World

Syria Ex-Rebel Military Chief Says to Dissolve Armed Wing

This is Beirut 2024-12-17 21:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Murhaf Abu Qasra Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Syria

The military chief of Syria's victorious Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham said on Tuesday it would be "the first" to dissolve its armed wing and integrate into the armed forces. "In any state, all military units must be integrated into this institution," Murhaf Abu Qasra, known by his nom de guerre Abu Hassan al-Hamawi, said in an interview ...

Netanyahu Holds Security Briefing Atop Strategic Syrian Peak

This is Beirut 2024-12-17 19:40 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Israel Syria Benjamin Netanyahu Mount Hermon

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a security briefing Tuesday atop a strategic Syrian mountain inside the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights that Israel seized this month, the defense minister said. Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz and the heads of the armed forces and the domestic security agency visited ...

All (Diplomatic) Roads Lead to Damascus…

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 ...

Syria's New Rulers Step Up Engagement With The World

This is Beirut 2024-12-17 19:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Syria Bashar al-Assad Hayat Tahrir al-Sham

Syria's new rulers stepped up engagement on Tuesday with countries that deemed ousted president Bashar al-Assad a pariah, with the French flag raised at the embassy for the first time in over a decade. Assad fled Syria just over a week ago, as his forces abandoned tanks and other equipment in the face of a lightning offensive spearheaded by the ...

Joy and Apprehension Among Syria’s Druze Community

Samar El-Kadi 2024-12-17 18:20 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Israel Sweida Syria Druze

Like everywhere else in Syria, the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s totalitarian regime was acclaimed with joy and celebrations in the predominantly Druze southern province of Sweida. While they have historically been close to the regime, the esoteric minority Druze community, making up some 3 to 4% of Syria’s ...

A US Farm Breeds Pigs for Human Kidney Transplants

This is Beirut 2024-12-17 18:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Genetic Modification Revivicor United Therapeutics

On a farm in the southern US state of Virginia, David Ayares and his research teams are breeding genetically modified pigs to transplant their organs into human patients. Revivicor, the biotech company Ayares leads, is at the forefront of xenotransplantation research -- the implantation of animal organs into humans -- which aims to solve a ...

UN Says ‘Ambitious’ Aid to Country Possible as Western Powers Prepare Return

This is Beirut 2024-12-17 15:30 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Damascus European Union United Nations United States Syria Iran

The United Nations humanitarian chief said Tuesday that he was "encouraged" after meetings in Damascus with Syria's new leaders, saying there was a "basis for ambitious scaling-up of vital humanitarian support", as Western diplomatic missions prepare to return to Damascus. "Moment of cautious hope in Syria," Tom ...

AnalysisAfter Assad’s Fall, Erdogan Enjoys Moment ‘In the Sun'

This is Beirut 2024-12-17 12:20 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Israel Middle East Turkey Ukraine USA Vladimir Putin

After backing the rebels who overthrew Bashar al-Assad and brokering a key Horn of Africa peace deal, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan has boosted his international standing, leaving him well-placed to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, analysts say. Although Turkey was not directly involved in the Syrian strongman's overthrow, it has long ...

Israel's Defense Minister Says to Maintain Gaza ‘Security Control’ After War

This is Beirut 2024-12-17 12:10 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Hamas Israel Palestine United Nations West Bank

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that his country's forces would be free to act in the Gaza Strip even after its war with Hamas ends. "After eliminating Hamas's military and governmental capabilities in Gaza, Israel would have security control over Gaza with complete freedom of action" for the Israeli military, Katz said in a ...

EU Chief Holds Talks on Syria With Turkey’s Erdogan

This is Beirut 2024-12-17 11:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Damascus European Union Turkey

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday began talks with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a key visit following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad. The talks in the capital Ankara come after the EU Commission announced the launch of an "air bridge" operation to deliver an initial 50 tonnes of health supplies to Syria ...

Tehran Malls Close Early to Save Energy: Media

This is Beirut 2024-12-17 11:25 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Tehran

Malls and shopping centres in Iran's capital will limit opening hours starting Tuesday, closing two hours earlier to tackle severe energy shortages, local media said. The fuel crisis has already led to frequent power cuts in Tehran in recent weeks and nationwide closures of schools and businesses. The Tehran Chamber of Trade Unions and Guilds ...

Ukraine Claims Killing of Russian Military Official in Moscow

This is Beirut 2024-12-17 09:20 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Ukraine Russia Moscow

The killing of a senior Russian military official, Igor Kirillov, in Moscow on Tuesday was a "special operation" by Ukraine's SBU security service, a source inside the agency told AFP. Kirillov is the most senior Russian army official to be targeted on Russian territory, killed with his assistant when an explosive device attached to ...