syria

More Than 21,000 Syrians Flee to Lebanon in March (UNHCR)

More than 21,000 Syrians have fled to Lebanon during the month of March as the deadliest sectarian violence since Bashar al-Assad’s ousting has ravaged Syria’s Alawite heartland, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reported Tuesday. The surge in refugees follows a wave of mass killings in Syria’s coastal region, particularly targeting the Alawite ...

Syria Committee Says Collected Dozens of Testimonies on Sectarian Violence

A committee investigating a wave of sectarian killings this month on Syria's coast said on Tuesday it had recorded dozens of reports into the worst bloodshed since Bashar al-Assad's ousting, with investigations ongoing. Spokesman Yasser al-Farhan told a press conference in Damascus that the committee had recorded "more than 95 testimonies" and ...

Israel Strikes Syria and Presses Gaza Offensive

Authorities in southern Syria reported that Israeli bombardment on Tuesday killed at least five people in Daraa province, while Israel's military said it carried out a strike in response to incoming fire. The violence in the south, near the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights, followed Israeli air strikes in central Syria, the ...

Witkoff: Normalization Between Israel and Lebanon Is Possible

US Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steven Witkoff, recently stated that the normalization of relations between Lebanon, Syria, and Israel is no longer a distant dream, but a real and tangible possibility. In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Witkoff suggested that these countries could eventually establish formal diplomatic ties with Israel, a ...

War Monitor Says Israel Strikes Military Airport Near Palmyra, Syria

Israeli air strikes on Friday targeted the military airport near Palmyra in central Syria, a war monitor said, reporting the latest Israeli attack in the country since the fall of Bashar al-Assad. "Israeli warplanes targeted the Palmyra military airport," the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Since Islamist-led rebels ...

Head of Pro-Iran Armed Faction Arrested in Syria: SOHR

Security forces in Syria's eastern city of Deir Ezzor have arrested the head of an Iran-affiliated faction that fought alongside ousted president Bashar al-Assad's forces, a war monitor said Friday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said security forces detained Moayad Abdul Samad al-Douaihy in Deir Ezzor on Thursday. The Britain-based ...

Hezbollah-PLO: Parallel Fates

In 1982, the Israeli army launched Operation "Peace for Galilee" with the goal of driving Arafat's militias from southern Lebanon. More than mere militias, these were organized armies, and Yasser Arafat reigned as the undisputed ruler and bloodstained overlord of Lebanon. The leader of the PLO had unilaterally declared Lebanon as the launchpad for ...

Syria, Lebanon Armies Agree to Withdraw From Hosh al-Sayyed Ali

The Syrian army announced on Wednesday that it had reached an agreement and coordination framework with the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) on securing the border town of Hosh al-Sayyed Ali,  warning that any breach of the understanding by Hezbollah would be met with a firm and direct response. In a statement published by the state-run SANA news ...

Resolution 1680: A Turning Point for Lebanese Sovereignty

On May 17, 2006, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1680, a decisive text aimed at strengthening Lebanon's independence and normalizing its relations with Syria. This resolution, lesser-known than the spotlight-stealing Resolutions 1701 and 1559, deserves our attention if we are to understand the current dynamics between these ...

Lebanon Regains Control of Hosh el-Sayed Ali: Army Deployed on the Ground

Units of the Lebanese Army and the Engineering Regiment entered, on Wednesday morning, the village of Hosh el-Sayed Ali, which has been under the control of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham fighters. The Lebanese Armed Forces' advance in the area comes after successful negotiations between the concerned parties, supported by intensive mobilization ...

Nearly 13,000 Syrians Fled to Lebanon Since Sectarian Massacre

Nearly 13,000 Syrians fled across the borders to Lebanon since sectarian massacres on the Syrian coast earlier this month, Lebanese authorities said on Tuesday. A report from Lebanon's Disaster Risk Management Unit (DRM) obtained by AFP said 12,798 Syrians had arrived and settled in 23 different villages and towns in Lebanon's northern Akkar ...