This is Beirut - damascus

PKK Declares Ceasefire with Turkey after 40 Years of Armed Struggle

Paul Guillot, 01/03 17:08 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Damascus Middle East Turkey United States

Outlawed Kurdish militants on Saturday declared a ceasefire with Turkey following a landmark call by jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan asking the group to disband and end more than four decades of armed struggle. It was the first reaction from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) after Ocalan this week called for the dissolution of the group ...

Syria: 12 SDF Members Killed in Airstrikes Attributed to Turkey

This is Beirut, 26/02 20:45 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Damascus Turkey USA

Kurdish-led forces that control large areas of northern and northeastern Syria said 12 people were killed Wednesday in air strikes it blamed on Turkey. "Turkish occupation warplanes and UCAVs (drones) targeted a military position belonging to our forces" as well as civilian homes and a vehicle in the Al-Shaddadi area, the Syrian Democratic Forces ...

New Syria leader holds talks with Jordan king

This is Beirut, 26/02 13:25 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Damascus Jordan Syria King Abdullah II Ahmed al-Sharaa

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa met Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman on Wednesday on his third foreign visit since ousting Bashar al-Assad. King Abdullah II greeted Sharaa at Amman's Marka airport, the royal court said in a statement. The two leaders then headed to Raghadan Palace for their first talks since Sharaa took power. It is ...

Syria National Conference Lays Out Post-Assad Priorities

This is Beirut, 25/02 20:04 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Damascus Syria Ahmad al-Sharaa

Syria's national dialogue conference, held Tuesday in Damascus, called for transitional justice, freedom and a state monopoly on arms to be among the cornerstones of the country's reconstruction after Bashar al-Assad's overthrow. Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, in a speech earlier to the hundreds of attendees, said the country was ...

EU Suspends Sanctions on Key Syria Economic Sectors

This is Beirut, 24/02 23:08 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

European Union Damascus Europe United Nations

The European Union on Monday eased sanctions on Syria's energy, transport and banking sectors in a bid to help the country's reconstruction after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. Syria's new leaders have been clamouring for the West to ease sanctions imposed on Assad's regime during the civil war. But Europe and other powers have ...

Sweida's Military Council Announces Its Goals Amid Fears of Israel

This is Beirut, 24/02 22:10 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Damascus Israel Benjamin Netanyahu

The Military Council in Syria’s Sweida announced on Monday that it is coordinating with the spiritual leader of the Druze, Hikmat al-Hijri, and is advocating for a decentralized secular state. This announcement was made in the council’s first official statement during a military parade held at the Kafr Agricultural Airport in the province's ...

Syrian Jews Pray Once Again in Damascus Synagogue

This is Beirut, 21/02 18:20 - Reading : less than a minute

Damascus Syria Jews

Syrian-American Rabbi Yusuf Hamra led a prayer in Damascus, marking a rare gathering for Syria's Jewish community.

Mullahs and Company, Hands Off the Airport!

Marc Saikali, 18/02 15:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Beirut International Airport Damascus Hezbollah Joseph Aoun

In 1973, Henry Kissinger refused to land at Beirut International Airport because it was under the control of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). He also avoided traveling by road to the airport for the same reason. At the time, President Sleiman Frangieh welcomed him instead at the Rayak military airport — an implicit admission that ...

Iran Confirms Receiving 'Messages' From New Syrian Government

This is Beirut, 15/02 13:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Damascus Tehran Iran Syria

Iran said Saturday that it had received messages from the new government in Damascus following the ouster of its longtime Syrian ally, former president Bashar al-Assad. "The Islamic Republic of Iran is indirectly in contact with Damascus," Tehran's special envoy for Syrian affairs, Mohammad Reza Raouf Sheibani, was quoted as saying by the ...

Syria's Top Diplomat to Attend Paris Transition Talks

This is Beirut, 13/02 09:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Emmanuel Macron European Union Damascus

Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani is to attend an international conference in Paris on Thursday on the political transition after Islamist-led rebels seized power from president Bashar al-Assad in December. The trip will be the first such official visit to Europe for talks by the top diplomat of post-Assad Syria after he attended the ...

Government: Breaking Away from the Legacy of May 7, 2008

Michel Touma, 10/02 10:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Damascus Hezbollah Government Doha

Politics are ever-changing, particularly in a volatile region like the Middle East. No power or faction can maintain dominance indefinitely. The formation of the first government under President Joseph Aoun is a striking illustration of this reality, particularly in the case of Hezbollah. This new cabinet marks a clear break from the political ...

Israeli Army Targets a Hamas Installation Near Damascus

This is Beirut, 08/02 17:15 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Damascus Hamas Israel

The Israeli military said it carried out an air strike on Saturday targeting a weapons depot used by Palestinian militant group Hamas in southern Syria. Israeli "fighter jets conducted an intelligence-based strike on a weapons storage facility belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation in the area of Deir Ali in southern Syria", the military ...

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