Syria has strongly condemned a double bomb blast outside the Iranian embassy in Beirut on Tuesday that killed at least 22 people, official media reported.
The Syrian army advanced Wednesday on the Islamist-held northern village of Tal Hassel, a monitor said, as jihadist rebels in nearby Aleppo called for mass mobilisation to counter the offensive.
Syria’s opposition-in-exile agreed Monday to attend planned peace talks in Geneva but said President Bashar Assad could play no part in a transitional government aimed at ending the country’s civil war.
Troops backed by Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah fighters and other pro-regime militiamen on Thursday retook Sbeineh, a major rebel enclave south of Damascus, a monitoring group and state television said.
The UN-Arab League envoy for Syria expressed hope that a peace conference again delayed could still be held by year's end, as the Syrian opposition remained deeply divided over its participation.
Arab League (AL) foreign ministers meeting here Sunday called on Syrian opposition to attend the Geneva II conference and form their delegation as soon as possible.
King Abdullah II said Sunday the influx of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees is depleting Jordan's scarce natural resources, and called for international assistance to deal with the problem.
President Bashar al-Assad insisted in a meeting Wednesday with visiting UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi that Syrians alone will decide on the fate of an initiative for Geneva peace talks.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had a telephone conversation with Italian counterpart Emma Bonino to discuss the situation in Syria. Italy initiated the conversation, the
Russian Foreign Ministry stated on Tuesday.
Russia on Monday described as "outrageous" a threat by powerful rebel groups in Syria against those who attend peace talks on the conflict backed by Moscow and Washington.
Nineteen Islamist groups fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad have rejected outright a mooted US-Russian peace initiative for Syria dubbed Geneva 2, a statement said.
Kurdish fighters in Syria seized a crossing on the eastern border with Iraq from jihadist rebel forces during fierce clashes at dawn on Saturday, a monitoring group said.