This is Beirut - Damascus

Rediscovering Jean Ducruet: The Man Who Preserved Saint Joseph University

Fady Noun, 22/03 12:40 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Damascus Europe Middle East Pope Francis USA

The chaplaincy of Saint Joseph University (USJ) had the inspired idea this year to honor Father Jean Ducruet (1922–2010), rector of USJ from 1975 to 1995, by dedicating its 8th Jesuit Week (March 10–14) to him. This tribute coincided with the 150th anniversary of the university’s founding in 1875. To rediscover Father Jean Ducruet, one need ...

War Monitor Says Israel Strikes Military Airport Near Palmyra, Syria

This is Beirut, 21/03 23:35 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Damascus Israel Benjamin Netanyahu Syria Palmyra

Israeli air strikes on Friday targeted the military airport near Palmyra in central Syria, a war monitor said, reporting the latest Israeli attack in the country since the fall of Bashar al-Assad. "Israeli warplanes targeted the Palmyra military airport," the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Since Islamist-led rebels ...

Germany Urges Syrian Interim Leaders to Control Extremist Groups

This is Beirut, 20/03 18:05 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Damascus Syria Germany Annalena Baerbock

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said after meeting Syria's interim leaders on Thursday that they must bring under control and hold accountable groups behind sectarian massacres committed this month on the Syrian coast. "It is imperative that extremist groups in their ranks are brought under control and those responsible for ...

Lebanon Prepares to Hand Over 700 Syrian Detainees as Part of Bilateral Agreement

This is Beirut, 20/03 15:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Damascus Lebanese Army United Nations

Lebanon is set to hand over over 700 Syrian detainees to Syria out of the more than 2,000 currently held in its overcrowded prisons, a Lebanese judicial official told AFP on Thursday. “There are more than 700 Syrian detainees and convicts whose files have been finalized and who meet the conditions for extradition,” the official, speaking on ...

EU Hosts Donor Drive for Post-Assad Syria

This is Beirut, 17/03 15:19 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

European Union Damascus

Germany on Monday kicked off a new pledging round of aid for Syria, as the EU hosted a donor drive for the war-torn country after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad. For the first time, the Syrian authorities will be represented at the annual conference in Brussels -- with interim foreign minister Assaad al-Shibani attending. Western and regional ...

Does the New Constitution Really Change the Syrian System?

This is Beirut, 14/03 22:25 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Syria Damascus Ahmad al-Sharaa Constitution

Syria's new temporary constitution concentrates power in interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa's hands and fails to include enough protections for minorities, experts warn. The declaration, signed into law on Thursday, establishes a five-year transitional period and follows the toppling of Bashar al-Assad's repressive government by Islamist-led ...

Syrian Druze Cross Armistice Line for Pilgrimage to Israel

This is Beirut, 14/03 15:31 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Damascus Israel Druze

Dozens of Syrian Druze clerics crossed the armistice line on the Golan Heights into Israel on Friday for their community's first pilgrimage to a revered shrine in decades. On board three buses escorted by Israeli military vehicles, the clerics crossed at Majdal Shams in the Golan, and headed to northern Israel. According to a source close to ...

March 14: 20 Years Later, Revisiting a Defining Moment

Sana Richa Choucair, 14/03 15:15 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

UN Security Council Damascus Middle East United Nations US Congress

On March 14, 2005, a human tidal wave flooded Martyrs' Square. Lebanese people of all faiths gathered around a single cause: rising up against the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, one month after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. It was a first in the history of independent Lebanon. Today, the 20th commemoration has a new ...

Kurds of Syria Celebrate Agreement with Damascus

This is Beirut, 13/03 20:05 - Reading : less than a minute

Damascus Syria Kurds SDF PKK

The Kurds of Syria celebrate the agreement reached between the new Syrian government and the leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are primarily made up of Kurds.

Israeli Air Strike on Islamic Jihad's Headquarter in Damascus

This is Beirut, 13/03 14:50 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Damascus Israel Islamic Jihad

Israeli Air Force conducted on Thursday an airstrike in Damascus, targeting headquarters of the Islamic Jihad group. Israel's military spokesman, Avichaï Adraee, said the attack had targeted a "terrorist command center" in Damascus, belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, which fought alongside Hamas in Gaza against Israel. "The ...

Syrian Druze Plan First Israel Pilgrimage

This is Beirut, 13/03 13:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Damascus Israel Druze Syria Lebanon

A delegation of Syrian Druze clerics is planning to visit a pilgrimage site in Israel on Friday for the first time since Israel's creation in 1948, a source close to the group said. "A delegation of dozens of Druze clerics will visit Israel on Friday," the source said, adding that it follows an invitation from the Druze community in Israel. "The ...

Dissident Former Diplomat Shot Dead in Southern Syria: Monitor

This is Beirut, 12/03 12:45 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Damascus Syria

A former Syrian diplomat who defected from his service under the administration of toppled president Bashar al-Assad was shot dead alongside his brother in the country's south, a war monitor said on Wednesday. Armed men on Tuesday night entered the home of former diplomat, Noureddine al-Labbad, in the town of Al-Sanamayn, some 50 kilometres (30 ...

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