Alison Meuse

"Their faces had turned yellow and they had stopped breathing," a Syrian activist tells NPR. "As I'm describing the incident to you now, my hands are shaking. No, my whole body is shaking."

An apparent chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held area of Syria claims the lives of dozens of civilians, including children. The White House blames the Syrian government.

The U.S. considers deploying hundreds more American troops to Syria in the final phase of the war against ISIS — one that could reshape borders and relationships in the Middle East.

Over the past week, normally secure areas of Damascus, Syria have been hit by deadly explosions. It could signal a push by a powerful jihadist coalition to shape the direction of the conflict.

A U.N. commission accuses Russian-backed Syrian forces and rebel factions of war crimes in Aleppo. Civilians "were increasingly left vulnerable to repeated violations by all sides," the report says.

Activists say more than 300,000 people have been detained over the course of Syria's civil war. A Syrian lawyer is trying to get the plight of detainees on the agenda at peace talks.

As Syrian forces advanced on rebel-held areas, many rebels and others fled to Syria's northern countryside. But that area could be next on the government's strategic map.

In some areas of Syria, local truces have averted deadly military takeovers. But in a suburb north of Damascus, rebel fighters say their departure resulted more from coercion than negotiation.

After a week of heavy fighting and shelling, evacuations have begun in the besieged city of Aleppo. A few thousand people have been able to leave, but still many are trapped in the eastern part of the Syrian city.

Wounded fighters, their families and civilians boarded buses for evacuation from the besieged city of Aleppo, Syria. The shaky cease-fire appeared to be holding as the buses began the trip to Idlib