In December, Syrians breathed a collective sigh of relief as the Assad regime was finally deposed. The following weeks were filled with celebration: the green flag of the revolution flew at gatherings across the country, and family chat groups buzzed with news of long-exiled relatives planning their return to Syria. Six months on, cautious optimism...
The figures are a show of the administration’s willingness to use extreme military force on its own population. President Donald Trump’s latest deployment of thousands of National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles means that there are now more troops carrying out Trump’s anti-protest crackdown in southern California than in both Iraq and Syria,...
Syria’s Islamist-led interim government has decreed that women must wear burkinis – a swimsuit that covers the body except for the face, hands and feet – or other “decent” clothes at public beaches and swimming pools. The regulations, issued by the tourism ministry, were “aimed at enhancing public safety standards and preserving public decency”, Syrian...
Dozens of former officials have spoken to the BBC about their role enforcing the brutality of the Assad regime – including a man who said he tortured detainees, then defected in 2012. The rare first-hand testimony forms part of a BBC investigation into Syria’s notorious prisons under its former president, Bashar al-Assad, who was overthrown...
Feras Kilani BBC Arabic special correspondent BBC Feras Kilani stands in front of Syrian security forces in Damascus, two days before he was detained by Israeli forces to the south On the morning of 9 May, I was part of a BBC Arabic team which left the Syrian capital, Damascus, for the southern province of...
Josh Baker and Sara Obeidat BBC News Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Tribune News Service via Getty Images Top secret intelligence files uncovered by the BBC confirm for the first time that missing American journalist Austin Tice was imprisoned by the regime of the now-deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Former Syrian officials have also confirmed Mr Tice’s detention...
This article contains distressing descriptions of death Swedish authorities have charged a convicted terrorist over the 2015 killing of a Jordanian pilot who was burned to death in Syria. Osama Krayem, 32 – a Swedish citizen – was on Tuesday charged with war and terrorism crimes relating to the death of Moaz al-Kasasbeh. Krayem is...
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called for Syria’s transitional authorities to be supported, warning that the country could be only weeks away from “potential collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions”. At a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he defended President Donald Trump’s decision last week to lift sanctions...
In December, as weepy Winken Antony Blinken was busy sucking up to the newest, cleanest Jihadi in a suit to roll into a Middle Eastern Third World s**thole, I was asking if the Biden administration had bothered to ‘meet the new boss’ in light of their effusive greetings to Abu Mohamed al-Jolani and his victorious,...
The US has maintained sanctions on Syria for decades, fueling poverty and hunger among the country’s population. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he is ordering the “cessation” of U.S. sanctions on Syria, seemingly bringing an end to the U.S.’s decades-long economic suppression of the country as he cozies up to Saudi Arabian leaders....
US President Donald Trump has said the US has “no stronger partner” than Saudi Arabia during his first major foreign trip – a whirlwind visit of Gulf countries mainly focused on shoring up investment. Day one of the trip saw the two sides announce a $142bn (£107bn) arms deal, as well as a raft of...
Israel says its fighter jets bombed an area next to the presidential palace in Syria’s capital, Damascus, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to protect the Druze religious minority following days of deadly sectarian violence. Netanyahu said the strike was “clear message to the Syrian regime” that Israel would “not allow the deployment of forces...
BBC Verify: How did rebels train to overthrow the President of Syria? Read full article at source...
Chloe Laversuch BBC News, Yorkshire West Yorkshire Police Ahmad Mamdouh Al Ibrahim, 16, died in hospital after being stabbed in Huddersfield A teenage boy who was fatally stabbed in Huddersfield had fled the war in Syria after being injured in a bombing. Ahmad Mamdouh Al Ibrahim, 16, suffered a single wound to the neck and...
Lucy Williamson BBC Middle East correspondent EPA Israel has repeatedly carried out air strikes on Syrian bases since the fall of Assad A growing confrontation between Israel and Turkey over influence in Syria is posing a serious challenge for Syria’s fragile new government. On Wednesday night, Israel bombed several military targets in Syria, including two...