Damascus

Iran blames armed groups for the incident and claims they know the whereabouts of the abductors.

Assad forces hit back against rebels in Aleppo and Damascus as civilian death toll mounts.

Resolution criticises President Bashar al-Assad for using heavy weapons in Damascus and Aleppo.

UN General Assembly set to vote on new proposals against President Bashar al-Assad's regime - but reports suggest the new draft has been watered down.

Hospitals and makeshift clinics in Aleppo are flooded with bodies and injured people.

US says Assad's regime 'is coming to an end' and 'has lost all legitimacy'

UN special envoy Kofi Annan fears imminent massacre in Aleppo.

Dozens of rebels belonging to the Free Syrian Army believed killed or wounded in Aleppo.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says it is not possible to remain mute spectators to the carnage in Syria's largest city.

Syrian regime deploys tanks, helicopter gunships and aircraft along with scores of troops in Aleppo.

Further exodus expected following departure of more than 150 observers.

Ambassadors to Cyprus and the UAE abandon Assad's regime and flee to Qatar.

The Syrian regime has five chemical agents plants and several dozen additional storage sites some of which are in hardened bunkers.

Syrian forces' fighter jets seen flying over the region while scores of troops have been storming Aleppo.

Assad's forces detained, tortured and sexually abused children while the rebels used them and failed to protect them, says report.

Government troops also fighting back in border areas, while thousands of civilians flee to Turkey and Lebanon.

Violent clashes between Syrian rebels and the regime's forces have now reached Aleppo.

Fighting continues in Damascus, with government troops withdrawing in several areas.

Syrian strongman not seen in public since rebels took fight to heart of Damascus.

Clashes between Syrian rebels and the government forces continue in the capital.

1,000 rebels use grenades against regime tanks in Syrian capital.

After bombing the region from helicopters, Syrian forces reportedly carried out execution-style killings slaughtering women and children.

Shelling of Lebanon from Syria raises the spectre of the conflict escalating and dragging in neighbouring countries where Syrians have taken refuge from the brutal Assad regime.

Clinton's remark that China and Russia are holding up progress on Syria, draws flak.

Turkey maintains fighter jet in international airspace when it was shot down but Damascus claims it was in Syrian airspace.

As violence escalates, London and Washington seek immediate steps to tackle the situation.

Pictures including women and children being slaughtered during the more-than-a-year-long bloodshed.

UN acknowledges uprising has reached scale of civil war, as Assad's forces try to recapture swathes of cities taken by rebel troops.

Team investigating slaughter of civilians in Hama escape injury in attack as UN chief Ban Ki-Moon and special envoy Kofi Annan warn of civil war.

Assad blames the 'outside forces' for the current Syrian crisis and largely defended the regime.