Nine Iraqi policemen were killed May 3 in fighting in Mosul, AFP reported.

The Syrian opposition on May 3 denounced what it called a large-scale massacre it said was carried out by regime forces in Bayda, a Sunni village outside the port of Banias, AFP reported.

The White House is rethinking its opposition to arming Syrian rebels, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said at a news conference with British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond on May 2, AP reported.

Troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al Assad are advancing on rebels in the central city of Homs, the United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said May 2, AP reported.

Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators gathered in central Istanbul on May Day, Reuters reported May 1.

At least 460 people were killed in violence in Iraq in April, according to figures based on reports from security and medical sources, AFP reported May 1.

An Iranian workers' union urged Tehran to increase salaries and battle inflation May 1, AFP reported, citing a report from the Iranian Labor News Agency.

At least four members of the pro-government Awakening Council were killed and 22 were injured May 1 in a suicide attack in the Fallujah district of Anbar province that targeted them as they received their pay, Shafaq News reported.

Syrian President Bashar al Assad visited the Umayyad electrical plant in Damascus on May 1, AFP reported, citing the Syrian presidency's Facebook page.