Syria

March 20, 2025 4:33 PM

Putin offers cooperation to Syrian leader, backs efforts to stabilise country

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a message to Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa supporting efforts to stabilise the situation in the country and saying Russia is ready to engage in "practical cooperation", Russian state news agency TASS reported on Thursday. Putin confirmed "Russia's continuing readiness to develop practical cooperation with the Syrian leadership on the whole range of issues on the bilateral agenda in order to strengthen traditionally friendly Russian-Syrian re...

March 18, 2025 10:02 AM

Lebanon and Syria agree on ceasefire after deadly cross-border clashes

Lebanon's Defence Minister Michel Menassa and his Syrian counterpart Murhaf Abu Qasra agreed on a ceasefire, the Lebanese and Syrian defence ministries said in statements on Monday, as cross-border clashes in the last two days left 10 dead. Three soldiers in Syria's new army and seven Lebanese were killed in border clashes during the past two days, the Syrian defence ministry and Lebanese health ministry said. On the Lebanese side, 52 people were wounded, the health ministry said. The Lebanes...

March 10, 2025 10:15 AM

Syria’s Sharaa scrambles to contain deadliest violence in years

Syria's leader vowed on Sunday to hunt down the perpetrators of violent clashes pitting loyalists of deposed President Bashar al-Assad against the country's new Islamist rulers and said he would hold to account anyone who overstepped their authority. The clashes, which a war monitoring group said had already killed over 1,000 people, mostly civilians, continued for a fourth day in Assad's coastal heartland. In a speech broadcast on national television and posted on social media, Ahmed Sharaa, ...

February 19, 2025 5:36 PM

After decades in exile, Syria’s Jews visit Damascus

For the first time in three decades, Rabbi Joseph Hamra and his son Henry read from a Torah scroll in a synagogue in the heart of Syria's capital Damascus, carefully passing their thumbs over the handwritten text as if still in awe they were back home. The father and son fled Syria in the 1990s, after then-Syrian president Hafez al-Assad lifted a travel ban on the country's historic Jewish community, which had faced decades of restrictions including on owning property or holding jobs. Virtuall...

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa (C-L) is welcomed by the Syria's new administration leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C-R) during an official visit in Damascus, Syria on January 28, 2025. Photo by Palestinian Prime Ministry/ Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images

January 30, 2025 1:38 PM

Syria’s Sharaa declared president for transition, consolidating his power

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa was declared president for a transitional phase on Wednesday, tightening his hold on power less than two months after he led a campaign that toppled Bashar al-Assad. Sharaa was also empowered to form a temporary legislative council for a transitional period and the Syrian constitution was suspended, according to an announcement made by the military command which led the offensive against Assad. The decisions emerged from a meeting of military commanders ...

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 31, 2024 9:01 AM

Syria eyes ‘strategic’ ties with Ukraine, Kyiv vows more food aid shipments

Syria hopes for strategic partnerships with Ukraine, its new foreign minister told his Ukrainian counterpart on Monday, as Kyiv moves to build ties with the new Islamist rulers in Damascus amid waning Russian influence. Russia was a staunch ally of ousted President Bashar al-Assad and has given him political asylum. Moscow has said it is in contact with the new administration in Damascus, including over the fate of Russian military facilities in Syria. "There will be strategic partnerships bet...

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 20, 2024 11:32 AM

Top US officials in Damascus to meet new Syrian rulers, State Department says

Top diplomats from the Biden administration are in Damascus on Friday to meet new Syrian authorities led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a State Department spokesperson said, the first in-person and official meeting between Washington and Syria's de-facto new rulers. The State Department's top Middle East diplomat Barbara Leaf, Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens and newly appointed Senior Advisor Daniel Rubinstein, who is now tasked with leading the Department's Syria engageme...

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...