Syria unrest News

UN officials said relief agencies were overwhelmed by the humanitarian crisis as nearly one million civilians, most of them women and children, had fled towards the Turkish border in bitter winter conditions to escape the onslaught.

Syria`s military announced Wednesday it was scaling back its bombardment of rebels in devastated Aleppo, in a surprise move nearly two weeks after declaring an all-out assault to capture the city.

Secretary of State John Kerry called his Russian counterpart to talk about the fighting in Syria on Wednesday, two days after Washington suspended contacts on reviving a ceasefire there.

Russia said Tuesday it has sent an advanced missile system to the Syrian port of Tartus, as tensions escalate between it and the United States over the five-year conflict.

 US agencies are considering "diplomatic, military, intelligence and economic options" to deal with the crisis in Syria, an official said Tuesday, while stressing the need for a "political resolution."

A suicide bomber killed at least 22 people Monday in an attack targeting a party in the northeastern Syrian province of Hasakeh, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and medics said.

Geneva`s main hospital became a fiery inferno on Monday night in a simulation to commemorate the deadly U.S. air strike on a Kunduz hospital in Afghanistan a year ago and to condemn alleged Syrian and Russian bombing of health centres in Aleppo.

The UN Security Council on Monday was weighing a draft resolution aimed at imposing a ceasefire in Aleppo and halting all military flights over Syria`s war-battered city.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault attacked on Monday the "cynicism" of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad`s regime and its Russian ally, while urging support for a new ceasefire.

At the start of that meeting the UN's top envoy to Syria accused the government of unleashing "unprecedented military violence" against civilians in Aleppo.