Middle East/North Africa

Quelling the violence from Syria's ongoing civil war and preventing that conflict from sparking a wave of violence across the Mideast is at the top of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's agenda for a upcoming visit to the region. 

Establishing a no-fly zone near Syria could be an option for the Pentagon and White House to end the civil war in Syria, but it could come at significant cost to American forces. 

The Obama administration is lifting sanctions against a Syrian businessman accused of aiding the regime of Bashar Assad.

"We don't need to spin this up at this point in time," the secretary of State said. 

President Obama is preparing to ramp up U.S. military pressure in Syria in an attempt to bring the ongoing civil war in the country to an end. 

Top Defense Department leaders are drafting a slate of battle plans for President Obama, should the White House decide to use military force to end the two-year civil war in Syria. 

While the details of those plans remain secret, they do include plans to deal with Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles and to prevent the conflict from spreading to neighboring countries, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told lawmakers on Wednesday.  

"We have been developing options and planning for a post-Assad Syria, and we will continue to provide . . . our assessment of options for U.S. military intervention" in Syria, Hagel told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. 

A leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood on Tuesday linked the Boston bombings to an anti-Islam conspiracy.

In a post on his personal Facebook page Muslim Brotherhood Vice President Essam el-Erian suggested the attack was part of a global plot to discredit Islam, citing violence in Mali, Syria, Somalia and other Muslim nations.

“Our sympathy with the families of the victims, and the American people do not stop us from reading into the grave incident,” he wrote, according to an English translation.

“This series of events began with the sending of French battalions to Mali in a war against organisations that are said to belong to Al-Qaeda. Bombings intensified in Syria in a suspicious manner that deviated from the path of the great Syrian revolution, and smear campaigns began,” he continued. “Violent explosions returned, rearing their ugly heads again in Iraq, targeting peaceful movements aiming for needed reform. After a reasonable calm in Somalia, the capital Mogadishu shook again, leading to lowered confidence in the new president and government.

Syria has dismissed a British report asserting that the use of chemical weapons has been confirmed for the first time in the two-year-old conflict.

British officials told The Times that they have conclusive proof that “some kind of chemical weapon” was used after a soil sample from an area close to Damascus was smuggled out of the country. President Obama has said that the use of such of weapons would constitute a “red line” that would prompt a tough U.S. response.

“The testing of Syrian soil, if not performed by an official and international organization and done without the consent of the Syrian government, has no political or legal value,” Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said Monday, according to Al Arabiya. He called the report unfounded.

A formal merger could be the nail in the coffin for possible U.S. military intervention in the two-year civil war.

The State Department has determined that three companies once charged with violating sanctions against Iran have changed their ways enough to regain access to U.S. markets.