-Syrian relations, according to Jeffrey Feltman, the acting assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs.

The President of Syria has issued a historic invitation to his American counterpart Barack Obama, to a summit in Damascus in an exclusive interview with Sky News.

Engineering firm Metka has been awarded a 640-million-euro project to build a natural gas-fired power plant in Syria in a joint venture with ItalyA's Ansaldo Energia, a deal taking the Greek companyA's order backlog to almost 1.5 billion euros.

Sarkozy's political chief of staff Claude Gueant and his chief diplomatic adviser Jean-David Levitte sat down with Assad and also met with his Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, said foreign ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier.

The Obama administration confirms it is sending a U.S. ambassador to Syria after a four-year absence.

Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri began parliamentary consultations Monday aiming to form a unity government with rivals including the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

Four people suspected of links to al-Qaida were charged Monday with planning attacks in Lebanon and neighboring Syria, judicial officials said.

Byblos Bank Syria is seeking to recruit a relationship manager based in Damascus and Aleppo.

A lawyer says Italian authorities are set to expel to Syria one of the Palestinians who hijacked the Achille Lauro cruise ship and killed an American passenger in 1985.

Saad Hariri, son of slain billionaire ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, was himself named Lebanon's new prime minister on Saturday, a presidential statement said.

Shiite leader Nabih Berri was re-elected to a fifth consecutive term as parliament speaker on Thursday, consolidating his position as one of Lebanon's most influential politicians.

The Obama administration has decided to return a US ambassador to Syria, the WaPo's Scott Wilson reports today.