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A member of the Free Syrian Army carries an injured civilian after shelling by forces loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad in Aleppo's district of Salah Edinne July 31, 2012. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
- President Bashar al-Assad told his troops on Wednesday that their battle against rebels would determine Syria's fate but his written message gave no clues to his whereabouts two weeks after a bomb attack hit his inner circle.
Assad has not spoken in public since the bombing in Damascus on July 18 killed four of his close security aides although he has been seen on television.
His latest remarks - made as the two sides battled for control of Syria's commercial capital Aleppo - appeared in a statement in the military's magazine to mark armed forces day. www.trust.org - Rebels fighting to depose Syrian president Bashar al Assad have for the first time acquired a small supply of surface-to-air missiles, according to a news report that a Western official did not dispute.
NBC News reported Tuesday night that the rebel Free Syrian Army had obtained nearly two dozen of the weapons, which were delivered to them via neighboring Turkey, whose moderate Islamist government has been demanding Assad's departure with increasing vehemence. www.trust.org - As Aleppo battle rumbles, hospitals and graveyards fill up
Abdelrahman left school at 17 to join the Syrian rebels in Aleppo. His parents never heard he had reached the city until they got the call to pick up his body.
By evening, his father was in the city, standing on a hillside crammed with white tombstones and fresh graves. Abdelrahman's comrades used their bare hands to seal his final resting place, their clothes stained with mud and the boy's blood.
After 17 months of revolt against President Bashar al-Assad's rules, rebel fighters have finally advanced into Syria's largest city.
www.trust.org 
Fleeing civilians walk past a member of the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo's district of Salah Edinne July 31, 2012. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
- Assad says army has proven its resolve in confronting "criminal terrorist gangs", shows it is protecting Syria's values
- President Assad says Syria faces battle that will determine the fate of its people, praises army for confronting "terrorist" enemy
Free Syrian Army members patrol Attarib, on the outskirts of Aleppo province July 30, 2012. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
A woman carries her child while walking through the rubble in Attarib, on the outskirts of Aleppo province July 30, 2012. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
A Free Syrian Army member shows a shell which he said was fired by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces in Attarib, as a boy watches, on the outskirts of Aleppo province July 30, 2012. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
Free Syrian Army members drive past a graffiti which reads: "Al Assad or we burn the country" in Attarib, on the outskirts of Aleppo province July 30, 2012. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
- There are no coloured lights, no crowds of shoppers thronging the markets for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in rebel-held Aleppo. Trash lines the roadsides, and a few worried faces make their way past quickly.
While some Aleppo residents welcome the arrival of the rebels, others seem wary of the ragtag fighters who have seized parts of this ancient city, which for months stood on the sidelines of the 16-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad that has shaken most of the country. www.trust.org - U.N. Chief Ban Ki-Moon: Convoy of head of U.N. observer mission in Syria was attacked Sunday, no injuries due to vehicle armour
- Photo blog from ECHO (European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department)
Over the past 16 months, peaceful demonstrations against the Syrian regime have grown into a full blown conflict affecting almost all of Syria, killing thousands, wounding an unknown number and displacing hundreds of thousands.
According to UNHCR, by 20 July the U.N. agency has registered over 113,000 Syrians who had crossed into neighbouring countries; almost 33,000 of them are in Jordan. www.trust.org 
A Turkish military convoy travels on a main road leading to the southeastern Turkish city of Kilis July 30, 2012. Turkey sent a convoy of about 20 vehicles carrying troops, missile batteries and armoured vehicles to the border with Syria on Monday amid growing concern in Turkey about security on its southern frontier, news reports and witnesses said. It was the latest in a series of deployments in the region in recent weeks. There has been no indication that Turkish forces will cross the border, and the troop movements may be strictly precautionary in the face of spiralling violence in Syria. The convoy left a base in Gaziantep province to head south to Kilis province, where the troops will stay. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Turkish soldiers are seen on an armoured personnel carrier as part of a Turkish military convoy travelling on a main road leading to the southeastern Turkish city of Kilis July 30, 2012. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
A Turkish military convoy stops for a moment while travelling to the border between Turkey and Syria, near the southeastern Turkish city of Kilis July 30, 2012. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
A boy flashes a victory sign next to a damaged house in Deir Balaba, near Homs, July 30, 2012. REUTERS/Shaam News Network/Handout
A Syrian girl rests on a carpet at a garden in Port Said Square in Algiers July 30, 2012. More than 12,000 Syrians fleeing the violence in their home country have sought refuge in Algeria, a source close to the Interior Ministry said on Sunday. REUTERS/Louafi Larbi
A sandstorm is seen over Al Zaatri refugee camp for Syrian refugees in Mafraq on the Jordanian-Syrian border, northeast of Amman, July 30, 2012. REUTERS/Majed Jaber
A Syrian refugee arrives at Al Zaatri refugee camp in Mafraq on the Jordanian-Syrian border, northeast of Amman, July 30, 2012. REUTERS/Majed Jaber
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