Hezbollah has declared its allegiance to Syria, vowing not to let it fall to the US or Israel.

Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese militant group is quoted as saying:

"A large number [of rebels] were preparing to capture villages inhabited by Lebanese... so it was normal to offer every possible and necessary aid to help the Syrian army,"

See the BBC for full report.

President Barack Obama indicated that military action against Syria would be considered if the reports of chemical weapons deployed by the Assad regime were substantiated.

Obama reiterated that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would be a “game changer” but noted that the United States did not fully know who used them or when they were used.

Speaking about the possible event that it was established that the Syrian government had used the chemical weapons, Obama said,

“we would have to rethink the range of options that are available to us.”

Though the Obama administration long ago called for Assad to step down, they have refrained from sending US military aid and resources to aid the rebels in Syria directly.

The trial of former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt has resumed this week, after a 12-day suspension over procedural matters.

Earlier Rios Montt and his co-defendant Jose Rodriguez Sanchez were left without lawyers to represent their case after they argued the trial should be annulled. Meanwhile relatives of victims and other rights groups held several protests demanding the trial be resumed.

Jackie McVicar, Programs Coordinator for the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Solidarity Network, stated,

“People are pretty furious about how this happened. So many people believe there could be justice in Guatemala”

“This is like another layer into the defence trying to create a web, a legal web that’s going to take forever to untangle”.

Amnesty International researcher Sebastian Elgueta also commented, saying,

“The idea that you can avoid prosecution for something like genocide and crimes against humanity by ensuring a procedural mess is something that goes against the basic principles of justice and human rights”.

The Syrian Prime Minister has narrowly escaped a bomb attack in the capital Damascus on Monday.

Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi’s convoy was targeted by a car bomb at a busy intersection, reportedly leaving his bodyguard dead and several casualties.

In an interview broadcast by state media, purpotedly filmed after the attack, al-Halqi appeared shaken but unharmed.

There are conflicting reports over whether it was a suicide attack or a bomb placed under a car.

Read more here.

Human rights groups have called on the UK government to end its policy of recruiting soldiers under 18.

In a report published last week, Child Soldiers International and ForcesWatch said the British army is wasting up to £94m a year training recruits under 18. The UK is the only member or the EU and the permanent member of the UN Security Council to allow its armed forces to recruit those under 18.

"Recruiting minors into the army is a practice from a bygone era," said David Gee of Forces Watch. "It's not just young recruits who pay the price for outdated MoD policies - taxpayers do too."

The Ministry of Defence rejected the report and said it will not change its recruitment policy.

"We take pride in the fact that our armed forces provide challenging and constructive education, training, and employment opportunities for young people equipping them with valuable and transferable skills," it said in a statement.

"We remain fully committed to meeting our obligations under the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, and have taken steps to bestow special safeguards on young people under the age of 18."

"The new mission represents a fresh start for the UN in Somalia and a renewed commitment by th Council to support Somali-owned peace-building,"

"Its role is to act as an enabler, helping create and galvanaise the political and strategic environment in which stablisation and peace building can proceed."

Photograph YemenTimes

Thousands of people from South Yemen, came out on the streets carrying flags of the former Southern Yemen state and holding photographs of the former Southern President Ali Salem Al-Beidh on Sunday, to mark the 19th anniversary of the declaration of war in 1994. The North declared war against the South, after Al-Beidh announced the South's secession from the North.

Addressing the gathered crowds, Colonel Nasser Al-Nawba, the founder of the Southern Movement, or Hirak, said:

“We did our best to maintain peaceful protests in spite of the large number of participants who gathered in Aden to commemorate this painful anniversary,”

“The 1994 war was unjust, killed thousands of innocent people and imposed the unity on us."

Referring to efforts to bring the two sides closer together via the National Dialogue Conference, Al-Nawba said:

“We respect the opinions presented in the NDC to solve the Southern Issue, including federalism, but we demand self-determination and separation to regain our state. Then we can start the dialogue. Otherwise, it’s impossible to agree to any other solutions.”

Southern representatives took the NDC by surprise, launching a sit-in protest to mark the 19th anniversary of the declaration of war. They called on the Yemeni government to issue a formal apology for the war crimes committed against the South during the war in order for meaningful dialogue. See video of protest here.

The head of Nepal at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has warned against the prospect of handing suspected war criminals amnesty, after a decade long civil war in the country.

Nepal’s government, which includes former Maoists, has set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission as part of a Comprehensive Peace Accord to investigate human rights violations in the country. However, a vaguely worded clause may allow potential human rights abusers to walk free. 

Sabina Lauber, in charge of Nepal at the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, sais to Reuters,

"The state of Nepal has an obligation to investigate the truth and prosecute those responsible for grave human rights violations”.

"Amnesty prevents genuine peace and risks new conflict."

"Victims don't forget these crimes."

The Israeli military has said it will stop using white phosphorus in artillery shells.

The government has been under severe criticism from human rights groups after it was used during the Gaza conflict, where an unknown number of civilians were killed and injured in attacks using the chemical.

The chemical is usually used to create smoke screens in battlefields but can also cause severe injuries to people. International law bans the use of white phosphorus against civilian forces or in air attacks against enemy forces in civilian areas.

A court in Bosnia has ordered the detainment of the President of the autonomous Bosniak-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Hercegovinaon charges of corruption.

President Zivko Budimir was arrested on Friday and accused by prosecutors of taking bribes to pardon convicts.

Meanwhile the President's party, the Party of Justice and Trust, has accused the state's prosecutors of "meddling in politics".

Bosnia is split into two autonomous regions - the Bosniak-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Hercegovina, and the Bosnian Serb Republic (Republika Srpska). Whilst each has its own president, government, parliament, police and other state bodies, there remains a central Bosnian government and alternating presidency.

Clashes in China’s Xinjiang province between Chinese and Uighurs have left 21 people dead, 15 of which were Chinese officials.

The Chinese authorities said the violence erupted after security forces conducted operations against “terrorist cells”.

But exiled Uighur groups said the clashes were caused when armed Chinese killed a young Uighur.

The US has urged China to investigate the violence and give due protection to all Chinese citizens, including Uighurs.

"We urge the Chinese authorities to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation of this incident," State Department spokesperson Patrick Ventrell said.

He Uighurs should be provided with all the protections "to which they are entitled not only under Chinese constitutional laws but the international human rights commitments as well".

The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that armed drones in Afghanistan have been operated from RAF bases in the UK for the first time.

Defence officials say the Reaper drones are mainly used for surveillance but can also make use of 500lb bombs and Hellfire missiles.

Campaigners have protested against the use of drones in armed conflicts.

Chris Nineham of the Stop the War Coalition, said:

"I think people feel that there is something sinister and disturbing about the idea that someone can attack a foreign country thousands of miles away with, simply, the push of a button and this technology that is being introduced is giving carte blanche to governments to fight wars behind the backs of people with no public scrutiny or accountability.”

Read more here.

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2099 on Thursday, which reaffirmed the people of Western Sahara's right to self-determination and extended the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) by another year,

Resolution 2099 called on "all parties to cooperate fully with the operations of MINURSO, including its free interaction with all interlocutors, and to take the necessary steps to ensure the security of as well as unhindered movement and immediate access for the United Nations and associated personnel in carrying out their mandate, in conformity with existing agreements;"

See full resolution here.

Two Tibetan monks have died after setting themselves alight at the at the Kirti monastery in Aba county, Southern China earlier this week, protesting against Chinese rule.

The recent deaths mean that more than 100 Tibetans have self-immolated in protest since 2011. They were identified as Lobsang Dawa, 20, and Konchog Woeser, 23.

Speaking on the immolations Free Tibet director Eleanor Byrne-Rosengren said,

“All the Tibetans who resort to self-immolation do so because they feel they have no other way to make China and the world listen to their country’s call for freedom”.