That something utterly appalling happened outside the Syrian city of Houla on Friday is beyond doubt.

Government forces executed entire families in their homes as part of the crackdown on the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, UN investigators have found.

As one of Israel’s staunchest opponents in the Middle East, Syria has long held a difficult position internationally. Following the government’s repressive response to 2011’s pro-democracy demonstrations, the nation has become increasingly isolated.

Security forces killed at least 10 people in fighting across Syria yesterday, activists said, as the Red Cross and Arab League warned that the conflict is becoming a civil war.

Amid more violence and calls for a boycott, only a trickle of voters turn out in restive provinces

Foreign Secretary William Hague today welcomed the conviction of former Liberian President Charles Taylor for crimes against humanity.

At least 35 people were reported dead by the Local Co-ordination Committees in shelling in the Mashaa al-Arbaeen suburb of Hama yesterday, a day after the UN team visited the city and activists said tanks had been hidden from view.

Whether the Syrian ceasefire holds may be the question that most of the world is asking at the moment. But, renewed firing or not, another question remains: can the opposition unseat the Assad family and change power in Syria? Kofi Annan has been trying to do more than just produce a ceasefire. He has been attempting a diplomatic solution to the growing civil war in the country. He's called his a "peace plan" and bent his efforts to try to bring all the parties, outside and inside the country, into a common consensus.

David Cameron urged Russia and China today to join the world in “tightening the noose” around the Syrian regime after a key deadline passed.

From the beginning, one of the greatest fears about the Syrian crisis has been that the civil war inside the country would spread beyond Syria, along the familiar political and religious faultlines of the Middle East. This week's overspill of violence into Turkey and Lebanon is a grim sign that this may be starting to happen – just as the conflict itself seems further from resolution than ever.

The government's use of brutal tactics means that it is always creating fresh enemies

Teachers vote to boycott inspections

Syrian President accused of accelerating violence as international ceasefire deadline looms

World View: Commentators who portray him as a self-serving demagogue are only showing their own biases