Bashar Assad

The 2,000-year-old Jobar Synagogue in the Syrian capital of Damascus was looted and burned to the ground.

The Syrian army loyal to President Bashar Assad and rebel forces are blaming each other for the destruction of the historic synagogue, according to reports on Sunday.

President Obama in an address at a Holocaust remembrance event said he would "always be there for Israel" and defended his administration's record on preventing atrocities.

Obama spoke Monday at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, a few days after Holocaust Remembrance Day. Prior to his address, he took a tour of the museum guided by Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust memoirist and Nobel Peace laureate.

E.U. foreign ministers are slapping new sanctions on the wife of Syrian President Bashar Assad, three other Assad family members, and eight Syrian government ministers, according to reports.

The new restrictions, which are slated to go into effect on Saturday, include a travel ban and the freezing of assets, The Associated Press reported. The wife of the Syrian president, Azma Assad, is a British native and holds British citizenship, which may mean she may still travel to England, AP said.

Israel denied a report that it may declare void the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians.

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus.

Hoenlein said the meeting Monday was at the invitation of Syria and not, as had been reported originally by the Israeli media, at the behest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.