Damascus

Syria's New Leaders Pledge Justice and Inclusivity After Assad's Fall

Syria's new prime minister said the Islamist-led alliance that ousted president Bashar al-Assad will guarantee the rights of all religious groups and called on the millions who fled the war to return home. Assad fled Syria after a lightning offensive spearheaded by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group and its allies, which brought to a ...

Damascus Airport Set to Reopen in the Coming Days

Damascus airport, closed since rebel forces overran the Syrian capital at the weekend, is to reopen "in the next few days", its director Anis Fallouh told AFP on Wednesday. "God willing, the airport will reopen as quickly as possible because we are going to work flat out," Fallouh said. Pushed to give a timeframe for the ...

Rebels Set Fire to Hafez al-Assad's Tomb in Syria

The tomb of ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's father Hafez was torched in his hometown of Qardaha, AFP footage taken Wednesday showed, with rebel fighters in fatigues and young men watching it burn. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor told AFP the rebels had set fire to the mausoleum, located in the Latakia heartland of ...

Assad Followers and Officers Sneaking into Lebanon

The Lebanese-Syrian border, particularly the eastern sector, is in disarray as thousands of Syrians – mostly supporters of ousted President Bashar al-Assad's regime – illegally enter Lebanon. Security sources anticipate that, in the coming days, Syrian rebel factions will establish control over this border, focusing on the official crossings ...

Qatar Says to Reopen Embassy in Syria 'Soon'

Qatar said on Wednesday that it would soon reopen its embassy in the Syrian capital Damascus after president Bashar al-Assad's ouster in an Islamist-led rebel offensive. The Gulf country "will soon reopen its embassy in the sisterly Syrian Arab Republic after completing the necessary arrangements", foreign ministry spokesman Majed ...

New Syria PM Calls for Syrians Abroad to Return

Syria's new transitional prime minister has called for Syrians who have sought refuge abroad to return to their homeland following the ouster of longtime president Bashar al-Assad. Mohammad al-Bashir, appointed by rebel groups as the transitional head of government to run the country until March, told Italy's Corriere della Sera daily that one of ...

Islamic State Executes 54 Soldiers Fleeing Rebel Advance in Central Syria

A Syria war monitor said Tuesday that Islamic State group jihadists in central Homs province killed 54 soldiers who were fleeing as Islamist-led rebels pressed a major offensive on government-controlled areas. IS jihadists captured "personnel fleeing military service in the desert... during the collapse of the regime" of president Bashar al-Assad ...

Tehran : 4,000 Iranians Returned From Syria Since Assad's Fall

Tehran said Tuesday it had brought home 4,000 Iranian citizens from Syria following the ouster of its ally Bashar al-Assad as rebels took over Damascus. "Over the past three days, 4,000 Iranian citizens were returned to Iran," Fatemeh Mohajerani, the spokeswoman for Iran's government, said at a press conference in the capital. She added that ...

Israel Has 'Destroyed the Most Important Military Sites in Syria'

A war monitor said Tuesday that Israel had "destroyed the most important military sites in Syria" with a flurry of airstrikes since the fall of president Bashar al-Assad's government. Israel, which borders Syria, sent troops into a buffer zone on the east of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights after Assad's fall, in what Foreign ...

European Countries Suspend Syrian Asylum Decisions After Assad’s Fall

Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland and several Nordic countries said Monday they would freeze all pending asylum requests from Syrians, a day after the ouster of president Bashar al-Assad. While Berlin and other governments said they were watching the fast-moving developments in the war-ravaged nation, Vienna signalled it would soon deport ...