Syrian government forces have continued to shell civilian areas of Damascus, anti-government activists claimed on Monday.
Video footage uploaded to YouTube over the past 48 hours showed burning buildings in the district of Dariya and government forces firing shells in the suburb of Moadamiyeh.
The violence came as US Secretary of State John Kerry praised Syrian President Bashar Assad's co-operation in dismantling his chemical weapons arsenal.
The Syrian chemical weapons programme began to be dismantled on Sunday, according to an international team tasked with overseeing the effort.
The conflict, which is rooted in what began as peaceful protests in March 2011, has laid waste to the countries' cities, shattered its economy and driven more than two million people to seek shelter abroad.
Source: APTNby AJE Staff 7:35 PM yesterday
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said on Monday that Syria's government was being "cooperative" in the operation to destroy the country's arsenal of the banned weapons.
In a statement posted on its website, the OPCW said an advance team that accompanied inspectors to Damascus last Tuesday was returning to the Hague after meetings with Syrianauthorities.
"Discussions were held with the Syrian authorities on the disclosure which Syria earlier provided to the OPCW on its chemical weapons programme," the statement said.
"The discussions were constructive and the Syrian authorities were cooperative."A joint UN-OPCW team arrived in Damascus last week to begin verifying the information and destroying arms and production facilities.Damascus must submit by October 27 its plans for the destruction of all its chemical weapons and facilities, which will then be used to draw up "destruction milestones".- AFPby Amna Bagadi 6:11 PM yesterday- After heavy clashes, Syrian government forces have reopened a key road linking the central heartland with the embattled northern province of Aleppo.
The state-run SANA news agency and activists from Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights say the road was reopened on Sunday night.
It was closed since August because of heavy fighting between government forces and rebels trying to topple President Bashar Assad's regime.
The move comes nearly a week after government troops captured the strategic town of Khanaser near the road. Over the past days, troops advanced in several surrounding villages.
SANA says troops ``broke the siege,'' which had prevented supplies from reaching the provincial capital of Aleppo, Syria's largest city and once its commercial hub.
Rebels and government troops have fought for control of Aleppo since July.- APby Amna Bagadi 5:59 PM yesterday - Russia and the US have agreed to push for holding Syria peace talks in mid-November, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday after talks with his US counterpart John Kerry."We advocate holding the international conference (on Syria) in mid-November," Lavrov told journalists after holding talks with Kerry in Bali, Indonesia."Today we agreed on the steps needed for both the government and the opposition to come to the conference," Lavrov was quoted as saying by the RIA-Novosti news agency.UN chief Ban Ki-moon also proposed mid-November for the conference late last month during his first meeting with Syria's opposition National Coalition chief Ahmad Jarba, who said he was ready to send a delegation to the meeting.UN-Arab League peace envoy Brahimi told France's TV5 Monde Sunday that he hoped the two sides would agree to attend a peace conference in Geneva in mid-November "without preconditions".- AFPby Amna Bagadi 2:07 PM yesterday
- The US Secretary of State also said President Assad "deserves credit" for his part in "swiftly moving" to eliminate his regime's chemical arms."I think it's extremely significant that yesterday, Sunday, within a week of the resolution being passed, some chemical weapons were being destroyed," said Kerry."I think it's a credit to the Assad regime, frankly. It's a good beginning and we welcome a good beginning," he added.- AFPby Amna Bagadi 1:10 PM yesterday
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday welcomed Syria's "compliance" in quickly starting the process of destroying its chemical weapons arsenal and thanked Russia for its help.
"The process has begun in record time and we are appreciative for the Russian cooperation and obviously for the Syrian compliance," he told reporters alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after talks in Indonesia.- AFP
Al Jazeera's Inside Syria examines the shifting alliances within the opposition and the likely impact on achieving stability in Syria.
by Tamila Varshalomidze 4:00 AM yesterday- Disarmament experts backed by the United Nations have begun the process of destroying Syria's chemical weapons.Al Jazeera's Imran Khan reports.by Tamila Varshalomidze 12:19 AM yesterday
Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN Syria peace envoy, says it is not
certain Geneva peace talks will take place mid-November.[Reuters]by AJE Staff October 6 at 6:48 PM
A team of disarmament inspectors in Syria have begun the process of destroying the country's chemical weapons and production facilities, news reports say.For more details on the story, click hereby AJE Staff October 6 at 6:45 PM- Iran has allowed Syria's regime to station fighter jets on its territory to keep them safe from foreign attack, German intelligence services believe according to a media report on Sunday.
News portal Spiegel Online said the report, marked "classified", pointed to close military ties between Damascus and Tehran beyond the deployment of Iran-backed Hezbollah militia on the side of regime forces.
The German intelligence paper reportedly said Iran had also sent elite troops from its Revolutionary Guard to support the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The intelligence report also said a source had reported that a Syria-Iran military deal from November 2012 allowed Assad "to station large parts of his air force on safe Iranian territory and to use them when needed," said Spiegel Online.
[AFP]by AJE Staff October 6 at 5:19 PM 
Syrian rebel fighter fires towards the village of Aziza, which is under the control of forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, in the southern countryside of Aleppo.
[Reuters]by AJE Staff October 6 at 4:06 PM
Syrian children swim in the Quweiq river, in the Bustan al-Qasr district of Aleppo.
The bodies of at least 68 unidentified young men and boys, all executed with a single gunshot to the head or neck, were found in the Quweiq River in January 2013.
[AFP]by AJE Staff October 6 at 3:55 PM- In an interview with German paper Der Spiegel, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad continued to deny charges that his regime used chemical weapons to eliminate the oppositionHe accused the West of lying and maintained that he was only seeking to defend his country.
In the interview, which will be published by Der Spiegel on Monday, Assad continued to describe the rebels as "terrorists".by AJE Staff October 6 at 3:43 PM - Divergence among Syrian opposition parties has made it difficult to convene the Geneva Conference which aims to bring together representatives from the Syrian government and opposition.
Qadri Jamil, deputy prime minister for economic affairs, Ali Haider, the Syrian minister for reconciliation affairs, and Adel Naisse, an opposition figure, attended a meeting held by the Popular Front for Change and Liberation, one of the main Syrian opposition parties, in Damascus on Saturday.
During the meeting, Naisse acknowledged that the Popular Front for Change and Liberation has still been unable to reach any agreement with the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (NCC), another main opposition party in Syria.
"They (NCC) blamed us for letting two of our members join the cabinet of the Syrian government. So temporarily, our two parties have no common ground to seek," said Naisse.
The Syrian National Coalition (SNC), the Syrian opposition party abroad, also agreed to attend the Geneva Conference. However, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hoped the SNC could form a joint delegation with other opposition parties to attend the conference during his talks with Ahmad Jarba, the SNC president.
Analysts say it will be extremely difficult for the SNC to form any such delegation, considering that its "foreign" background has been rejected by many opposition parties in Syria.
[AP]by AJE Staff October 6 at 3:29 PM 
A German magazine is quoting Syria's President Bashar Assad as saying he has made mistakes and that no side in his country's civil war is entirely free of blame.
In an advance version of an interview to be published Sunday, Der Spiegel also quotes Assad as saying he doesn't believe in a negotiated peace with armed opposition groups.by Philippa Stewart October 6 at 3:25 AM- Here is a round-up of the main lines coming out of Syria today:
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that heavy shelling took place in Al Mitras this morning, a small coastal town that suffered a violent massacre last May which resulted in the deaths of 248 people. This morning’s shelling began at 6am local, killing 6 civilians, the observatory says. Communication lines have been cut off from the town since the early afternoon.
- Heavy fighting took place today in Jobar between regime and rebel forces, you can see a video of this in the post below.
- A general strike was underway in Azaz on the Syrian/Turkish border, where some rebel groups are calling for ISIS to leave the town and release all hostages.
- A Polish photojournalist kidnapped in Syria in July is alive, Poland's foreign affairs minister announced. Radoslaw Sikorski confirmed to radio RMF FM that Marcin Suder was "alive" but said he could not give any details about his health or whereabouts for his "own good".
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by Philippa Stewart October 6 at 1:30 AM - This video from Jobar reportedly shows rebel fighters engaged in gun fire with Syrian forces.
by Philippa Stewart October 6 at 1:23 AM - About 150 Syrians, mostly from villages near Syria's Aleppo, prefer to settle in the central Turkish capital instead of refugee camps run by the Turkish government.According to the families, this allows them to make money as daily workers.Most of them collect plastic and paper garbage from the trash cans of buildings for recycling and sell it to make money.
by Philippa Stewart
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[All picture credits: Reuters]by Philippa Stewart October 6 at 12:17 AM - As war rages in Syria, citizens of Aleppo try to continue with their daily lives, struggling to make a living on market stalls and trying to provide for their families.
[All pictures credits: Reuters]
by Philippa Stewart
by Philippa Stewart
by Philippa StewartPreviousNext1of 3by Philippa Stewart October 5 at 10:36 PM - About 400,000 Syrian children have fled into neighbouring Lebanon since the start of the conflict.
But the United Nations says less than a quarter are getting any formal education.Many of those unable to go to school are now on the streets working to survive.Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr reports from Beirut, Lebanon.
by Philippa Stewart October 5 at 10:05 PM - Syrian government forces shelled a vulnerable Sunni community in a coastal province dominated by President Bashar Assad's Alawite sect on Saturday, activists said, raising fears that residents of the isolated town could face mass killings by pro-Damascus armed groups.
[Source: AP]by Philippa Stewart October 5 at 9:06 PM
More than two million Syrians are refugees mostly in neighbouring countries and the UN says European nations should do more to help.Refugee groups claim France is not living up to its international obligations, while the country promises to accept more people.Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland reports from Paris.by Philippa Stewart October 5 at 12:00 AM
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