More than 5,000 people are now believed to have been killed in the Syrian government's crackdown on protests, UN rights chief Navi Pillay told the UN Security Council on Monday.

Pillay also said ther

Syrians voted on Monday in municipal elections as security forces pushed a deadly crackdown on dissent that the United Nations said has killed more than 5,000 people.

As regime opponents piled on the

Over 5000 people have been killed in Syria's violent crackdown against protesters, the UN rights chief has told the Security Council, recommending that the regime of President Bashar-al Assad be referred to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

Syrian troops and army defectors have fought one of the biggest battles in Syria's nine-month uprising while a protest strike shut businesses in a new gesture of civil disobedience, residents and acti

Turkey warned Syria on Friday it would act to protect itself if a Syrian government crackdown on protesters threatened regional security and unleashed a tide of refugees on its borders.

At least 24 S

Syria's opposition warned Friday of a looming 'massacre' as it reported thousands of regime forces and militiamen encircled the protest hub of Homs for an expected final assault to crush dissent.

The

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton held a rare meeting on Tuesday with Syrian opposition figures as the Obama administration returned its top envoy to Damascus after he was recalled six week

Syria said it had conditionally approved an Arab League peace plan to end eight months of unrest which threatens to drag the country to civil war and activists said at least 60 bodies were taken to ho

Five civilians were among 18 people killed in Syria on Saturday, a day after the UN Human Rights Council urged tougher action against Damascus, condemning its 'gross violations' of human rights.

In t

Pressure is mounting on President Bashar al-Assad with growing foreign condemnation of his repression of the Syrian uprising and attacks by armed rebels that his forces appear unable to stamp out.

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