syria

Three Mass Graves Discovered in Homs, According to the SOHR

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), three mass graves have been discovered in the village of Al-Qabou, in the countryside of Homs, containing the bodies of 20 unidentified individuals. On December 23, SOHR sources reported that a mass grave had been found in the city of Homs, containing the bodies of over 1,200 ...

Uproar After Syria Official's Comments on Women

Comments by Syria's newly appointed head of women's affairs have sparked uproar, with social media users expressing outrage on Sunday, weeks after Islamist-led rebels toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad. Turkey's state-run TRT broadcaster this week asked Aisha al-Dibs, the only woman so far in Syria's transitional government since Assad's ...

Syria: Explosion Near Damascus Kills Several People

An explosion at a weapons depot near Syria's capital Damascus on Sunday killed 11 people, a war monitor said, weeks after rebels ousted longtime leader Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the cause of the blast in the industrial area of Adra, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Damascus, was "likely" to have been an ...

Syria: Al-Joulani Announces Elections in Four Years

The new leader of Syria, Ahmad al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, announced in an exclusive interview with Al-Arabiya on Sunday that organizing elections in Syria could take up to four years, as it would require a complete population census. He also stated that drafting a new constitution could take three years. Rejecting criticism ...

Nearly 300 Arrested in Syria Crackdown on Assad Loyalists

Syria's new authorities have arrested nearly 300 people, including informants, pro-regime fighters and former soldiers, in a crackdown on loyalists to ousted former president Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor said Sunday. Since rebels led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group toppled Assad ...

Turkey's Top Diplomat Tells Blinken Kurdish Fighters 'Cannot Be Allowed' in Syria

Turkey's top diplomat on Saturday said Syrian Kurdish fighters essential for the United States in the fight against Islamic State (IS) extremists cannot be sheltered in Syria, in a phone call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Blinken that "the PKK/YPG terrorist organization cannot be allowed to take ...

Turkey's Energy Ministry Sends Delegation to Damascus

A delegation from Turkey's energy ministry headed to Syria on Saturday to help Syrians obtain access to essential services after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. "A team from our energy ministry is on the way to Damascus," Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told a meeting of the ruling AKP party in the central Anatolian province of Nevsehir. "We ...

Visiting Libyan Official Says Discussed Energy, Migration with New Syria Leader

A senior official from Libya's UN-recognized government met Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa on Saturday and discussed issues including diplomatic relations, energy and migration. "We expressed our full support for the Syrian authorities in the success of the important transitional phase," Libyan Minister of State for Communication and ...

Syria Remains Tense as New Leadership Struggles to Establish Authority

Syria remains fraught with tensions on Saturday, as the new leadership — emerging from a rebellion led by the Islamists of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and responsible for overthrowing former President Bashar al-Assad — struggles to assert its authority across the entire country. Operations in Latakia The new authorities launched a sweeping ...

UNHCR: 58 000 People Have Returned to Syria since the Fall of the Assad Regime

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced in a report Friday that some 58 000 people have returned to Syria since December 8, following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.   “Refugees have returned from Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan, with the main destinations being the governorates of Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and Daraa, ...

Silent Protest in Damascus Demands Justice for Assad Regime's Disappeared

A silent crowd gathered in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Friday to press the new authorities about the fate of relatives who went missing under Bashar al-Assad and to demand justice for their loved ones. The fate of tens of thousands of people who disappeared under Assad, who was ousted on December 8 by a coalition of Islamist-led rebels, is a ...