Syria has called on diplomatic representatives from the United States and Iraq to account for the death of nine Syrian civilians. It is accusing the US of mounting the attack on a farm in Syria, close to the border with Iraq, and of doing so from a base within Iraq. The US says it is investigating the incident.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, during his first trip to Damascus, encouraged Syria to pursue face-to-face peace talks with Israel.

By all accounts, the Israeli-Syrian indirect negotiations through Turkish mediation are going well, and the fact that a fourth round of talks is scheduled for the end of July suggests that both sides expect to make further progress. The reports from Damascus and Ankara, however, indicating that Syria will not enter into direct negotiations with Israel before the advent of new American administration show an obstructive apprehension on the part of the Syrian government.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry in Ankara says the last round of indirect talks between Israel and Syria will take place no later than two weeks from now, after which direct negotiations are to begin.

Recent reports indicating that Israel and Syria are indirectly engaged in Turkish brokered peace talks suggest a major (albeit overdue) development in the Mid-East peace-making process. Since the collapse of the Israeli-Syrian peace negotiations in May 2000, I have consistently been advocating the need for Israeli-Syrian reconciliation specifically because there is not a single dispute in the region that is not affected in one form or another by this conflict.

Lattakia Governor Zahed Haj Moussa and Cyprus Ambassador to Syria Efstathios Orphanides has discussed the cultural, economic, tourist and agricultural situation in Lattakia, and projects of rehabilitating the infrastructure in addition to the tourist investment of Lattakia coast.

President Bashar Al-Assad on Sunday renewed Syria's commitment to realize just and comprehensive peace and achieve stability and security in the region, whether in Iraq, Palestine or in Lebanon.

Syria is criticizing the deployment of U.S. warships off the Lebanese coast.

An artist's extraordinary journey from building his own toys in rural Syria to conceiving a new spire for one of Cambridge's biggest churches will be recounted in a talk this week.

Hundreds of Iraqi refugees are returning to Iraq Wednesday from Syria, encouraged by reports of lessening violence in their home country.

Syrian soldiers speed along the border with Iraq on truck patrols designed, officials say, to prevent jihadists from Syria joining the insurgency on the other side.

Syria's president told French envoys on Sunday that the Lebanese should find a compromise candidate for president and hold elections without foreign interference.