Despite the legal and political barriers to prosecution, human rights experts are optimistic that al-Assad and regime officials could one day be held accountable for their crimes in a court of law. Vi

In a country of 25 million with almost 75 percent Sunnis and only about 15 percent Alawite Shia Muslims, the Assad regime of the Alawite minority was sustained over half a century by brutal repression.

Rome announced the return of a resident ambassador to Damascus, becoming the first European Union and G7 country to re-establish contact with the overthrown Syrian regime.

Syria’s ousted president Bashar al-Assad was in Moscow to attend a ceremony marking his son Hafez’s receipt of a PhD in mathematics when opposition forces