bashar al assad

May 11, 2026 5:07 PM

EU agrees to restore fuller trade ties with Syria

EU foreign ministers agreed on Monday to restore improved trade ties with Syria, reinstating a cooperation agreement that had been suspended in 2011 when an uprising against then-leader Bashar al-Assad expanded into a 14-year civil war. The Council of the European Union, representing member states whose foreign ministers met in Brussels, said the move marked an important step towards strengthening bilateral relations between the EU and Syria. Most Western sanctions were lifted last year agains...

December 29, 2025 3:12 PM

Syria secures Assad-era mass grave revealed by Reuters and opens criminal investigation

Syria’s government has ordered soldiers to guard a mass grave created to conceal atrocities under Bashar al-Assad and has opened a criminal investigation, following a Reuters report that revealed a yearslong conspiracy by the fallen dictatorship to hide thousands of bodies on the remote desert site. The site, in the Dhumair desert east of Damascus, was used during Assad’s rule as a military weapons depot, according to a former Syrian army officer with knowledge of the operation. It was late...

September 23, 2025 4:27 PM

Syria to establish new parliament, testing inclusivity pledge

Syria is preparing to establish the first parliament since Bashar al-Assad was toppled, a milestone in the transition from his rule but one that has stirred new concerns about political inclusivity under President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Regional committees have selected electoral colleges that will elect two-thirds of the 210-member People's Assembly, on October 5. Sharaa appoints the remaining third. The authorities say they resorted to this system rather than universal suffrage due to a lack of re...

March 4, 2025 9:40 PM

Syrian forces search former Assad stronghold after suspected loyalist attacks

Syrian security forces searched for suspects in the city of Latakia on Tuesday, residents said, after two defence ministry members were killed in an attack blamed by state media on remnants of Bashar al-Assad's ousted government. The coastal region of Latakia area has emerged as one of the main security challenges for Syria's Islamist-led government as it works to consolidate control after seizing power in Damascus in December. Assad drew support from among the region's Alawite minority, to wh...

December 31, 2024 7:38 PM

Syria’s Spiral: The Rise, Reign, and Ruin of Bashar al-Assad Amid the Arab Spring’s Echoes

Syria, a country in Southwest Asia on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, was deeply affected by the Arab Spring protests that swept through many nations in the Middle East and North Africa in 2010 and 2011. These were anti-regime, pro-democracy demonstrations aimed at toppling dictatorial governments. Backed by Iran and Russia, the regime led by Bashar al-Assad survived the revolutionary wave carried out by rebel forces and eventually reclaimed many of the territories they once held. T...

December 24, 2024 7:23 PM

Uncertainty clouds fate of Syrians in Egypt after Assad ouster

Syrian refugees and residents in Egypt face an uncertain future as new regulations may jeopardise their right to remain in the country after Bashar al-Assad's ouster earlier this month. European countries quickly suspended Syrian asylum applications after the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham swept into Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after a 13-year civil war. Other countries are also responding to the changing political landscape. Egypt last week ratified a new law giving the go...

December 18, 2024 5:21 PM

Leader of former Syrian opposition says transitional government should not exclude any party

Hadi al-Bahra, head of the Syrian National Coalition that grouped opponents of Bashar al-Assad during the civil war, said on Wednesday Syria's transitional government should be credible and not exclude any Syrian party or be based on sectarianism. In a seismic moment for the Middle East, Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war, ending his family's decades-long rule. The lightning offensive raised questions over whether the...

December 18, 2024 1:18 PM

Syrian mass graves expose “machinery of death” under Assad, top prosecutor says

An international war crimes prosecutor said on Tuesday that evidence emerging from mass grave sites in Syria has exposed a state-run "machinery of death" under toppled leader Bashar al-Assad in which he estimated more than 100,000 people were tortured and murdered since 2013. Speaking after visiting two mass grave sites in the towns of Qutayfah and Najha near Damascus, former U.S. war crimes ambassador at large Stephen Rapp told Reuters: "We certainly have more than 100,000 people that were dis...

December 17, 2024 10:18 AM

Bashar al-Assad gives account of last hours before leaving Syria

Syria's Bashar al-Assad issued his first statement since being toppled from power, saying he was evacuated to Russia from the Hmeimim base on Dec. 8 as it came under drone attack, after leaving Damascus that morning with rebel fighters closing in. His written statement was published on the Syrian presidency's Telegram channel and dated Dec. 16 from Moscow, where he has been granted asylum. He was ousted after insurgent forces led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham swept through Syria in a ...

December 12, 2024 9:28 AM

Syria’s rebel leader vows to dissolve Assad regime security forces, close prisons

The main commander of the fighters who toppled Bashar al-Assad said on Wednesday that he would dissolve the security forces of the former regime, close its prisons and hunt down anyone involved in the torture or killing of detainees. Syrian rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa - better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani - said in a statement to Reuters he will "dissolve the security forces of the previous regime and close the notorious prisons." Syria ran one of the most oppressive police states in the M...