Page 2 - Syria Crisis

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 ...

Assad loyalists kill at least 13 police officers in ambush on Syrian forces

Gunmen ambushed a Syrian police patrol in a coastal town Thursday, leaving at least 13 security members dead and many others wounded, a monitoring group and a local official said. The attack came as tensions in Syria's coastal region between former President Bashar Assad's minority Alawite sect and members of Islamic groups escalate. Assad was overthrown in early December in an offensive of insurgent groups led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the ambush in the town of Jableh, near the city of Latakia, killed at least 16. Rami Abdurrahman, head of the monitoring group, said the gunmen who ambushed the police force are Alawites. These are the worst clashes since the fall of the regime, Abdurrahman said. A local official in Damascus told The Associated Press that 13 members of the General Security directorate were killed in the ambush. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to release secur

Donald Trump refuses to say whether he will pull US troops out of Syria

President Donald Trump is declining to say whether he intends to maintain current US troop levels in Syria. We'll make a determination on that, Trump told reporters on Thursday when asked if he intends to withdraw US troops deployed to Syria to fight the Islamic State group. We're not involved in Syria. Syria's its own mess. They got enough messes over there. They don't need us involved with everything. The US had said for years that there were about 900 troops in Syria, but the Pentagon acknowledged in December that US troop levels had surged to about 2,000. There has long been friction between the US and Syria's neighbours - Turkiye and Iraq - about the ongoing presence of American forces in Syria and the need to keep them at a particular level. Israel meanwhile has urged the US to maintain a presence in the country. Trump said just before rebels ousted Syrian leader Bashar Assad in December in that the US military should stay out of Syria. Trump is also not giving up on the ide

EU cautiously agrees to ease sanctions on Syria in wake of Assad's downfall

European Union foreign ministers on Monday agreed to begin lifting sanctions on Syria, while insisting that the measures should be reimposed if they see any abuses by the country's new rulers. The EU started to impose asset freezes and travel bans on Syrian officials and organisations in 2011 in response to Bashar Assad's crackdown on protesters, which festered into a civil war. The 27-nation bloc targeted 316 people and 86 entities accused of backing Syria's former ruler. It is keen to lift those measures if Syria's new leaders set the country on the path to a peaceful political future involving all minority groups and in which extremism and former allies Russia and Iran have no place. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said ministers had agreed on a roadmap for easing sanctions. Speaking after chairing the meeting, she said, the aim was to lift those measures that are most hindering the early buildup of the country and to move from there. She underlined that the ministers had on

China concerned after Syria appoints Xinjiang Uygur militants to top posts

China said it is greatly concerned over the new Syrian government appointing foreign terrorist fighters, especially from the banned Uygur militant group 'the East Turkestan Islamic Movement', to senior military ranks. The East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) is active in China's volatile Xinjiang province. These remarks were made by Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the UN, at the UN Security Council Briefing on Syria on Wednesday. China is greatly concerned about the reports that said the Syrian Army has recently granted senior military ranks to a number of foreign terrorist fighters, including the head of Council, a listed terrorist organisation, the Turkistan Islamic Party, also known as the ETIM, Cong said. He called on Syria to fulfil its counter-terrorism obligations and to prevent any terrorist forces from using Syrian territory to threaten the security of other countries, according to official media reports here. Reports from Syria say that the new Syrian regi

US troops need to stay in Syria to counter Islamic State: Defence secy

The US needs to keep troops deployed in Syria to prevent the Islamic State group from reconstituting as a major threat following the ouster of Bashar Assad's government, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told The Associated Press. American forces are still needed there, particularly to ensure the security of detention camps holding tens of thousands of former IS fighters and family members, Austin said Wednesday in one of his final interviews before he leaves office. According to estimates, there are as many as 8,000-10,000 IS fighters in the camps, and at least 2,000 of them are considered to be very dangerous. If Syria is left unprotected, I think ISIS fighters would enter back into the mainstream, Austin said at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where he travelled to discuss military aid for Ukraine with about 50 partner nations. He was using another acronym for the Islamic State group. I think that we still have some work to do in terms of keeping a foot on the throat of ISIS," he ...

11 killed in Israeli airstrike near Syria's Damascus, says war monitor

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the airstrike targeted a weapons depot that belonged to Assad's forces near the industrial town of Adra

Forces loyal to ex-Assad regime kill 14 as Syria sees upsurge in violence

Several deadly incidents in recent days underscore the fragile security situation in Syria following the downfall of Assad's long-standing regime

Clashes between Islamists in Syria and Assad's supporters kill 6 fighters

Clashes between Islamists who took over Syria and supporters of ousted President Bashar Assad's government killed six Islamic fighters on Wednesday and wounded others, according to a British-based war monitor. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighters were killed while trying to arrest a former official in Assad's government, accused of issuing execution orders and arbitrary rulings against thousands of prisoners. The fighters were from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which led the stunning offensive that toppled Assad earlier this month. Syria's transition has been surprisingly smooth but it's only been a few weeks since Assad fled the country and his administration and forces melted away. The insurgents who ousted Assad are rooted in fundamentalist Islamist ideology, and though they have vowed to create a pluralist system, it isn't clear how or whether they plan to share power. Since Assad's fall, dozens of Syrians have been killed in acts of revenge, according to ..

Gaza war to Ukraine nuclear fears: Conflicts that shaped 2024 geopolitics

Wars in Europe and West Asia intensified in 2024, exposing the failures of global peace mechanisms, deepening crises, and straining alliances, with Trump's return adding fresh uncertainty

Deceit, betrayal marked final days of President Assad's regime in Syria

After dusk, the president slipped out of the capital, flying covertly to a Russian military base in northern Syria and then on a Russian jet to Moscow, as per reports

Syrian youth will resist incoming govt, says Iran's supreme leader

Iran's supreme leader on Sunday said that young Syrians will resist the new government emerging after the overthrow of President Bashar Assad as he again accused the United States and Israel of sowing chaos in the country. Iran had provided crucial support to Assad throughout Syria's nearly 14-year civil war, which erupted after he launched a violent crackdown on a popular uprising against his family's decades-long rule. Syria had long served as a key conduit for Iranian aid to Lebanon's militant Hezbollah. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in an address on Sunday that the young Syrian has nothing to lose" and suffers from insecurity following Assad's fall. What can he do? He should stand with strong will against those who designed and those who implemented the insecurity," Khamenei said. God willing, he will overcome them. He accused the United States and Israel of plotting against Assad's government in order to seize resources, saying: Now they feel victory, the

US drops $10 million bounty on Syrian rebel leader who ousted Assad

The Biden administration said Friday it has decided not to pursue a USD 10 million reward it had offered for the capture of a Syrian rebel leader whose forces led the ouster of President Bashar Assad earlier this month. The announcement followed a meeting in Damascus between the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was once aligned with al-Qaida, and the top US diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, who led the first US diplomatic delegation into Syria since Assad's ouster. HTS remains designated a foreign terrorist organisation, and Leaf would not say if sanctions stemming from that designation would be eased. But, she told reporters that al-Sharaa had committed to renouncing terrorism and as a result the US would no longer offer the reward. We discussed the critical need to ensure terrorist groups cannot pose a threat inside Syria or externally, including to the US and our partners in the region, she said. Based on our discussion, I told him that we .

'Wanted to keep fighting', says Syria's Assad in 1st statement after ouster

Ousted Syrian leader Bashar Assad says he had no plans to leave the country after the fall of Damascus a week ago but the Russian military evacuated him after their base in western Syria came under attack. The comments are the first by Assad since he was overthrown by insurgent groups. Assad said in a statement on his Facebook page that he left Damascus on the morning of Dec 8, hours after insurgents stormed the capital. He said he left in coordination with Russian allies to the Russian base in the coastal province of Latakia, where he planned to keep fighting. Assad said that after the Russian base came under attack by drones, the Russians decided to move him on the night of Dec 8 to Russia. I did not leave the country as part of a plan as it was reported earlier, Assad said.

Photos of Syria's Assad expose world beyond crafted, repressive rule

Personal photos of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad have surfaced from his abandoned residences, sparking ridicule among Syrians who until days ago were persecuted for criticizing his carefully crafted public image. The intimate and candid photos, reportedly discovered in albums from Assad's mansions in the hills of Damascus and Aleppo, offer a stark contrast to the polished, glamorous image that Assad and his father projected as they led Syria for half a century. Syrians have been fascinated by the background glimpses of a seemingly normal family that held the country in an iron grip and bombed some their fellow citizens regarded as a threat. The sharing of photos has become an extension of the dazed first hours after Assad's ouster a week ago, when everyday Syrians wandered the presidential palace and its disheveled signs of a rapid departure. Assad has been granted asylum in Russia. For many Syrians who had endured forced imprisonment, displacement and oppression under the ..

Syrian Christians mark change with tears as UN envoy asks to end sanctions

In churches across long-stifled Syria, Christians marked the first Sunday services since the sudden collapse of Bashar Assad's regime in an air of transformation. Some were in tears, while others clasped their hands in prayer. They are promising us that government will be formed soon and, God willing, things will become better because we got rid of the tyrant, said one worshiper, Jihad Raffoul. Today, our prayers are for a new page in Syria's future, said another, Suzan Barakat. To help those efforts, the UN envoy for Syria called for a quick end to Western sanctions as the rebel alliance that ousted Assad and sent him into exile in Russia a week ago considers the way forward, along with regional and global powers. Syria has been under deeply isolating sanctions by the United States, the European Union and others for years as a result of Assad's brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and spiralled into civil war. In another sign of yearning for

New Syria: Rebels try to bring normalcy while Syrians vow to speak up

The new head of security arrived at Damascus' international airport with his men, a bearded fighter who marched with other rebels across Syria to the capital. The few maintenance staff who showed up for work huddled around Maj Hamza al-Ahmed, eager for answers about what happens next. They unloaded all their complaints, pent up for years during the rule of President Bashar Assad, which now, inconceivably, is over. They told him they were denied promotions and perks funneled to pro-Assad favorites, that bosses threatened them with prison for working too slowly. They warned him of hardcore Assad supporters among the airport staff, ready to return whenever the facility reopens. As al-Ahmed tried to reassure them, Osama Najm, an engineer, confessed: This is the first time we talk. This was the first week of Syria's transformation after Assad's unexpected fall. Rebels, suddenly in charge, met a population bursting with emotions: excitement at new freedoms; grief over years of repressio