Threat to Assad remains despite Homs victory

President Bashar al-Assad said his regime has conquered the "conspiracy" against it, even as rebels overran the capital of Raqa province and captured its governor in the biggest success of their revolt.

David Cameron pledged Monday to redouble efforts for a negotiated settlement to the Syrian crisis, saying he no longer believed that the rebels could overthrow President Bashar al-Assad outright. The pledge came as gruesome video emerged. The video shows a rebel militia leader from Homs, Khaled al-Hamad, or “Abu Saqqar,” cutting the heart and liver out of a corpse.

Syrian rebels on Sunday launched a surprise dawn attack on Baba Amr, a former rebel stronghold in the central city of Homs, a year after it was taken by the army in a bloody battle, a monitoring group said. "At dawn, the rebels launched a surprise attack on Baba Amr, which they have entered," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman, who was in contact with the rebels, told AFP.

Syrian rebels on Sunday launched a surprise dawn attack on Baba Amr, a former rebel stronghold in the central city of Homs, a year after it was taken by the army in a bloody battle, a monitoring group said. "At dawn, the rebels launched a surprise attack on Baba Amr, which they have entered," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman, who was in contact with the rebels, told AFP.

Many of the latest reports out of Syria indicate that President Bashar al-Assad has regained the upper hand against the rebels. And the UN special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, said as much on Tuesday when he acknowledged that the regime "may be able to hold onto power for now."

WASHINGTON – Pressure on the United States to send military aid to Syrian rebels increased Thursday after the White House disclosed that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons “on a small scale” in the Syrian civil war. U.S. President Barack Obama has repeatedly stated publicly that the use of chemical weapons would be a “game changer” and would “cross a red line,” but he has never specified the consequences.

Israeli military official says Assad has used chemical arms in civil war

British Prime Minister David Cameron, in DC to meet with President Barack Obama, told reporters today that Syria’s history was being written in the blood of her people — and that it’s happening on our watch.