A suicide car bomb tore through the parking lot of a military compound in Syria's eastern city of Deir el-Zour this morning, the latest in a wave of blasts targeting security agencies in recent months, the country's state media reported. 

The Syrian regime was accused yesterday of playing a cat-and-mouse game with international observers as it hid tanks and used gunfire to hold back demonstrators when the UN team toured the restive city of Hama, while the presence of the handful of monitors did little to quell violence elsewhere in the country.

Five UN truce monitors ventured yesterday into one of the hardest-hit strongholds of the Syrian uprising and were thronged by residents clamouring for foreign military aid to oust President Bashar Assad.

Two vehicles carrying UN truce monitors sped away from a large crowd of Syrian anti-regime protesters today when what sounded like a gunshot rang out in a Damascus suburb they were touring, according to amateur video posted online.

Syrian government forces are pounding a rebel stronghold with mortar fire, activists said today, violating a week-old ceasefire the international community is reluctant to declare dead despite ongoing violence.

Russia and China fall into line – but Ban Ki-moon admits fallout from conflict could spread through the region

Illegal arrests, revenge attacks and deaths following torture in secret prisons are continuing in Libya by armed militias with the new government failing to establish an effective judicial system, according to the Secretary General of the United Nations.

Google is commemorating International  Women’s Day with a colourful ‘doodle’ made up of symbols representing women.

The London Conference on Somalia has received a surprising amount of publicity at a time when economic turmoil in Greece and unrest in Syria are pressing international concerns.

British backing for African forces tackling Islamist insurgents will be doubled today as more than 50 countries head to London to discuss ways of stabilising the country.

Cameron appeals for help dealing with young people whose minds have been 'poisoned'

The UN Secretary-General accused the Syrian regime of potential crimes against humanity as activists reported violence in Deraa, the city where the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began 11 months ago.

Syrian forces fired mortars and rockets that killed scores of people in the rebellious city of Homs, activists said, the latest strike in a week-long assault as President Bashar Assad's regime tries to crush increasingly militarized pockets of dissent.

Britain's ambassador to Syria has hit out at the regime's “shocking” violence against its own people.