Damascus

ISTANBUL As the decisive battle for Damascus approaches, the array of Syrian opposition forces facing President Bashar al-Assad appears to share one common trait: Most of the major rebel groups have strong Islamic roots and backing from Muslim neighbors. The Free Syrian Army has developed a rough "order of battle" that describes these rebel groups, their ideology and sources of funding. This report was shared last week with the State Department. It offers a window on a war that, absent some diplomatic miracle, is grinding toward a bloody...

Montgomery County crash investigators could never determine the exact speed Fernando J. Valenzuela was driving the night he rammed a Honda Civic into two men walking along a street, killing one of them. But evidence from the scene offered chilling clues. The hood was crumpled. The windshield was demolished. The belongings of the two victims — Billie Jay Genies and brother James Robert Genies — were scattered after impact. "It knocked both of the brothers out of their shoes,"...

The travel warning on the State Department's Web site ( http://travel.state.gov ) urges travelers to "thoroughly consider the risks" before traveling to Syria. The department is encouraging U.S. citizens to register at the embassy in Damascus, to avoid crowds and demonstrations and to keep a low profile. GETTING THERE: There are no nonstop flights from the Washington area to Syria. British Airways flies round-trip to Damascus from Dulles International via London Heathrow starting at $1,266.

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday for talks that focused on the situation in Syria, amid concerns that Moscow could soon provide Damascus with advanced missiles. Israeli officials have asked Russia to stop what they say is an imminent delivery of Russian S-300 air defense systems to Syria. However, neither leader mentioned the missiles in their brief opening remarks and concluding statements after the talks. They took no questions...

LIKE MANY IN Congress, we were skeptical about President Obama's early policy of attempting to "engage" the Syrian dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad. When Mr. Obama nominated a veteran diplomat , Robert S. Ford, as ambassador to Damascus last year, we didn't oppose his confirmation, but we predicted that the outreach would not work. When Mr. Assad proved that point by responding to peaceful protests with repeated massacres, we suggested a logical U.S. response would be to recall the ambassador, who went to Damascus early this year on a recess appointment.

The Aug. 27 Metro article " Long-brewing fight to soon reach a head " was informative but incomplete. As a concerned Damascus resident, I'd like to ensure that the community is aware that Maryland House Bill 690 , which will govern the sale of alcohol in Damascus if the current ban is repealed, was carefully crafted to make the repeal acceptable to as broad a segment of the community as possible. It would impose significant restrictions on the sale of alcohol in Damascus that are intended to keep alcohol out of the...

There was an unfamiliar guest alongside Joe Rankin in the Seneca Valley offensive backfield in the fourth quarter last night. It was something he and the Screaming Eagles' offense hadn't felt all season: the pressure to produce. Seneca's defense has been so superb all season, shutting out five of its first seven opponents, that the offense could work at its leisure. But with Damascus mounting a furious, emotional comeback, the eighth-ranked Screaming Eagles needed to control the ball, gain some yardage and run out the game's final four...

So much for the soft, gooey center of the Damascus defense. The Swarmin' Hornets stiffened on the penultimate drive of the fourth quarter to snap Sherwood's 18-game regular season football winning streak, 26-22 Friday in Sandy Spring. "They're beatable. We showed that tonight," Damascus senior Brian Lucas said. "We stuck to our game plan, and the fact that it rained was probably in our favor a little bit. " The Warriors (6-1) sought to wear down Damascus' many two-way players, exploiting the strategy...

The buzz before the volleyball season was that there was a young and talented team ready to blossom in Montgomery County other than top-ranked, defending Maryland 4A champion Sherwood . And through the first month of the season, that assessment of Damascus has remained true. The Hornets, one of three remaining undefeated teams in the county, have won all but two sets this season and have displayed remarkable balance. Damascus last reached the state finals in 2006 and the semifinals in 2008 and 2009 — but this...

The momentum was squarely in Clarksburg's favor as last night's girls' basketball game against Damascus slid past the three-minute mark of the fourth quarter. The Coyotes' Tiara Ward had just hit a jumper after picking up a loose ball to put her team up by four points, and the visitors were forcing the Hornets into bad shots. Then the 48-second tidal wave came, and Damascus took back the game on a series of three, lightning-fast baskets that took the Hornets from four points down to four up. From...

GENEVA — Syria's rebels are fragmented into hundreds of armed groups that control swathes of the north, while government forces appear to have consolidated their hold on the capital, a senior Red Cross official said Monday. Marianne Gasser, who left Syria 10 days ago after completing a term as head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) team there, said there had been signs of "more assertiveness" by the government around Damascus since April. Attempts to deliver aid to both...

MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin's talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Russia on Tuesday will focus on the situation in Syria, the Kremlin said, amid growing concerns that Moscow may soon provide Damascus with an advanced anti-aircraft weapon. Israeli officials say Russia is on the verge of selling S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Syria and they have asked Russia to stop supplying Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime with such "game-changing" weapons. ...

REYHANLI, Turkey — Anti-government protests flared for a third day on Monday in Turkish town devastated by two powerful car bombs near the Syrian border, and some Turks accused their leader of putting the nation's security at risk by backing the rebels fighting Syria's government. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey will "not refrain" from responding to twin car bombings it has blamed on Syria, but that his government will be cautious and avoid being drawn into its...

Zalmay Khalilzad was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2007 to 2009. The use of chemical weapons in Syria has increased pressure on President Obama to arm the opposition. Earlier in the conflict, I endorsed such a step . But circumstances have changed. Instead, the United States should focus on working with Russia to disarm Syria. A U.N. Security Council resolution mandating an inspection and disarmament process for Syria could open the door to wider negotiations on a political resolution.

You know you're in trouble when you can't even get your walk-back story straight. Stung by the worldwide derision that met President Obama's fudging and fumbling of his chemical-weapons red line in Syria, the White House leaked to the New York Times that Obama's initial statement had been unprepared, unscripted and therefore unserious. The next day Jay Carney said precisely the opposite: "Red line" was intended and deliberate. Which is it? Who knows? Perhaps Obama used the term last August to look tough, sound like a...

SHANGHAI — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited a Shanghai neighborhood where European Jews found refuge during World War II, saying Israel's strong military would ensure they would never again have to seek such protection from others. Netanyahu's visit to China's eastern financial hub on Tuesday followed Israel's weekend airstrike on a Syrian military complex near Damascus. That killed at least 42 Syrian soldiers and destroyed an Iranian shipment of...

BEIRUT — In his first response to Israel's weekend airstrikes, President Bashar Assad said Tuesday that Syria is capable of facing Israel, but stopped short of threatening retaliation for the strikes near the Syrian capital of Damascus. Assad spoke after a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, who paid an unexpected visit to Damascus. Iran, one of Syria's closest allies, and Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia allied with both Assad and Tehran, have become increasingly...