A car bomb killed at least 20 people in the northern Syrian city of Manbij on Monday, the Syrian presidency said, marking the second attack there in three days and the country’s deadliest since Bashar al-Assad was toppled from power in December. The presidency’s statement said it will hold the perpetrators of what it described…
“They offered us oil, but we don’t want oil, we want the institutions and the borders,” the Syrian defense minister said Syria’s defense minister said Wednesday that Damascus was open to talks with Kurdish-led forces on their integration into the national army but stood ready to use force should negotiations fail. “The door to negotiation with the…
US Central Command said its chief met with Kurdish-led forces in northeast Syria and urged the repatriation of foreign ISIS fighters, as Kurds battle Turkey-backed groups in the region. General Michael Kurilla met United States military commanders and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Thursday “to get an assessment” of efforts to defeat ISIS and…
Chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, met Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa on Friday, state media reported, as last month’s ouster of Bashar al-Assad sparks hopes for justice. Al-Sharaa and Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani met “a delegation from the International Criminal Court, headed” by Khan, state news agency SANA reported, also…
Donald Trump will speak online to the annual meeting of the global political and business elite in Davos next week, days after taking office as US president, the World Economic Forum said on Tuesday. Trump will be sworn in at the US Capitol in Washington on Monday, January 20, the first day of the WEF gathering…
Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam said on Tuesday his hands are extended to everyone, in a gesture to the Iran-backed Hezbollah group that accused opponents of seeking to exclude it by nominating him for the post. Salam, nominated by a majority of Lebanese lawmakers on Monday, said he opposed exclusion and supported unity.“This is my sincere call,…
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Monday picked Nawaf Salam, the presiding judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, as prime minister following consultations with lawmakers, the presidency said. “The president of the republic called on Judge Nawaf Salam to task him with forming a government, knowing that he is currently abroad. It has…
Sanctions against allies of ousted President Bashar al-Assad who “committed serious crimes” during the Syrian civil war must remain in place, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday. Berlin proposed a “smart approach” to sanctions so the Syrian population could get some relief, Baerbock told reporters in Riyadh as she joined western and Arab…
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati will on Saturday make his first official trip to neighboring Syria since the fall of president Bashar al-Assad, his office told AFP. Mikati’s office said Friday the trip came at the invitation of the country’s new de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa during a phone call last week. Syria imposed new…
The European Union could begin lifting sanctions on Syria if the war-torn country’s new rulers take steps to form an inclusive government that protects minorities, the bloc’s top diplomat said Friday. “The EU could gradually ease sanctions provided there is tangible progress,” foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote on X, a day after a meeting…
Lebanon’s defaulted sovereign dollar bonds climbed for a fifth day on investor optimism that a candidate will be picked after a two-year vacuum The candidate backed by Hezbollah and Amal Movement withdrew from Lebanon’s presidential race late Wednesday and announced his support for the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces. Sleiman Frangieh, a politician from North Lebanon…
A French journalist was briefly detained by Israeli troops on Wednesday in the buffer zone that separated Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights until Israel entered it last month, the army said. Spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told a press briefing that the journalist “came too close to the soldiers, was questioned and…
Syria will take its time to organize a landmark national dialogue conference to ensure that the preparations include all segments of Syrian society, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said on Tuesday, according to state media. The conference is meant to bring together Syrians from across society to chart a new path for the nation after opposition forces…
Germany is pushing the EU to ease sanctions on Syria as western countries seek to build bridges with its new rulers, diplomats said Tuesday. The 27-nation bloc had imposed wide-ranging sanctions on the regime of ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad and broad swathes of the country’s economy during its civil war. Berlin is now pressing to facilitate financial…
Syrian state media said a five-day security operation in Homs city ended Monday, with a war monitor reporting hundreds of arrests. “We announce the end of the combing campaign in the neighborhoods of Homs city after achieving the campaign’s objectives,” the SANA news agency said, quoting the head of Homs’s General Security agency without naming the official….
