Syria Crisis

Oil, sanctions, and war. US blockade on Venezuela recalls past conflicts

The US has ordered a total blockade on sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers, stepped up naval presence and seized ships, raising fears that it may be moving towards a military conflict with Caracas

A year after Assad's fall, Syrians and their country struggle to heal

A year ago, Mohammad Marwan found himself stumbling, barefoot and dazed, out of Syria's notorious Saydnaya prison on the outskirts of Damascus as rebel forces pushing toward the capital threw open its doors to release the prisoners. Arrested in 2018 for fleeing compulsory military service, the father of three had cycled through four other lockups before landing in Saydnaya, a sprawling complex just north of Damascus that became synonymous with some of the worst atrocities committed under the rule of now ousted President Bashar Assad. He recalled guards waiting to welcome new prisoners with a gauntlet of beatings and electric shocks. They said, You have no rights here, and we're not calling an ambulance unless we have a dead body,' Marwan said. His Dec. 8, 2024 homecoming to a house full of relatives and friends in his village in Homs province was joyful. But in the year since then, he has struggled to overcome the physical and psychological effects of his six-year imprisonment. He

Syria's reforms promising but democracy still lacking: Amnesty chief

The secretary general of Amnesty International said Saturday that the new authorities in Syria have taken steps to show commitment to reform, transitional justice and reconciliation but says democracy is still lacking. A year after the fall of President Bashar Assad's government, Agnes Callamard, who visited Damascus this week, said that having legal reform plans before parliament, committees for transitional justice and welcoming international rights groups and other experts were signs that change is happening in Syria. All of those things are very good signs but they are not very deep, Callamard said in an interview with The Associated Press. Messages left with Syrian officials seeking comment Saturday were not immediately returned. After the fall of Assad in an offensive led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham of interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, Syria remains unstable. Forces loyal to the government were blamed for taking part this year in sectarian violence against members o

How Syria's first elections since Assad's ouster are expected to unfold

Syria is set to hold parliamentary elections on Sunday for the first time since the fall of the country's longtime autocratic leader, Bashar Assad, who was unseated in a rebel offensive in December. Under the 50-year rule of the Assad dynasty, Syria held regular elections in which all Syrian citizens could vote. But in practice, the Assad-led Ba'ath Party always dominated the parliament, and the votes were widely regarded as sham elections. Outside election analysts said the only truly competitive part of the process came before election day with the internal primary system in the Ba'ath Party, when party members jockeyed for positions on the list. The elections to be held on Sunday, however, will not be a fully democratic process either. Rather, most of the People's Assembly seats will be voted on by electoral colleges in each district, while one-third of the seats will be directly appointed by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa. Despite not being a popular vote, the election resu

US ends temporary protection for Syrians, orders departures within 60 days

Trump, a Republican, has repeatedly sought to roll back protections for hundreds of thousands of migrants, including many who have lived and worked legally in the US for decades

Syrian govt evacuates Bedouin families from Sweida to end weeklong clashes

The Syrian government on Monday started evacuating Bedouin families trapped inside the city of Sweida, where Druze militiamen and Bedouin fighters have clashed for over a week. The clashes between militias of the Druze religious minority and the Sunni Muslim clans killed hundreds and threatened to unravel Syria's already fragile postwar transition. The clashes also led to a series of targeted sectarian attacks against the Druze community, followed by revenge attacks against the Bedouins. The UN International Organisation for Migration said some 128,571 people were displaced in the hostilities that started with a series of tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks a week ago. Israel also launched dozens of airstrikes in the Druze-majority Sweida province, targeting government forces who had effectively sided with the Bedouins. Syrian state media said early Sunday that the government had coordinated with some officials in Sweida to bring in buses to evacuate some 1,500 Bedouins in the city

Syria's Bedouins withdraws from Druze-majority city after weeklong fighting

Syria's armed Bedouin clans on Sunday announced that they had withdrawn from the southern city of Sweida following over a week of clashes, as per a US-brokered ceasefire agreement. The clashes between militias of the Druze religious minority and the Sunni Muslim clans killed hundreds and threatened to unravel Syria's already fragile postwar transition. Israel also launched dozens of airstrikes in the Druze-majority Sweida province, targeting government forces who had effectively sided with the Bedouins. A series of tit-for-tat kidnappings sparked the clashes in various towns and villages in the province, which later spread to the city. Government forces were redeployed to halt renewed fighting that erupted Thursday, before withdrawing again. Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was more sympathetic to the Bedouins, had tried to appeal to the Druze community while remaining critical of the militias. He later urged the Bedouins to leave the city, saying that they cannot replace the

Who are Syria's Druze, caught in sectarian clashes and Israeli strikes?

Israel has claimed that its military stepped in to protect the Druze community in Syria and eliminate pro-government forces accused of attacking them

US revokes foreign terrorist designation of Syria's HTS

HTS was labelled a terrorist group by the US in 2018 because of its previous connections to al-Qaeda. However, in late January, it was disbanded and the fighters were integrated into Syrian military

Trump meets Syria's new leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, a US-designated terrorist

US President Donald Trump met Syria's interim leader Ahmad al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia during his Gulf tour; talks signal shift as Trump plans to lift decades-old US sanctions on Syria

Lebanon, Syria sign border agreement to ease tensions, boost coordination

Lebanon and Syria have signed an agreement on border demarcation and to boost coordination between the two countries regarding security along their tense frontier, the Saudi Press Agency reported Friday. The deal signed by the Lebanese and Syrian defense ministers in Saudi Arabia late Thursday came after clashes in border areas earlier this month left several people dead and dozens wounded on both sides. The plan for border demarcation also comes after the ouster in early December of the 54-year Assad family rule in Syria, leading to tensions along the frontier where Lebanon's Hezbollah group was active on both side of the border during Syria's 14-year conflict. Hezbollah had been fighting in Syria alongside Assad during the conflict that has left half a million people dead. The deal also comes after the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war that weakened the Iran-backed group in Lebanon. Lebanese Defence Minister Michel Menassa was scheduled to visit the Syrian capital, Damascus, on ...

Syria at crossroads: Can return to violence or move to peace, says UN envoy

Three months following the overthrow of President Bashar Assad, Syria is at a crossroads, the top UN envoy for the country said. Geir Pedersen told the UN Security Council that Syria can return to violence or start an inclusive transition and end decades of conflict. He said the road back to conflict, fragmentation and violations of Syrian sovereignty by external powers "must not come to pass". The other road, which would restore Syria's sovereignty and regional security, is "viable" but "requires the right Syrian decisions" and international support, Pedersen said. Syria's civil war had gone on for 13 years when a lightning insurgency led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, overthrew Assad in December, ending his family's more than 50-year rule. Former HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa was announced as the country's interim president after a meeting of armed groups that took part in the offensive. Pedersen spoke weeks after clashes between al-Sharaa's security forces an

Having a name: In Syria, they want to be wanted by the Assad regime

For more than five decades, the dictator Bashar al-Assad and his father before him ruled Syria by terror. Anyone wanted by any of the regime's numerous intelligence

Lebanon, Syria defence officials agree to ceasefire after 2 days of clashes

Lebanese and Syrian defense officials reached an agreement late Monday for a ceasefire to halt two days of clashes along the border, Syria's state-run SANA news agency reported. The agreement also stipulates enhanced coordination and cooperation between the two sides, the statement from the Syrian Ministry of Defense said. Lebanon's president earlier Monday ordered troops to retaliate against the source of gunfire from the Syrian side of the border after more deadly fighting erupted overnight along the frontier. Lebanon's Health Ministry reported that seven Lebanese citizens were killed and another 52 injured in the clashes, including a 4-year-old girl. The fighting happened after Syria's interim government accused militants from Lebanon's Hezbollah group of crossing into Syria on Saturday, abducting three soldiers and killing them on Lebanese soil. Hezbollah denied involvement and some other reports pointed to local clans in the border region that are not directly affiliated with .

Syria to join donor conference for 1st time, a key step for its new leaders

The European Union hosts a donor conference for Syria on Monday to muster support to ensure a peaceful transition after President Bashar Assad was ousted by an insurgency last December. Ministers and representatives from Western partners, as well as Syria's regional neighbors, other Arab countries and UN agencies will take part in the one-day meeting in Brussels which will be chaired by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. Syria will attend the conference the ninth edition of its kind for the first time, and will be represented by Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani. The event was organized in haste by the EU to try to take advantage of the change sweeping the country. The gathering comes at a precarious time. Syria's new leaders are trying to consolidate control over territory that was divided into de facto mini-states during nearly 14 years of civil war and to rebuild the country's economy and infrastructure. The United Nations in 2017 estimated it would cost at least $250

16 killed after ordnance from Syrian war explodes in port city of Latakia

Ordnance from Syria's 13-year conflict exploded in the coastal city of Latakia, collapsing a building and killing more than a dozen people, the Syrian Civil Defense said Sunday. The paramedic group known as the White Helmets said it worked overnight, searching through debris and recovered 16 bodies, including five women and five children, and that 18 others were injured. The group and residents said the explosion occurred in a metal scrap storage space on the ground floor of the four-story building. Elsewhere, the Syrian Defense Ministry late Sunday accused the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group of crossing the Lebanon-Syria border and killing three Syrian soldiers. Hezbollah denied any involvement in the killing that took place near northeastern Lebanon, where clashes between Syrian forces and Lebanese clans happened last month. Local Lebanese media have reported Syrian shelling on the northeastern Lebanese border town of Al-Qasr. The Defense Ministry will take all the necessary ..

Turkey, Israel face mounting tensions over future of post-Assad Syria

The fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government has aggravated already tense relations between Turkiye and Israel, with their conflicting interests in Syria pushing the relationship toward a possible collision course. Turkiye, which long backed groups opposed to Assad, has emerged as a key player in Syria and is advocating for a stable and united Syria, in which a central government maintains authority over the whole country. It welcomed a breakthrough agreement that Syria's new interim government signed this week with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, to integrate with the Syrian government and army. Israel, on the other hand, remains deeply suspicious of Syria's interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, pointing to his roots in al-Qaida. It's also wary of Turkiye's influence over Damascus and appears to want to see Syria remain fragmented after the country under Assad was turned into a staging ground for its archenemy, Iran, and Tehran's proxies. Syria has become

US condemns attacks on Syrian minorities as coastal violence escalates

The violence erupted in Syria's coastal cities of Latakia and Tartous, where security forces clashed with fighters loyal to ousted President Bashar al-Assad

Death toll crosses 1,000 in violence on Syrian coast, war monitor reports

The death toll from two days of clashes between security forces and loyalists of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad and revenge killings that followed has risen to more than 1,000, including nearly 750 civilians, a war monitoring group said Saturday, making it one of the deadliest outbreaks of violence since Syria's conflict began 14 years ago. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that in addition to 745 civilians, 125 members of the government security forces and 148 militants with armed groups affiliated with deposed President Bashar Assad were killed. The observatory also said that electricity and drinking water were cut off in large areas around the coastal city of Latakia and many bakeries shut down. The clashes, which erupted Thursday, marked a major escalation in the challenge to the new government in Damascus, three months after insurgents took authority after removing Assad from power. The government has said that they were responding to attacks fro

Over 200 killed in clashes between govt forces and Assad loyalists in Syria

Fighters siding with Syria's new government stormed several villages near the country's coast, killing dozens of men in response to recent attacks on government security forces by loyalists of ousted President Bashar Assad, a war monitor said. The village assaults erupted Thursday and continued Friday. Ongoing clashes between the two sides have marked the worst violence since Assad's government was toppled in early December by insurgent groups led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The new government has pledged to unite Syria after 14 years of civil war. More than 200 people have been killed since the fighting broke out, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. In addition to around 140 killed in apparent revenge attacks in the villages, the dead include at least 50 members of Syria's government forces and 45 fighters loyal to Assad. The civil war that has been raging in Syria since March 2011 has left more than half a million people dead and ...