The U.N. organization assisting in investigating the most serious crimes in Syria says the country’s new authorities were “very receptive” to its request for cooperation during a just-concluded visit to Damascus — and it is preparing to deploy.

The Pentagon announced the US currently has “approximately 2,000” troops in Syria, more than double the previously disclosed number of 900, a Defense Department spokesperson said at a press briefing on Thursday.

Sarah Latifa had feared that her Christian community in Syria may struggle to celebrate its first Christmas since Islamist-led rebels toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad earlier this month.

Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in Christian areas of Damascus on early Tuesday to protest the burning of a Christmas tree near Hama in central Syria, AFP journalists witnessed.

U.S. diplomats visiting Damascus held Washington's first in-person official meetings with Syria's new de facto rulers led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham on Friday and discussed with the former al Qaeda affiliate the future of Syria's political transition.

STORY: Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa – also known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani – in Damascus on Sunday, Turkey’s foreign ministry said.Sharaa is the leader of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham,

The first U.S. diplomats to visit Syria since President Bashar Assad's ouster earlier this month are in Damascus to hold talks with the country's new leadership and seek information on the whereabouts

Christmas Mass in Damascus, Syria Christians in Syria attend Mass in a Damascus church to celebrate Christmas. #christmas #syria #live ------------------------------------------------------ LiveTube | Latest Breaking News and Live Video Pioneering LIve News.

With the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, the scale of his regime's mass killings and executions are coming to light more and more each day. The United Nations said this week the new Syrian government was receptive to receiving help gathering evidence and prosecuting individuals responsible for war crimes.

The Sudanese government has suspended its participation in the global hunger-monitoring system on the eve of a report that’s expected to show famine spreading across the country, a step likely to undercut efforts to address one of the world’s largest hunger crises.

Tensions in northeast Syria between Kurdish-led authorities and Turkish-backed groups should be resolved politically or risk "dramatic consequences" for all of Syria, the United Nations envoy for the country Geir Pedersen told Reuters on Monday.