This is Beirut, 2024-12-16 19:35 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Syria Bashar al-Assad Syrian army
When Syria's new government put out a call on social media for soldiers and police to lay down their arms and register with the authorities, Kamal Merhej was happy to oblige. "I don't like the army, I want to get back on track with my life without anyone to give me orders," the 28-year-old told AFP. He spent nine years in the army, posted to the ...
This is Beirut, 2024-12-16 18:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Economy Drugs Pharmacists Syria Lebanon
The President of the Pharmacists’ Syndicate, Joe Salloum, stated that the fall of the Syrian regime would put an end to the smuggling of medications, noting that subsidized medicines have been smuggled across border points. "With the regime's fall, the borders will be controlled, and the process of drug smuggling in both directions will come ...
This is Beirut, 2024-12-16 17:55 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
The drive winds between manicured lavender-lined lawns to a crescent-shaped home with a gleaming swimming pool on the Syrian coast: Bashar al-Assad's holiday hideaway disgusts those who now come here. "To think that he spent all that money and we lived in misery," spat Mudar Ghanem, 26. He is grey-skinned and his eyes are sunken after spending ...
This is Beirut, 2024-12-16 16:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
In his first remarks since he was deposed, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday said he fled Syria only after Damascus had fallen and denounced the country's new leaders as "terrorists". An Islamist-led rebel alliance launched a lightning offensive from its northwest Syria bastion on November 27, swiftly capturing major cities from ...
This is Beirut, 2024-12-16 14:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Israeli strikes targeted military sites in Syria's coastal Tartus region overnight, a war monitor said Monday, calling them "the heaviest strikes" there in years. "Israeli warplanes launched strikes" targeting a series of sites including air defense units and "surface-to-surface missile depots", the Syrian ...
This is Beirut, 2024-12-16 12:05 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Damascus Israel Turkey Golan Syria
Turkey on Monday denounced an Israeli plan to double the population living in the occupied and annexed Golan Heights as a bid to "expand its borders". "This decision is a new stage in Israel's goal of expanding its borders through occupation," the foreign ministry said in a statement condemning the move. Israel's government on Sunday approved a ...
Vanessa Kallas, 2024-12-16 11:10 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Hezbollah Middle East Captagon Syria
The Assad regime has fallen, leaving behind the largest Captagon empire in the world. For years, the regime relied on the multibillion-dollar Captagon market to finance its war efforts, support allied militias like Hezbollah and circumvent international sanctions. Recent seizures of Captagon factories and pills in former regime strongholds ...
Michel Touma, 2024-12-16 11:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Israel Middle East Benjamin Netanyahu Syria Bashar al-Assad
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had anticipated it well before Bashar al-Assad's downfall, pointing to the emergence of a new Middle East. Likewise, President-elect Donald Trump had set the tone during his campaign, emphasizing his commitment to forging peace in a region beset by over seven decades of armed conflict and largely ...
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, ...
Charles Chartouni, 2024-12-16 09:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Syria’s political plight is at the crossroads between potential disintegration, renewed civil instabilities and eventual reconciliation, which helps overcome the bitter legacy of a long-haul civil war. The downfall of the Assad regime is of good omen since it sets an end to the excruciating travails bequeathed by a bloody dictatorship and its ...
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 ...