Un Syria Mission

A UN security team was fired at on Tuesday while on a reconnaissance mission in the Syrian town of Douma to prepare the deployment of experts investigating an alleged chemical attack, officials said.

Syria has agreed to grant visas to 47 UN staff members following months of haggling that have undermined UN relief efforts in the war-torn country, the UN aid chief said Thursday.

UN peacekeepers serving in the Golan saw drones flying before an Israeli air strike on Syria that killed an Iranian general, a UN spokesman said on Monday.

For four decades, a multinational United Nations mission has quietly monitored the sleepy Golan Heights - providing a symbol of stability between bitter enemies as it enforced a truce between Israel and Syria.

A joint mission of the United Nations and the global anti-chemical arms watchdog that has overseen the destruction of Syria's toxic gas stocks will shut down on Sept. 30 though a successor unit will continue investigating, the UN chief said.

The advance of the Al-Qaeda splinter group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and its allies towards Baghdad appears to have been "stalled" but the "grave" situation in Iraq needs to be dealt with militarily as well as politically, a top UN official has said.

Syrian activists and officials said mortars were fired early on Saturday in the besieged Old Homs district in violation of a ceasefire that is intended to allow the evacuation of civilians and delivery of aid to people trapped in central neighbourhoods.

The world's chemical weapons watchdog called for temporary truces to meet tight disarmament deadlines in Syria, where fresh bloodshed served as a deadly reminder of the mission's difficulties.

UN experts charged with starting the process of verifying and eliminating chemical weapons arrived in Syria today for the mission endorsed by the UN Security Council.

United Nations chemical weapons inspectors investigating allegations of chemical and biological weapons use during Syria's civil war left Damascus today after their second mission in two months, witnesses said.

UN inspectors arrived on Sunday in the Syrian capital on a mission to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons, as Syria's government vowed to fully cooperate with them.

The United States on Monday said it was "highly inappropriate" for Iran to take over the rotating chair of the UN Conference on Disarmament this month and vowed that its ambassador would boycott any meeting led by the Tehran.

The Security Council will let the mandate for the UN military observer mission in Syria expire on Sunday and will back a new civilian office there to support UN and Arab League efforts to end the country's 18-month conflict.

Syrian rebel forces were bracing today for the "mother of all battles" in Aleppo, as the former UN observer mission chief said President Bashar al-Assad's fall was a matter of time.

Syria is now in a full-scale civil war, UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said, as the United States voiced fears the UN mission in the country may not survive once its mandate expires in July.

A UN security team was fired at on Tuesday while on a reconnaissance mission in the Syrian town of Douma to prepare the deployment of experts investigating an alleged chemical attack, officials said.

Syria has agreed to grant visas to 47 UN staff members following months of haggling that have undermined UN relief efforts in the war-torn country, the UN aid chief said Thursday.

UN peacekeepers serving in the Golan saw drones flying before an Israeli air strike on Syria that killed an Iranian general, a UN spokesman said on Monday.

For four decades, a multinational United Nations mission has quietly monitored the sleepy Golan Heights - providing a symbol of stability between bitter enemies as it enforced a truce between Israel and Syria.

A joint mission of the United Nations and the global anti-chemical arms watchdog that has overseen the destruction of Syria's toxic gas stocks will shut down on Sept. 30 though a successor unit will continue investigating, the UN chief said.

The advance of the Al-Qaeda splinter group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and its allies towards Baghdad appears to have been "stalled" but the "grave" situation in Iraq needs to be dealt with militarily as well as politically, a top UN official has said.

Syrian activists and officials said mortars were fired early on Saturday in the besieged Old Homs district in violation of a ceasefire that is intended to allow the evacuation of civilians and delivery of aid to people trapped in central neighbourhoods.

The world's chemical weapons watchdog called for temporary truces to meet tight disarmament deadlines in Syria, where fresh bloodshed served as a deadly reminder of the mission's difficulties.

UN experts charged with starting the process of verifying and eliminating chemical weapons arrived in Syria today for the mission endorsed by the UN Security Council.

United Nations chemical weapons inspectors investigating allegations of chemical and biological weapons use during Syria's civil war left Damascus today after their second mission in two months, witnesses said.

UN inspectors arrived on Sunday in the Syrian capital on a mission to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons, as Syria's government vowed to fully cooperate with them.

The United States on Monday said it was "highly inappropriate" for Iran to take over the rotating chair of the UN Conference on Disarmament this month and vowed that its ambassador would boycott any meeting led by the Tehran.

The Security Council will let the mandate for the UN military observer mission in Syria expire on Sunday and will back a new civilian office there to support UN and Arab League efforts to end the country's 18-month conflict.

Syrian rebel forces were bracing today for the "mother of all battles" in Aleppo, as the former UN observer mission chief said President Bashar al-Assad's fall was a matter of time.

Syria is now in a full-scale civil war, UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said, as the United States voiced fears the UN mission in the country may not survive once its mandate expires in July.