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Posted August 29, 2013 -  Updated August 30, 2013 -  See "Note from Tom" below. © BBC News See also  -  Syria: Reports of 'napalm-like' bomb attack:  Video - Note from Tom There appears to be a consensus (see comments below) that the video above is propaganda and a staged event in support of the Syrian rebels. I can neither confirm or deny that the report is valid, but I do agree that the reporter appears to attribute the attack to a Syrian fighter jet, without providing any evidence to support his conclusion. What is beyond debate is that a great many people have died and an even greater number have suffered and or witnessed suffering beyond what can be described as civilized behavior in this war on the Syrian people. What I find objectionable about some of the comments, is that we prefer to blame one side or the other rather than empathize with those on whom this tragedy is inflected. It would appear we are more interested in attributing responsibility...

(Reuters) - An al Qaeda affiliate threatened a " Volcano of Revenge" against Syrian government security and military targets in retaliation for a suspected poison attack near Damascus, the SITE Monitoring Group reported late on Tuesday. A branch of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) said in a statement it would punish Syria for a series of massacres, including last week's alleged chemical weapons attack, after meeting eight Syrian factions. "The meeting factions decided to carry out the " Volcano of Revenge" invasion in response to the regime's massacres against our people in Eastern Ghouta, the last of which was the chemical weapons massacre," SITE quoted the statement, dated August 26, as saying. "They have decided to strike the main joints of the regime in imprisoned Damascus, including security branches, support and supply points, training centres, and infrastructure," it said. The United States and its allies are gea...

(Reuters) - A team of U.N. investigators has finished gathering evidence related to a suspected chemical weapons attack that killed hundreds of people in suburbs near Damascus last week, but will need time to complete its analysis, the world body said on Friday. The announcement the U.N. inspectors will not be releasing their findings immediately came as Washington suggested the U.N. investigation would have no bearing on its decision about whether to attack Syria in retaliation for the alleged poison gas attack on civilians. Russia , diplomats said, was hoping to use the time needed to complete the U.N. probe to slow down any push for air strikes. U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said the inspectors would be leaving Syria on Saturday but would return later to investigate several other alleged poison gas attacks that have taken place in Syria during the country's 2-1/2-year civil war. "The samples that have been collected will be taken to be analyzed in designated laboratories...

Interior ministry says riot police officer was shot while on patrol in increasingly restive city of El-Arish. Gunmen have killed a police officer in Egypt's restive Sinai peninsula, according to the interior ministry. A riot police officer was shot in the chest on Friday while on patrol in the city of El-Arish, the ministry said in a statement released on Saturday. Attacks against security forces on the peninsula have increased since a July 3 military coup deposed President Mohamed Morsi. Since then, his supporters have been organizing regular protests calling for his return. Meanwhile, the health ministry raised the toll in Friday's violence to eight people killed and 221 injured, most of them in clashes between Morsi supporters and local residents. Those killed included two police officers shot in a drive-by shooting which targeted their police station in Cairo. Violence in Egypt peaked on August 14 when police, backed by snipers and bulldozers, attacked two Muslim B...

Russian leader says evidence must be provided to UN and denounces idea that Syria carried out gas attack as "nonsense". Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has demanded that the United States provide any evidence of the Syrian government's alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians to the UN Security Council. Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Putin told journalists that the proof should be shown to UN inspectors and the Security Council, adding that it would be "utter nonsense" for the Syrian government to have used such weapons. "Syrian government troops are on the offensive and have surrounded the opposition in several regions. In these conditions, to give a trump card to those who are calling for a military intervention is utter nonsense," Putin told reporters in Vladivostok city near the China border. Putin's comments came as the US made it clear that it would punish Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for a "brutal and flagran...

Teams finish gathering evidence of alleged gas attack near Damascus, though UN says sample analysis may take weeks. UN chemical weapons inspectors, in Syria to probe an alleged poison gas attack that killed hundreds, have left Damascus for Beirut, having completed four days of site visits and evidence-gathering, witnesses and officials say. The experts departed their hotel in the Syrian capital on Saturday morning, after having carried out a final day of inspections on Friday. The inspectors are seeking to determine what exactly happened in an alleged chemical weapons strike that killed hundreds in the Damascus suburbs on August 21. The 13 inspectors, led by Ake Sellstrom, were seen loading their luggage into seven UN vehicles before setting off from their hotel, an AFP correspondent said. The departure of the UN experts has heightened expectations of a possible international military strike against government forces. UN officials say it may take weeks to analyse the samples gather...

New satellite photos suggest construction work has been halted for the last eight months at a key North Korean launch site intended to test bigger and more advanced rockets. The 38 North research institute says North Korea had been making rapid progress on building a launch pad, control center, and missile assembly building at the Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground on the northeast coast. This May 26, 2013 satellite image taken by Astrium, and annotated and distributed by 38 North shows an unfinished new launch pad, center, at the Tonghae facility in North Korea. (AP Photo/Astrium - 38 North) x T his May 26, 2013 satellite image taken by Astrium, and annotated and distributed by 38 North shows an unfinished new launch pad, center, at the Tonghae facility in North Korea. (AP Photo/Astrium - 38 North) ​ Commercial satellite images taken late last year showed that construction mysteriously stopped. The U.S.-based institute initially said the projects may have been temp...

CONAKRY — Authorities in Guinea on Thursday identified bodies of people hacked and burned to death and rounded up dozens of suspects after days of ethnic clashes killed 58 people and injured at least 160, officials said. Residents said that towns in southeastern Guinea where the military has moved in to restore order were mostly calm after days of violence between rival communities. The violence erupted after a man accused of being a thief was lynched on Sunday. It took place against a background of preparations for long-delayed legislative elections that are meant to end years of transition back to civilian rule after a 2008 military coup. "We have identified 58 dead up until now but calm has returned," government spokesman Damantan Albert Camara said. "The number of arrests has doubled," he added. "The security forces have detained about 100 people. Some of them were armed with machetes when they were arrested." A local radio journalist, who asked to re...