damascus

Syria Troops Quit Druze Heartland After Violence Leaves Over 500 Dead

Syrian troops pulled out of the Druze heartland province of Sweida on orders from the Islamist-led government, following days of deadly clashes that killed more than 500 people, according to a war monitor. The southern province has been gripped by deadly sectarian bloodshed since Sunday, with hundreds reportedly killed in clashes pitting Druze ...

Kurdish Official Urges Damascus to 'Review' Minorities Approach

A Kurdish official on Thursday urged Syria's new authorities to rethink their approach to the country's minorities following deadly clashes with Druze fighters in the south. Syrian government forces withdrew from the Sweida province overnight on Wednesday following deadly clashes with Druze militants. Since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in ...

Syria says Local Factions to Secure Violence-Hit Sweida

The Syrian government announced Thursday that local leaders would assume control over security in the city of Sweida in an attempt to end violence that has claimed hundreds of lives and prompted Israel's military intervention in support of the Druze minority. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and eyewitnesses  told AFP on Thursday ...

Israel Strikes Near Syrian Army HQ: State TV

An Israeli strike on Wednesday hit near the Syrian army and defense ministry headquarters in Damascus, the state-run Alekhbariya channel reported on Telegram, after Israel's military said it had struck there. AFP correspondents heard a loud explosion echoing throughout much of the capital shortly after a first air strike had targeted the same ...

Sweida Caught Between Damascus and Israel

The majority-Druze city of Sweida in southern Syria has been thrust into an unprecedented spiral of violence since Sunday, as fierce clashes between the Syrian army, backed by Bedouin militias, and local Druze armed groups have escalated dramatically. The fighting has been marked by intense combat, summary executions, a deepening humanitarian ...

Syrian Forces Accused of 'Executions' in Druze Area as Israel Launches Strikes

Syrian authorities were accused on Tuesday of carrying out summary executions of civilians in the predominantly Druze province of Sweida, where Israel said it had launched strikes against government forces in defense of the religious minority. Damascus deployed troops to the area after clashes between Druze fighters and Bedouin tribes killed ...

Syria Signs $800 mn Port Deal with UAE-Based Company: State Media

Syria signed an $800 million deal with UAE-based company DP World on Sunday to develop the port of Tartus, state media reported, as the new authorities continue their efforts to support post-war reconstruction. Following the toppling of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, the new Islamist authorities have worked to reconnect the ...

Syrian and Israeli Officials Hold Meeting in Baku

A meeting between Syrian and Israeli officials took place on Saturday in Baku, on the sidelines of interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Shareh’s visit to Azerbaijan, a diplomatic source in Damascus familiar with the talks between the two neighboring countries said. In May, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that, following his meeting with the ...

The Dual Peril Facing Eastern Christians

On June 22, a deadly bombing inside Damascus’s Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Elijah during Mass claimed 25 lives and left around 50 injured. In response, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, Youhanna X, rightly declared that the victims deserve to be honored as martyrs of the faith, just as those who perished in past tragedies in Lebanon, ...

Damascus Denies Threatening Escalation Against Lebanon

Reports that Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa was preparing a series of diplomatic and economic measures against Lebanon in response to Beirut’s alleged neglect of the file of Syrian detainees were denied, al-Arabiya said, quoting a Syrian government source.    “There is no truth to the reports being circulated about the ...

Syria Ready to Work With US to Return to 1974 Disengagement Deal With Israel

Syria said on Friday it was willing to cooperate with the United States to reimplement the 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel, which created a UN-patrolled buffer zone separating the two countries' forces. In a statement after a phone call with his US counterpart Marco Rubio, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani expressed Damascus's ...

Eastern Christians: The Last Keepers of a Legacy

A suicide bombing, this time inside a Damascus church during Sunday Mass. Twenty-five dead. The blast silenced prayer, shattered lives and shook a community already on the brink. Eastern Christianity is dying, not in the chaos of an open warfare, but through a long, silent agony, met with the world’s indifference. In a secularized Europe where ...