Syria

Syrians rejoice as Assad flees, ending brutal reign

Crowds cheered in the streets of Damascus, where celebratory gunfire erupted as five decades of brutal Baath party rule came crashing to a dramatic end with Assad's flight from the capital on Sunday.
9 December 2024

Golani, the man who toppled Assad

Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the militant leader whose stunning insurgency toppled Syria’s president Bashar Assad, has spent years working to remake his public image, renouncing longtime ties to al-Qaeda and depicting himself as a champion of pluralism and tolerance.
8 December 2024

Assad flees to Moscow as rebels take Damascus

Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad yesterday fled Syria as Islamist-led rebels swept into Damascus, triggering celebrations across the country and beyond at the end of his “oppressive” rule.
8 December 2024

World reacts to Assad's ouster in Syria

Following are reactions from around the world to events in Syria
8 December 2024

Syrians topple and trample on statues of Assad's father

In the capital Damascus, people cheered as they stood on a toppled statue of former president Hafez al-Assad, in a highly symbolic moment for a country ruled with an iron fist for five decades by his clan.
8 December 2024

Syrian rebels say they have toppled Assad in state television announcement

Syria's army command notified officers on Sunday that Assad's regime had ended, a Syrian officer who was informed of the move told Reuters.
8 December 2024

Syria govt loses control of key city Daraa

Daraa was dubbed "the cradle of the revolution" early in Syria's civil war, after activists accused the government of detaining and torturing a group of boys for scribbling anti-Assad graffiti on their school walls in 2011.
7 December 2024

Iran 'more united' after reaching Asian Cup last eight on penalties

Iran say they will be "more united" in the Asian Cup quarterfinals after surviving extra time with 10 men before defeating Syria on penalties on Wednesday.
1 February 2024

Caught in the politics of aid, Syria is suffering

Death toll in Syria currently stands over 5,800 (as of 3:30 pm Bangladesh time, February 15). With every passing hour, chances of finding survivors are becoming slimmer.
15 February 2023

Bethlehem: When Will the Peace of Christmas Come Home?

The fact that a Palestinian Christian like me, or a Christian living in a nearby Arab country, cannot simply come to Bethlehem for Christmas should be unacceptable to everyone
24 December 2022

16 killed as Turkey launches ground offensive against Kurdish forces in Syria

Turkey launches a broad assault on Kurdish-controlled areas in northeastern Syria, with intensive bombardment followed by a ground offensive made possible by the withdrawal of US troops.
10 October 2019

Khashoggi's disappearance challenges fragile Middle Eastern pragmatism

Saudi Arabia and Turkey, despite being on opposite sides of Middle Eastern divides, are cooperating in Syria to enable youth and women to acquire skills that would either allow them to compete in the job market or turn them into entrepreneurs.
11 October 2018

Day of hope, tensions in Syria

Syria accidentally shot down a Russian military aircraft, killing all 15 crew members, when its air defences swung into action against an Israeli missile strike, Russian and Israeli forces said yesterday.
18 September 2018

'Victory is near'

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad yesterday told his troops they were close to winning the country's seven-year civil war after inflicting a succession of defeats on rebels.
1 August 2018

Jordan takes in Syrian 'White Helmets' evacuated with Israeli help

Jordan says 800 people including members of Syria's "White Helmets" civil defence group had been evacuated from southwest Syria where Damascus' forces are advancing against rebels, with Israeli officials saying they facilitated the mission.
22 July 2018

Egypt says sending Arab troops to Syria a possibility: State newspaper

Sending Arab troops to Syria is a possibility that is being discussed by officials from various countries, Egypt's foreign minister is quoted as saying.
4 May 2018

Coalition bombing of Syria may serve the ego but not the distressed

The civilised world has stopped altogether questioning the legality of military actions of countries mighty and powerful beyond their own borders since the illegal occupation of Iraq by the US and its coalition of the willing (for some countries the entire world is their area of interest, and thus their intentions and actions, they assert, cannot be circumscribed by political boundaries). However, in this instance one might nonetheless ask whether the aim of the air strike on Syrian targets on April 13 by US, Britain and France, would actually meet the stated US objective—deterring Assad.
18 April 2018

US, UK, France strike Syria to punish Assad for suspected poison gas use

The United States, British and French forces strike Syria with more than 100 missiles in the first coordinated Western strikes against the Damascus government, targeting what they called chemical weapons sites in retaliation for a poison gas attack.
14 April 2018

Trump on Syria attack: ‘Very soon or not so soon at all!’

President Donald Trump says today that an attack on Syria could take place “very soon or not so soon at all,” arguing he had never signaled the timing of retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack that he had suggested was imminent a day earlier.
12 April 2018

8 Turkish soldiers killed in Syria, 13 wounded: Army

Turkey suffers heavy losses during its offensive against a Kurdish militia in northwest Syria, with the military announcing that eight soldiers are killed and 13 more wounded.
2 March 2018