Intense airstrikes overnight drove Syrian rebels back from the edge of Hama, a major city whose fall would pile pressure on President Bashar al-Assad, both sides said on Wednesday.

Iranian FM says Tehran will consider sending troops if Damascus asks; Israel said to fear chemical weapons could fall into wrong hands during takeover of regime military facilities

Syrian anti-regime forces close in on Hama, Syria’s fourth-largest city, after the capture of Aleppo shifted the dynamics in the country’s