DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrian officials addressing a rare public forum have revealed the full impact of a drought that ravaged the 2008 wheat crop and displaced hundreds of thousands of people in the east of the country. The officials recommended diversifying the eastern Syrian economy and finding alternatives to subsidized cash crops, whose cultivation has severely depleted water resources, mainly in ...

U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell said Wednesday that Syria and Lebanon were key to achieving peace in the Middle East. Mitchell was in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday and traveled to neighboring Damascus at the start of a regional tour aimed at restarting Middle East ...

Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said at the weekend he was close to reconciling with former arch-foe Syria and dismissed criticism of his latest political about-turn. "I believe that three-quarters of the road to Syria has opened up and what remains is the final gesture which depends on the right moment," said Jumblatt in an interview with AFP at his ...

Lebanon and Syria criticized Tuesday the tight security screening recently introduced by the United States against travelers from the two Arab nations, branding the measures a form of discrimination and warning they might lash back with similar measures. President Barack Obama's administration ordered the changes after the alleged attempt ...