The country's future must be determined by Syrians

Heavy air strikes and clashes hit the Syrian rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta ahead of an urgent UN Security Council meeting on the escalating violence.

More than 50 State Department diplomats signs an internal memo sharply critical of US policy in Syria, calling for military strikes against President Bashar al-Assad's government to stop its persistent violations of a cease-fire in the country's civil war.

With the advent of the Syrian civil war and the unfolding migrants tragedy in the Mediterranean Sea basin, the world is witnessing a significant rise in the number of humanitarian crises.

The UN says it plans to deliver aid to about 150,000 Syrians in besieged areas over the next five days amid a partial truce in the country's civil war.

Defeating ISIL will be an impossible task because of differences in the strategies of the players engaged in Syria. ISIL cannot be eliminated by bombs. It can be dismantled only by ground forces, which none of the western nations are willing to commit at this stage.