World View: A military stalemate between the government and rebels will make a negotiated settlement inevitable – but not for a long time

In his final dispatch from Syria, Patrick Cockburn reports from Maloula on the plight of the country's Christian minority, who fear an end to the fighting more than the war itself

World View: The world decided to back the rebels last week, but this is no fight between goodies and baddies

Foreign Ministry insists that top diplomat’s claim of policy change 'was misinterpreted'

Syria has been gripped by the mystery of the missing foreign ministry spokesman. So what's the truth?

At Tishreen hospital, the army’s wounded lie in shock and pain, but they still want to defeat ‘the terrorists’

The city brutalised by Assad is calm. But this is no easy peace

Government forces may have retreated but it seems their tactic is to strengthen the areas that they believe they can hold

World View: In a special dispatch, our reporter files from amid the 'vicious and unrelenting fighting' that is tearing the country apart

The extent of the violence is both exaggerated and understated by rumour or propaganda