The reports of a chemical weapons attack on the outskirts of Damascus has caused condemnation from around the world, with Russia backing a UN investigation into the claims and US President Obama calling it a “grave concern”.
The influx of Syrian refugees into the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq in recent days has left the aid agencies struggling to provide health care for the new arrivals.
Rebel activists in Syria are reporting that chemical weapons attacks by Assad’s forces have killed hundreds of people on the outskirts of Damascus.
Tensions between al-Qaeda’s two branches fighting in Syria – Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and Jabhat al-Nusra – are reaching a breaking point, despite efforts to resolve the dispute from the organization’s international leadership.
Assad’s government are increasingly preventing humanitarian aid and medical supplies reaching opposition-controlled areas of the country.