This is Beirut 01/01 12:35 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Syria Saudi Arabia Air bridge Damascus
Saudi Arabia on Wednesday launched a humanitarian air bridge to Syria, delivering food, shelter, and medical supplies, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. The air bridge, established by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief), aims to "alleviate the effects of the difficult conditions currently facing the Syrian ...
This is Beirut 01/01 12:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
HTS Syria Bashar al-Assad Freedom of expression
Syria's minister of information in the country's transitional government told AFP he is working towards a free press and committed to "freedom of expression" after decades of tight control under the country's former rulers. "We are working to consolidate freedoms of the press and expression that were severely restricted" in areas controlled by ...
This is Beirut 01/01 11:40 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Syria Damascus Bashar al-Assad New Year
Umayyad Square in Damascus hummed to the throngs of people brandishing "revolution" flags as Syria saw in the new year with hope following 13 years of civil war. Gunshots rang out from Mount Qasioun overlooking the capital, where hundreds of people gazed up at fireworks, an AFP reporter at the square saw. It was the first new year's celebration ...
This is Beirut 01/01 11:15 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Milan Italy Prohibiton Smoking
Smokers in Italy's financial and fashion capital of Milan risk being fined for lighting up on city streets or crowded public areas after the country's toughest ban comes into effect Wednesday. Those who defy the new prohibition in the polluted northern Italian city could be fined between 40 to 240 euros ($41 to $249), a punishment that does not ...
This is Beirut 01/01 10:45 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Israel's devastating campaigns against Iran's regional allies have severely weakened its arch-enemy's ability to project its power, but Yemen's Tehran-backed Houthis remain a stubborn thorn in its side, analysts say. With the ranks of Hamas and Hezbollah decimated after more than a year of war, and with the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria ...
This is Beirut 01/01 10:05 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday vowed that his country would use 2025 to fight for an end to Russia's nearly three-year-long invasion by any means necessary. The Ukrainian leader's address caps a difficult year for the war-battered country, which has been fending off a better-resourced Russian army for nearly three years. "May ...
This is Beirut 01/01 09:35 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Africa France Senegal Ivory Coast
The reorganization of France's military presence in Africa continues, marking a new era in relations between several African countries and the erstwhile colonial power. Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara announced on Tuesday evening that the French military base in Abidjan, home to the 43rd BIMA (marine infantry battalion) in Port-Bouet, ...
This is Beirut 2024-12-31 21:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Ahmed al-Sharaa Syria Syrian Democratic Forces
Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa met with senior Christian clerics on Tuesday, amid calls on the Islamist chief to guarantee minority rights after seizing power earlier this month. "The leader of the new Syrian administration, Ahmed al-Sharaa, meets a delegation from the Christian community in Damascus," Syria's General Command said in a ...
This is Beirut 2024-12-31 18:09 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Crowds will marvel at fireworks and toast champagne to greet 2025 on Tuesday, waving goodbye to a year that brought Olympic glory, a dramatic Donald Trump return and turmoil in the Middle East and Ukraine. It is all but certain that 2024 will go down as the hottest year on record, with climate-fuelled disasters wreaking havoc from the plains of ...
This is Beirut 2024-12-31 17:50 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
United States Iran IRGC Russia US Sanctions
The United States unveiled sanctions Tuesday against Iranian and Russian organizations, alleging they had sought to interfere in the US election. The groups targeted are the Cognitive Design Production Center, a subordinate organization of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and the Moscow-based Center for Geopolitical ...
This is Beirut 2024-12-31 16:55 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
United States US CENTCOM Yemen Houthi Movement
The US military said Tuesday its forces had hit Houthi targets in Yemen's capital that the Iran-backed rebels used to attack American warships and commercial vessels. The attacks began Monday and were carried out by US Navy ships and aircraft that also struck Houthi-controlled coastal regions of Yemen, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said. It ...
This is Beirut 2024-12-31 15:55 - Reading : less than a minute
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended a session in parliament on Tuesday after being discharged from hospital where he had undergone a prostate removal surgery over the weekend. The surgery took place on Sunday, with Israel still at war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip nearly 15 months since their unprecedented October 7, ...