Syria
In an interview with Swiss public broadcaster RTS, Lakhdar Brahimi has said it is unlikely peace talks on the Syrian civil war will begin before October.
What matters now is that this rapprochement between Russia and the United States is confirmed, lasts, and that together these two leading countries mobilise other leading countries so that we finally move towards a political solution."
Syria
In a speech on Arab televisions, Syrian opposition chief Ahmad Jarba has said "ending the killing of Syrian people is only possible by stopping the regime's war machine and barring it from using its aviation, missiles and artillery, and depriving it of its chemical weapons."
The head of the opposition National Coalition said this action should be taken "under Chapter VII of the UN Charter."
Syria
We have publicised that those rules will be invoked in such circumstances like border violations."
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday defended the military's downing of a Syrian helicopter which he said violated its airspace.
Syria
Syria
A meeting will be held on the sidelines of next week's UN General Assembly to discuss ways of helping Lebanon cope with the Syrian refugee influx, a government official said on Tuesday.
The Lebanese official told AFP "there will be a meeting in New York on September 25 of the International Group to Support Lebanon at France's initiative."
Syria
Today, the P5 members of the UN Security Council (US, UK, France, Russia, China) will meet to discuss the joint P3 (US, UK, France) draft Security Council Resolution on Syria's chemical weapons program." - Erin Pelton, spokeswoman for the US mission to the United Nations.
Syria
A debate has started following a piece published in the Guardian lamenting the lack of female voices reporting on Syria.
Now Buzzfeed has interviewed a number of women who would disgree with that, as they are reporting on Syria themselves.
Al Jazeera takes no responsibility for the content of the external links included in this post.
Syria
As the international community wrangles over Syria's chemical weapons, the civil war rages on.
Rebel forces are concentrating on the western fringes of Aleppo as they try to capture a strategically important building.
Al Jazeera's Jamal Elshayyal reports.
Syria
Bulgaria is struggling to cope with the cost of helping the influx of refugees from Syria.
As the EU's poorest country, it has launched an appeal for financial support from the bloc in the face of escalating numbers of refugees.
Bulgaria has proven itself as a reliable partner within the European Union. We have shown that we can protect the EU's outer border, while undertaking a serious burden ourselves." - Interior Minister Tsvetlin Yovchev.
Syria
As the Syrian war has escalated, so has its effect on neighbouring Lebanon.
Kidnappings, car bombs, and other random acts of violence have been on the rise.
And talk of US-led missile strikes have worried Lebanese people even further.
Al Jazeera's Mohamed Vall reports from Beirut.
Syria
Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught, reporting from Antakya in Turkey said at least one had been killed in the explosion near the Bab al-Hawa crossing with Turkey.
"The border is getting worse every month," she said.
"There was a car bomb back in February that killed both Turks and Syrians, there was also a Syrian airstrike in April.
"This is indicative of a worsening situation right across the border."
Syria
Here is a video that reportedly shows the explosion that happened on the Syrian side of the main Bab al-Hawa crossing with Turkey.
Al Jazeera has so far been unable to independently verify this video.
Syria
A blast has hit at Bab al-Hawa border crossing near the Turkish border. Sources in the area told Al Jazeera there was a number of casualties.
Syria
Syria's main opposition group on Tuesday demanded a swift international response following the UN report confirming the use of chemical weapons in Syria, while Damascus slammed the US, British and French foreign ministers, accusing them of trying to impose their agenda on the Syrian people.
The Foreign Ministry statement appeared to be in response to demands by foreign ministers of France, Britain and the U.S. that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad step down even as the West increases efforts to bring the warring sides to an international peace conference.
"Assad is the legitimate president chosen by the Syrian people and will remain so as long as the Syrian people want this," the ministry said.
The statement comes after the UN report was released Monday - the first official confirmation by impartial experts that chemical weapons were used in the August 21 attack near Damascus that killed hundreds of people.
The Western-backed Syrian National Coalition said the UN report offered "damning and irrefutable evidence" and clearly shows that only the Syrian regime could have carried out the attack last month.
[AP]
Syria
Russia still suspects an August 21 poison gas attack in Syria was a provocation by rebel forces and says a report by UN inspectors does not answer all of its questions about the attack, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.
Speaking following talks with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius a day after UN inspectors confirmed the use of the nerve agent sarin, Lavrov took a different view to France and other Western states which blame Syrian government forces for the attack.
[Reuters]
Syria
A report by UN inspectors who investigated an August 21 chemical weapons attack in Syria leaves no doubt about the responsibility of President Bashar al-Assad's government, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Tuesday.
"When you look at the amount of sarin gas used, the vectors, the techniques behind such an attack, as well as other aspects, it seems to leave no doubt that the [Assad] regime is behind it," Fabius told journalists after a meeting with his Russian counterpart in Moscow.
[Reuters]
Syria
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Tuesday was holding talks in Moscow with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, in an attempt to bridge disagreements over a new UN resolution on stripping Syria of its chemical arsenal.
France has been pushing for a tough Security Council resolution and has blamed the Syrian government for the sarin attack on Damascus suburb of Ghouta on August 21.
Fabius, who met with British and American counterparts Monday, will send together with Britain a draft resolution which demands a threat of sanctions if President Bashar al-Assad does not comply with the disarmament plan agreed over the weekend in US-Russian talks.
However Lavrov on Monday said any resolution using threats was detrimental to Syria's chemical disarmament plan and to a long-term peace plan for the war-torn country, where 110,000 people have been killed over the past 30 months.
[AFP]
Syria
Syria's army is accusing Turkey of seeking to escalate tensions along the two nations' already volatile border after a Turkish fighter jet shot down a Syrian military helicopter there the day before.
Tuesday's statement from the military says the helicopter had entered Turkish airspace by mistake while on a mission to monitor for cross-border infiltration of rebels. It was downed as it was returning to Syria.
Syria says Turkey "hastily shot down the helicopter, thus revealing Ankara's "real intentions" of ramping up tensions.
Damascus says the helicopter had travelled a "short distance" in Turkish airspace before turning back.
Turkey's government has said the helicopter ignored repeated warnings to leave. It crashed inside Syria after being hit by missiles fired from a Turkish fighter jet.
[AP]
Syria
China's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that the government would take a serious look at a report by UN investigators which confirmed the use of sarin nerve agent in an Aug. 21 gas attack outside the Syrian capital.
Ministry spokesman Hong Lei made the comment at a daily news briefing in Biejing.
The long-awaited report does not say who launched the attack, though US, British and French envoys said technical details in it pointed to Syrian government culpability.
[Reuters]
Syria
The deadly Syrian conflict is making the maintainance of a functioning educational process in the war-torn country even more difficult, as over a million children have been displaced due to the fighting.
Fierce fighting in the country has meant that as many as 400 schools have had to close their doors, depriving local children of an education.
According to government figures, more than 100 teachers have been killed during recent violence nationwide, while 35 children have been killed as a result of attacks on schools and buses.
A shortage of transportation has also meant it has been near impossible to get text books and stationery to all the schools and expectant parents.
"we've got books in summer and we've got as many books as the number of students we have. Although we are receiving new kids because some schools were closed, we still got books even for the new students," said Soaad Khalaf, teacher of a primary school in Damascus.
Before 2011, Syria had one of the highest rates for literacy in the Middle East thanks to its state-sponsored education system that went right through to university level. However, that standard has become hard for the country to maintain today.
"Education must go on and this is why we are open. We started on schedule and nothing will stop the learning process in Syria. We will overcome the dangerous circumstances just by showing up to school. We will overcome the crisis, nothing will stop us. And we will work with the students and we will get there," said Abdulkarim Abdullah, principal of local primary school in Damascus.
Out of security concerns, lots of families have been reluctant to send their children back to school.
Syria in partnership with UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) has recently launched a campaign aimed at supporting students, their parents and schools to alleviate some of the persistent fears.
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