Syria

Syria´s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa is visiting Paris on Wednesday for talks with President Emmanuel Macron.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday brushed aside the demands of Syrian Kurds for partial autonomy under a decentralized Syrian government as “nothing more than a dream.” The junta currently in control of Damascus was also unreceptive to Kurdish ambitions for independence.

Israel’s military struck a gathering of “extremists” in Syria preparing attacks against the country’s Druze population, according to a joint statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, which warned that Israel expects the new Syrian government to prevent harm to the minority community.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said on Monday that the junta in Damascus wants to “strengthen relations with China” and develop a “strategic partnership.”

A massive dust storm or “haboob” swept across central and southern Iraq on Tuesday, hospitalizing 3,747 people with breathing difficulties according to Iraqi health officials.

The Syrian energy ministry on Tuesday attributed a nationwide blackout to a “technical malfunction in the electrical system.”

Syria President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the head of the jihadist terror organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), announced the installment of a formal, 23-person cabinet in which his close HTS allies took the top positions but Christians, Kurds, and Alawites obtained some minor representation. 

Syria’s new regime, led by former al-Qaeda officer Ahmed al-Sharaa, clashed with the Iran-backed Lebanese militants of Hezbollah on Monday after Hezbollah allegedly kidnapped and executed three Syrian soldiers.

Rasha Alawieh, a Lebanese doctor associated with Brown University, was quickly deported from the U.S. last week for supporting terrorists.

Syria’s Alawite community continued to huddle in fear over the weekend after hundreds of them were murdered by militants loyal to the Islamist government of former al-Qaeda leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.

The Canadian Foreign ministry said on Thursday that it plans to ease some financial sanctions on Syria and send a non-resident ambassador to Damascus, despite the horrific massacres of Alawites and Christians perpetrated by the new Syrian government and its allies last weekend.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the jihadist terror organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), signed into law a “constitutional declaration” that imposes an Islamist “temporary” constitution on the country intended to create a legal framework that allows it to function while its new rulers rebuild from the civil war.

Israel has sent humanitarian aid to Druze Arabs in Syria who are under threat from the country’s new Islamist rulers.

Humanitarian groups helping persecuted Christians shared reports this week of Islamic extremists attacking and threatening the remaining Christian minority in Syria, warning they were “next” after the elimination of Alawite Shia Muslims.

Jihadist terrorist Ahmed al-Sharaa, the president of Syria, signed an agreement on Monday to integrate the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into the Syrian military – arguably his biggest success since toppling the regime of Bashar Assad in December, as the SDF is one of Syria’s most effective and professional militias.

Thousands of terrified Alawite Muslims fled across the border from Syria into Lebanon over the weekend as Syria’s new jihadi rulers began hunting them down and murdering them for allegedly collaborating with the regime of deposed dictator Bashar Assad.

Middle Eastern news outlets and monitor groups have documented the massacre of hundreds of civilians in western Syria this weekend, most of them members of the Alawite sect of Shia Islam, at the hands of roving jihadist gangs.

The government of Syria under the control of jihadist terror organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) imposed curfews on multiple western regions of the country on Thursday and Friday following what is believed to have been an armed uprising by fighters loyal to deposed dictator Bashar Assad, who fled to Russia in December.

Syria’s “interim president” Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday created a seven-member committee to draft a new national constitution.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish separatist terror group that has been fighting a violent insurgency against the Turkish government since 1984, announced a unilateral ceasefire on Saturday.

Outlawed Kurdish terrorists on Saturday declared a ceasefire with Turkey following a landmark call by jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan asking the group to disband and end more than four decades of armed struggle.

Syria’s “interim president,” Ahmad al-Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda leader and head of the jihadi insurgent group that deposed dictator Bashar Assad in December, visited Jordan on Wednesday for security talks with King Abdullah II.

Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly a high-ranking al-Qaeda leader, said on Tuesday that the one-day “national dialogue summit” he presided over was a “historic” chance for Syria to rebuild after more than a decade of brutal civil war and terrorist insurgency.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the head of the jihadist terror organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), met with China ambassador to Syria this weekend, the first time he has personally devoted time to his country’s relationship with Beijing.

EU begins easing energy, banking, and transport restrictions against Syria, aiming to help breathe life into the conflict-torn country.

A senior official with the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) warned on Monday that the Islamic State “exploited the security vacuum” following the fall of dictator Bashar Assad and remains a formidable threat to the country.

A precision air strike carried out by U.S. forces killed a senior official of an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria on Saturday.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Yusuf Sharif told Russian media on Wednesday that an agreement first proposed in 2017 to give Russia a naval base on the Red Sea coast will finally proceed, giving Moscow an opportunity to replace the base it lost in Syria with the fall of dictator Bashar Assad.

Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II told the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, DC, last week that Christians remain apprehensive about the new jihadi regime in Damascus, but they hope to play a “vital and pivotal role” in rebuilding their homeland.

A Swedish court on Tuesday sentenced Lina Ishaq to 12 years in prison on genocide charges, in the country’s first court case over crimes by the Islamic State group against the Yazidi minority.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the jihadist terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), dismissed President Donald Trump’s plan for America to take over the Gaza Strip as a guaranteed failure, comparing it to Trump “pushing Mexicans out of America.”

Court sentenced a Syrian national to three years in prison after finding him guilty of causing the death by negligence of a 3-year-old.

The man is insistent: Our ship is in difficulty, so keep your distance, he instructs another vessel over the radio.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist organization, said during a meeting this week with Islamist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he seeks cooperation with Turkey on “all political, economic and security levels” to rebuild his war-torn country.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday, bringing a new support package for Ukraine.