BEIRUT (Reuters) – Both sides in Syria’s conflict on Wednesday demanded an international inquiry into a deadly attack they each cite as evidence that the other has used chemical weapons.

The deaths of 26 people in a rocket attack on a northern town on Tuesday have become the latest focus of a propaganda war between President Bashar al-Assad’s supporters and opponents, who accuse each other of firing a missile laden with chemicals.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syria’s government and rebels accused each other of launching a deadly chemical attack near the northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday in what would, if confirmed, be the first use of such weapons in the two-year-old conflict.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who has resisted overt military intervention in Syria, has warned Assad in the past that any use of chemical weapons would be a “red line”. There has however been no suggestion of rebels possessing such arms.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syria’s government and rebels accused each other of launching a deadly chemical attack near the northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday in what would, if confirmed, be the first use of such weapons in the two-year-old conflict.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who has resisted overt military intervention in Syria, has warned Assad in the past that any use of chemical weapons would be a “red line”. There has however been no suggestion of rebels possessing such arms.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syria’s foreign minister said on Saturday any discussion of President Bashar al-Assad’s future was “unacceptable”, a week after an international envoy said the president should not be part of a transitional government.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem’s comments showed the government has dug in against foreign pressure for a deal with the rebels fighting to topple Assad.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Twelve people were killed when an explosion rocked a government -held district of the disputed Syrian city of Aleppo on Friday, a monitoring group said, and both sides in the conflict accused the other of mounting the attack.

State television showed the collapsed side of a building and rubble spilling into nearby streets. A crowd sifted through the wreckage as medics loaded bloodied bodies onto stretchers.

BEIRUT/GENEVA, Jan 11 (Reuters) – Rebels seized control of
one of Syria’s largest helicopter bases on Friday, opposition
sources said, in their first capture of a military airfield used
by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

Fighting raged across the country as international mediator
Lakhdar Brahimi sought a political solution to Syria’s civil
war, meeting senior U.S. and Russian officials in Geneva.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Rebels seized a strategic air base in northern Syria on Friday after months of fighting, activists and insurgents said, further weakening President Bashar al-Assad’s grip on the region.

Rebels had fought for the base used by military helicopters in Idlib province for months, but it only fell after Islamist units reinforced them earlier this month.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – For a few fleeting hours, residents of Syria’s capital dropped their guns for snowballs and traded hatred for laughter.

A rare snowfall that covered Damascus in white on Wednesday sparked an overnight outbreak of playfulness among Syrians, who momentarily ignored their bloody civil war and forgot their affiliations as dissidents, loyalists and even soldiers.

CAIRO/BEIRUT, Jan 9 (Reuters) – The U.N. peace envoy for
Syria said on Wednesday that Bashar al-Assad could have no place
in a transitional government to end civil war, the closest he
has come to calling directly for the embattled president to
quit.

A peace plan agreed by major powers in Geneva last year
envisages an interim administration. “Surely he would not be a
member of that government,” U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi told
Reuters in an interview in Cairo.

BEIRUT, Jan 9 (Reuters) – Syrians believe that 40 years of
Assad family rule is too long, the international mediator for
Syria said, the closest he has come to calling directly for
President Bashar al-Assad to leave power.

U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi appears to have been pushed to
take a firmer stance by a speech Assad delivered on Sunday,
which was billed as a new peace proposal but offered no
concessions and included a vow never to talk to foes he branded
terrorists and Western puppets.