UN observers leave Syria, but not Assad

On the same day as United Nations observers pulled out of Syria, President Barack Obama issued a warning to the regime of Bashar al-Assad that the US would respond to any use of biological or chemical weapons. The regime and its loyalists, however, showed no willingness to back down in its efforts to quash any opposition killing as many as 30 in ongoing fighting.

In other developments, a German newspaper has claimed that the government is providing military intelligence to the Syrian rebels.