Tag - syria

 
 

SYRIA

Israeli military vehicles ride through Syria close to the cease-fire line between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria, as seen from Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 16, 2024
Israel plans to double its population on the occupied Golan Heights
Israel captured most of the strategic plateau from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War, annexing it in 1981.
Then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in August 2021. From Syria to Ukraine, Merkel and former U.S. President Barack Obama’s missteps still haunt the West.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2024
Putin’s loss in Syria exposes Western failures
The West's indecision and failed liberal internationalist policies allowed Putin to bolster Assad’s regime and secure strategic advantages in Syria.
A damaged poster of Syria's ousted leader, Bashar Assad, in Aleppo on Nov. 30
WORLD / FOCUS
Dec 15, 2024
Assad's final hours in Syria: Deception, despair and flight
Hours before he fled to Moscow, Assad assured army and security chiefs that Russian support was on its way and urged ground forces to hold out.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fighters gather in Damascus on Saturday.
WORLD
Dec 15, 2024
U.S. says it is in contact with new Syria rulers
Secretary of State Antony Blinken's comment on "direct contact" with the HTS rebels came despite the United States having designated the group as terrorists in 2018.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba takes part in an online meeting of Group of Seven leaders at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo early Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 14, 2024
Ishiba urges deeper G7 security cooperation as North Korea gets closer to Russia
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said recent developments have a "direct impact" on security in the Indo-Pacific region.
Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin was in Damascus on Thursday, just days after an Islamist-led rebel push ousted Syrian strongman Bashar Assad.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 14, 2024
Turkey races ahead of U.S. in push for Syria influence
Ankara has sent a top official to Damascus and restarted diplomatic relations with Syria after more than a decade.
A satellite image shows an An-124 heavy transport aircraft with its nose cone lifted, at Russia's Khmeimim airbase, near Latakia, Syria, on Friday.
WORLD
Dec 14, 2024
Russian military appears to be packing up equipment in Syria, satellite imagery shows
The moves could be a prelude to Moscow’s military withdrawal from the country in the wake of President Bashar Assad’s fall.
Farhan al-Khouli, a Syrian military conscript who deserted his post on the first day of the rebel offensive, works at a horse stable in Damascus, Syria, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 13, 2024
Demoralized and abandoned by allies: Why Syria’s army failed to fight
Rampant corruption and a heavy reliance on foreign allies hollowed out Bashar Assad's once-feared army.
A broken statue of late Syrian president Hafez Assad lies outside the Baath party offices in Damascus, on Thursday. Islamist-led rebels took Damascus in a lightning offensive on Dec. 8, ousting Syrian President Bashar Assad and ending five decades of Baath rule in Syria.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 13, 2024
G7 to meet on Syria as new government pledges 'rule of law'
Leaders of the Group of Seven said they were ready to support the transition to an "inclusive and nonsectarian" government in Syria.
People wave the flag of the Syrian National Coalition as they celebrate the fall of the Assad regime in Aleppo, Syria, on Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Dec 13, 2024
The Syrians have a chance to be free. They need our help.
The future of Syria, and the wider Middle East, remains uncertain, however, and the ultimate outcome could be more threatening than that of the Assad era.
Syrian President Bashar Assad's downfall stemmed from his failure to reform the country's corrupt, sectarian regime and an economy ravaged by war, leaving his government unable to withstand the recent rebel offensive.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2024
Syria’s kleptocratic rule and a house of cards
Like the fictional mafia family, Assad’s regime relied on kickbacks from wealthy business owners and shaking down foreigners.
A man checks a tunnel found under a mosque in Tadamon district, which is littered with bones, in Damascus, Syria, on Thursday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 13, 2024
At site of suspected mass killings, Syrians recall horrors and seek answers
After Bashar Assad's ouster, residents hope the site in Damascus' Tadamon district can be cordoned off for those responsible to be held accountable.
Najem al-Moussa, 36, his wife Bushra al-Bukaai, 30, and their five children at their home in Athens on Tuesday.
WORLD / Society
Dec 12, 2024
Syrian refugees in Europe fear being forced home after Assad's fall
"I consider my life to be here. Not just me, but my children," said one Syrian refugee who is living in Athens.
The leader of Syria's rebel group, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, addresses a crowd in Damascus on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 12, 2024
Militant leader's endgame is big unknown in post-Assad Syria
Abu Mohammed al-Golani has sought to project a moderate image so far, but there is distrust in the air.
The aftermath of an overnight strike attributed to Israel is seen on the Barzeh scientific research center affiliated with the Syrian defense ministry in northern Damascus on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 11, 2024
Israel steps up airstrikes and sends troops deeper into Syria
The Israel Defense Forces said it struck most of the strategic weapons stockpiles in Syria to prevent them from falling into the hands of terrorists.
Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Syrian President Bashar Assad in eastern Hangzhou city in September 2023.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 10, 2024
Assad's fall in Syria exposes limits of China's Middle East diplomacy
Chinese experts and diplomats say Beijing will now bide its time before recognizing a new government in Damascus.
People hold a banner featuring Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as members of the Syrian community and supporters gather to celebrate the fall of Syrian president Bashar Assad in the face of an offensive by Islamist-led rebels, in Istanbul on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 10, 2024
With Assad’s fall, Erdogan oversees Turkey’s growing regional clout
Erdogan’s clout over his southern neighbor has increased dramatically with the fall of his onetime friend Bashar Assad.
Rebel commander Ahmed al-Sharaa, better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, speaks to a crowd in Damascus, Syria, on Monday.
WORLD
Dec 10, 2024
Syria's rebels work to form government and restore order after Assad ouster
With the mood in Damascus still celebratory, Assad's prime minister, Mohammed Jalali, has agreed to hand power to the rebel-led Salvation Government.
A truck pulls the head of a toppled statue of late Syrian President Hafez Assad, the father of ousted-President Bashar Assad, through the streets of Hama on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2024
Assad’s fall shows Russia, Iran and Hamas made a bad bet
That’s not to say the Middle East is entering a bright new era of peace. The collapse of Assad’s regime could cause a revival of the Islamic State.
A sanitary serviceman stands by body bags at the morgue of a hospital in Damascus on Tuesday.
WORLD
Dec 10, 2024
Syria rebels say found dozens of tortured bodies in hospital near Damascus
One rebel shared dozens of photographs showing corpses with evident signs of torture.

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Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan