Syrian rebels and their families begin evacuating from a district of the capital Damascus for the first time on Monday, bringing the government closer to recapturing all of the city. The deal to evacuate Barzeh district mirrors similar agreements for opposition-held territory elsewhere in the country, allowing fighters safe passage in exchange for surrender. It … Read more
Fighting subsided in Syria on Saturday after a deal signed by government backers Russia and Iran and rebel supporter Turkey to create four “de-escalation zones” began to take effect. The multi-phase plan, signed on Thursday in the Kazakh capital Astana, is one of the more ambitious efforts to bring an end to Syria’s six-year conflict. … Read more
Fighting subsided in Syria on Saturday after a deal signed by government backers Russia and Iran and rebel supporter Turkey to create four safe zones began to take effect, a monitor said. The zones still exist only on paper and the cosponsors have until June 4 to finalise their borders under the terms of the … Read more
After six years of conflict in Syria, government backers Russia and Iran and rebel supporter Turkey have signed a deal to create four “de-escalation zones” in the country. Here are some questions and answers about the deal and the planned zones: The zones are four areas located across eight of Syria’s 14 provinces. The first … Read more
Fierce clashes between jihadists and Islamist rebels near Damascus left at least 40 dead and 70 wounded on Friday, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the clashes pitted the Saudi-backed rebel faction Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) against Fateh al-Sham, Al-Qaeda’s former branch in Syria, and Faylaq al-Rahman, which is … Read more
Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Guangzhou Evergrande crushed Hong Kong’s Eastern 6-0 on Tuesday as they ruthlessly ousted the debutants and their trailblazing female coach from the AFC Champions League. Paulinho and Alan both grabbed doubles to bury Eastern, whose coach Chan Yuen-ting, nicknamed ‘Beef Ball’, had become the first woman worldwide to lead a professional men’s … Read more
Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad on Friday blamed the country’s former Al-Qaeda affiliate for a deadly bombing against buses carrying evacuees outside Aleppo at the weekend. “It was Jabhat al-Nusra, they haven’t hidden it from the very start, and I think that everyone agrees that it was Nusra,” Assad told Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency in … Read more
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that “terrorists” were applauding his US counterpart Donald Trump for launching a missile strike on an airbase of his Syrian government ally. But he backed calls for an independent inquiry into a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town in northwestern Syria on Tuesday that Trump blamed … Read more
Russia has said its support for Syrian president Bashar al Assad is “not unconditional” in the wake of a suspected chemical weapons attack that has provoked widespread condemnation. The comment from President Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov comes after the Russian leader said it was unacceptable to make “groundless” accusations over the attack. Tuesday’s attack in … Read more
The Syrian foreign minister has set out conditions for any UN investigation into the deaths of dozens of people from a chemical agent on Tuesday. Walid Muallem told the BBC it would have to be non-political, involve “many countries” and “start from Damascus” before his government could accept. He denied Syria had dropped chemical weapons … Read more
The northwestern Syrian province of Idlib, site of a presumed chemical attack, is the last remaining rebel bastion after six years of civil war. Idlib city has taken in masses of displaced Syrians, swelling its population from nearly 120,000 people before the war began in 2011 to around 200,000 today. Before fighting broke out, the … Read more
A Syrian air strike hit a “terrorist warehouse” containing “toxic substances”, Moscow said Wednesday, a day after a suspected chemical attack in rebel-held northwest Syria that killed scores of civilians. “According to the objective data of the Russian airspace control, Syrian aviation struck a large terrorist warehouse near Khan Sheikhun,” the Russian defence ministry said … Read more
Warplanes carried out a suspected toxic gas attack that killed at least 35 people including several children in a rebel-held town in northwestern Syria on Tuesday, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said those killed in the town of Khan Sheikhun, in Idlib province, had died from the effects of the … Read more
At least 16 people were killed overnight in air strikes on a prison in the rebel-held city of Idlib in northwest Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said Saturday. It said the dead included prisoners and prison guards, but did not have an immediate breakdown of the toll. The strikes were believed to … Read more
Syrian government troops on Friday recaptured all points taken by rebels in a surprise offensive launched late last week in the east of the capital Damascus, state media said. “The army has retaken all the areas infiltrated by the terrorists in the area between the Jobar and Qabun neighbourhoods… after intensive military operations,” the official … Read more
What happened to the leaders whose power was challenged in the so-called Arab Spring that began in late 2010? Here is a look. Hosni Mubarak stepped down on February 11, 2011 after three decades in office and handed power to the army, following an 18-day revolt. Mubarak was arrested that April, and succeeded in June … Read more
Jihadists and allied rebels claimed more ground against Syrian government forces in central Hama province on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said. The Britain-based group said the jihadists and allied fighters have taken 15 towns and villages from government troops since they began the surprise offensive on Tuesday. It reported heavy fighting … Read more
Syrian jihadists and allied rebels seized a key town from government forces on Tuesday in a new offensive in the central province of Hama, a monitor and fighting factions said. The surprise offensive was announced Tuesday by the Tahrir al-Sham alliance, which is dominated by the jihadist Fateh al-Sham Front, once linked to Al-Qaeda. “This … Read more
Rebels and jihadists on Tuesday launched a fresh assault on east Damascus, two days after Syrian government forces repelled an initial attack, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. “There was a big blast at dawn, most likely due to a car bomb attack by the rebels against a regime position between the districts of … Read more
Syrian warplanes hammered opposition-held neighbourhoods of Damascus on Monday after regime forces pushed back a surprise assault that saw rebels try to fight their way into the city centre. Rebels and allied jihadists, led by former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front, launched an attack early Sunday on government positions in east Damascus, initially scoring key … Read more