Dera'a

Senior Syrian Rebel Commander Killed in Clashes

Yasser al-Aboud was one of the first Syrian army commanders to defect to the armed rebel movement.

Syrian Army regulars launched an assault Saturday on rebel-held parts of Homs, while continuing to bomb areas in Damascus and Aleppo.

March 2013 was the bloodiest month yet in the two year-long Syrian civil war, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Heavy fighting continues in Damascus, Aleppo and along Syria's border with Turkey, as the UN notes Syrians may be hungry for a year to come.

Government troops continued to shell civilians with heavy artillery on Sunday in a civil war now being monitored by the United Nations.

Heavy fighting is reported on the streets of Damascus, with battles affecting a power station supplying electricity to army bases.

Syrians cautiously went to the polls Sunday to vote on a new constitution that would keep President Assad in office until 2028.

Four leading anti-government activists were killed Thursday by Assad loyalist forces in an ambush in the northwestern Idlib province.

At least 16 people died Sunday by mid-day in Syria, including two who were tortured by government forces, human rights activists said.

Maher Assad, the brother of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is reported by Arab media as missing.