This is Beirut, 2024-12-20 17:41 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
A delegation of US diplomats visiting Syria had a "positive" meeting on Friday with the country's new ruler, Ahmed al-Sharaa, a Syrian official told AFP. "The meeting took place, and it was positive. And the results will be positive, God willing," the official said on condition of anonymity. A planned press conference by ...
This is Beirut, 2024-12-19 20:58 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Damascus Women's Rights Syria HTS
In Damascus's Ummayad Square, hundreds gathered Thursday, demanding a democratic state that includes women in public life, marking the first such demonstration since Islamist-led rebels toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad. Women and men, young and old, chanted slogans including "No to religious rule", "God is for religion ...
This is Beirut, 2024-12-19 17:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Israel United Nations Syria HTS Guterres
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday that there was a "flame of hope" in Syria following the fall of president Bashar al-Assad's regime but warned of significant challenges ahead. He also underlined that Israel's widespread strikes on Syrian military infrastructure were "violations" of the country's sovereignty and called for them ...
Nidal Ayoub, 2024-12-17 19:16 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Syria HTS USA European Union Qatar Turkey
This influx appears oddly under the auspices of all the imaginable paradoxes that Syria embodies: international sanctions, foreign interferences (Turkish interventions, Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, etc.), and not least, the fact that talks are being held with the ruling coalition of rebels now in power, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham ...
This is Beirut, 2024-12-16 10:40 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Damascus European Union Syria HTS
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Monday the bloc's envoy to Syria was going to Damascus to talk to the new Islamist-led rulers, as Western powers stepped up engagement after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad. The outreach from Brussels comes after the United States and Britain said they had made contact with the new authorities in Damascus, ...
This is Beirut, 2024-12-15 22:35 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Qatar's embassy to Syria is to resume operations on Tuesday, the Gulf emirate announced on Sunday as its diplomats visited the country and met with its transitional government following the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad. "Qatar announces the resumption of the work of its embassy in the sisterly Syrian Arab Republic starting the day after ...
This is Beirut, 2024-12-15 21:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Residents of Qusayr in central Syria are finally returning home after the departure of Hezbollah fighters, who helped Bashar al-Assad's forces seize the city a decade ago and left with his fall. Many of the houses are now in ruins, after years under the control of the Lebanese armed group, a key Assad ally which had set up a military base and ...
This is Beirut, 2024-12-15 19:20 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy confirmed that the British government has had “diplomatic contact” with Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Syrian rebel group that played a key role in toppling the Assad regime. While Lammy emphasized that HTS remains a proscribed terrorist organization, he noted that diplomatic contact is still possible. ...
This is Beirut, 2024-12-15 16:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
"We need to see justice and accountability for crimes, and it must go through a credible justice system. We must ensure that no acts of revenge take place," Geir Pedersen said upon his arrival in Damascus. Assad fled Syria last weekend following an 11-day rebel offensive led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), marking the ...
Elie Ziadé, 2024-12-15 15:30 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
Turkey HTS Bashar al-Assad Syria
The fall of Bashar al-Assad took everyone by surprise, almost no one saw it coming. Yet, it was met with joy. Scenes of celebration across Syria, as well as in countries hosting millions of Syrian nationals and refugees, along with the shared joy of other populations — notably in Lebanon — reflect the harsh rule that the Assad dynasty had ...
This is Beirut, 2024-12-15 11:15 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
The citizens of Damascus largely celebrated the fall of Bashar al-Assad's hated regime with joy, after 13 long years of brutal civil war. But the city's drinking holes did have one concern. The rebel army that overthrew the former leader was led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an Islamist group which some drinkers feared would forbid the sale of ...
This is Beirut, 2024-12-14 20:35 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
United States Anthony Blinken Syria HTS Ahmed al-Sharaa
The United States has made contact with Syria's victorious Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebels, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday, despite previously designating the group as terrorists. Blinken's comments, after talks on Syria in Jordan, came as Turkey reopened its embassy in Damascus, nearly a week after the Islamist-led rebels toppled ...