The Syrian government has been accused of carrying out mass killings of thousands of prisoners by the US government – which released satellite images to prove it. The Trump administration claims the bodies of those killed were burned in a large crematorium attached to the Saydnaya prison complex outside the Syrian capital of Damascus. The … Read more
The United States on Monday accused the Syrian regime of installing a prison crematorium to destroy the remains of thousands of murdered detainees, piling pressure on Russia to rein in its ally. Warning Moscow it should not turn a blind eye to Bashar al-Assad’s crimes, the State Department released satellite images that it said backed … Read more
A new round of Syrian peace talks opens in Geneva on Tuesday, overshadowed by a competing process in Astana and with rebels reeling from a major setback in Damascus. Since it broke out in March 2011, Syria’s conflict has killed more than 320,000 people, displaced millions and ravaged the country’s economy and infrastructure. Efforts to … Read more
With hostilities subsiding on Syria’s western battlefronts, President Bashar al-Assad’s army is seeking to head off US-backed forces fighting jihadists further east, analysts and military sources in Damascus say. Violence has diminished in parts of central and western Syria after a deal signed last week in the Kazakh capital Astana to introduce four “de-escalation zones” … Read more
Riad Seif, seen in 2012, served as a parliamentarian under both Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his father Hafez before him, and is one of the few lawmakers to have openly criticised the regime and its economic policies The National Coalition, a leading Syrian opposition body, elected prominent dissident Riad Seif as its new head … Read more
Russia on Friday said it had already stopped bombing in areas of Syria set to be designated safe zones under an agreement it inked with Iran and Turkey. The three key powerbrokers signed off on a Russian plan Thursday to establish four “de-escalation zones” in rebel-held territory of the war-torn country in a bid to … Read more
Russia, Iran and Turkey on Thursday signed an agreement to set up four safe zones in Syria that the United Nations described as a promising step to wind down the brutal six-year war. The United States however gave an extremely cautious welcome, citing Iran’s role as a guarantor even as it expressed hope that the … Read more
Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit warned Monday that Iran and Israel were the main beneficiaries of turmoil across the Arab world, which he described as the worst he has ever seen. “I have never seen anything worse than what we are now seeing,” Abul Gheit said at the Arab Media Forum in Dubai. “Iran … Read more
A new UN body tasked with identifying individuals guilty of atrocities in Syria should start work shortly, a key step towards holding war crimes suspects to account, the UN rights chief said Monday. A prominent judge or international lawyer to head the panel will be named “soon”, after funding for the post and a deputy … Read more
A controversial meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad led Europe’s foremost human rights group to say it had no confidence Friday in its Spanish president as he had tarnished his office. Pedro Agramunt, president of the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly, visited Damascus last month. The 65-year-old Spanish senator has now been forbidden to travel … Read more
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Damascus is negotiating with regime ally Moscow to buy the latest Russian anti-missile system to repel Israeli and American attacks. “It’s natural that we should have such systems,” he said, quoted by Syria’s official SANA agency on Thursday, the same day as Damascus accused Israel of firing several missiles at … Read more
Syria on Thursday accused France of concealing the real identity of those behind a deadly suspected chemical attack, a day after Paris said it had proof the Damascus regime was responsible. Western leaders have accused President Bashar al-Assad’s regime of carrying out an April 4 sarin gas attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun … Read more
First Daughter Ivanka Trump is contradicting her father, the US president, insisting that allowing Syrian refugees to immigrate to the United States “has to be part of the discussion” over ending Syria’s years old civil war. “I think there is a global humanitarian crisis that’s happening, and we have to come together, and we have … Read more
A report by French intelligence services blames Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime for a suspected chemical attack in rebel-held Syria that killed 87 people, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Wednesday. He said the analysis of samples taken at the scene of the April 4 attack in Khan Sheikhun showed “there is no doubt that sarin … Read more
US President Donald Trump told UN Security Council ambassadors that the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was “not a deal breaker” in negotiations on ending the war, Russia’s envoy said Tuesday. Trump, who has branded Assad “a butcher”, said it was up to the Syrian people to decide, during a White House luncheon meeting … Read more
The US government put 271 Syrian chemists and other officials on its financial blacklist Monday, punishing them for their presumed role in the deadly chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town in early April. In one of its largest-ever sanctions announcements, the Treasury Department took aim at the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC), … Read more
The US government has imposed ‘sweeping sanctions’ on Syrian officials in response to the sarin gas attack the country’s dictator hit civilians with earlier this month. The Treasury Department ordered a freeze on all assets in the United States belonging to 271 employees of the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC), and blocked any … Read more
Syria’s Tabqa, which US-backed forces entered Monday, is doubly strategic: it lies on the road to the Islamic State group’s Raqa bastion and the nearby dam is the country’s largest. Tabqa is both the name of the town and the dam and capturing both would allow the US-backed Arab-Kurdish alliance known as the Syrian Democratic … Read more
A US-backed alliance of Arab-Kurdish forces entered the key jihadist-held town of Tabqa on Monday as they pursued their campaign against the Islamic State group in northern Syria. The Syrian Democratic Forces have set their sights on Tabqa and the adjacent dam as part of their broader offensive for the city of Raqa, the Syrian … Read more
The US government imposed “sweeping sanctions” on Syrian officials in response to what the US says was a sarin gas attack on civilians earlier this month, the Treasury Department announced Monday. The Treasury ordered a freeze on all assets in the United States belonging to 271 employees of the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center … Read more