syria

Lebanon Should Take a Cue from al-Sharaa - and Talk to Israel

A joke has it that Syria’s self-proclaimed president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, offered to build a Trump Tower in Damascus to make up for the two New York towers that Al-Qaeda, al-Sharaa former organization, destroyed on 9/11, killing 2,753 Americans. Times are changing.  Since October 7, Iran has been begging America for a nuclear deal that ...

EU Agrees to Lift all Economic Sanctions on Syria

EU countries on Tuesday gave a green light to lifting all economic sanctions on Syria in a bid to help the war-torn country recover after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, diplomats said. Ambassadors from the EU's 27 member states struck a preliminary agreement for the move, which should be formally unveiled by foreign ministers meeting in Brussels ...

Syria Says Foiled Attempt to Smuggle Out 4 mn Captagon Tablets

Syrian authorities on Monday announced that they had thwarted an attempt to smuggle out four million tablets of captagon, an amphetamine-like narcotic that has flooded the region. The interior ministry said in a statement that authorities seized "over four million captagon tablets that were tightly hidden inside industrial equipment designed for ...

At Least Three Police Officers Killed in Syria car Bomb

Three police officers were killed and two other people wounded when a car bomb exploded near a police station in eastern Syria on Sunday, state news agency SANA reported. "Three police officers were martyred and two others were injured in an explosion that occurred today near the police station in the city of Al-Mayadeen in the eastern ...

Israel Announces Recovery of 2,500 Items from Syria Linked to Executed Spy Eli Cohen

Israel announced on Sunday that it had retrieved the official Syrian archive on famed spy Eli Cohen -- a cache of 2,500 documents, photographs and personal effects linked to the Mossad agent executed in Damascus in 1965. "In a complex covert operation by the Mossad, in cooperation with a strategic partner service, the official Syrian archive ...

Morocco to Reopen Embassy in Syria

Morocco said Saturday it will reopen its embassy in Damascus, closed since 2012, signaling renewed support for Syria after the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad. The decision was announced in a letter from King Mohammed VI to Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, read by the Moroccan foreign minister at an Arab League summit in ...

World Bank to Restart Operations in Syria Following Saudi, Qatari Payment of Debts

The World Bank on Friday said it would restart operations in Syria following a 14-year pause, after Saudi Arabia and Qatar had paid off the country's outstanding debts. The Bank's operations in Syria were halted when the civil war broke out in 2011, preventing the country from gaining access to its development loans, grants, and technical ...

Lebanon at the Baghdad Summit: A Message of Arab Reconnection

On the eve of his departure for Baghdad to lead the Lebanese delegation at the Arab summit, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam issued a firm message outlining his government’s intentions to reestablish Lebanon’s standing in the region. “Lebanon intends to fully reconnect with its Arab environment and regain its place on the regional scene,” Salam ...

Lebanon Sees Opportunity in US Sanctions Shift on Syria, Says Energy Minister

Minister of Energy Joe Saddi expressed cautious optimism on Friday following the United States’ surprise decision to lift certain sanctions on Syria, suggesting the move could breathe new life into long-stalled regional energy projects vital to Lebanon’s power sector. Speaking to the Markazia news agency, Saddi said the US initiative may ...

Sanctions Lifted on Syria: Damascus Faces Hope and Real Challenges

From Riyadh on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump announced—at the request of the Saudi crown prince—the full lifting, not just suspension, of economic and diplomatic sanctions on Syria. It was a crucial distinction, noted by many observers attending the US-Saudi Investment Forum, where every word of the American president’s remarks was ...

Qatar and Saudi Arabia Competing for the Syrian Market

After supporting several Syrian opposition groups in the early stages of the war, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are now looking to capitalize on the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad last December to establish a strategic foothold in the country. With a new regime in place that aligns more closely with their interests, both countries are eager to ...