Peaceful protests have swept Sweida province, the heartland of the country's Druze minority, since President Bashar al-Assad's government ended fuel subsidies last month. The move dealt a heavy blow to Syrians reeling from more than a decade of war and economic woes.

Since 2020, a ceasefire deal brokered by Damascus ally Moscow and rebel-backer Ankara has largely held in the northwest, despite periodic clashes. Since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, more than half a million people have been killed.

The navy, with support from the civil defense, "was able to rescue 27 illegal migrants aboard a rubber boat that was sinking off the Chekka coast"

Chinese President Xi Jinping opened the 19th Asian Games in a colourful ceremony in Hangzhou, launching a two-week sporting extravaganza that boasts more athletes than the Olympics. After being delayed by a year because of China's now-abandoned zero-Covid policy, over 12,000 competitors from 45 nations and territories will battle it...

Assad is on his first official trip to China in almost two decades as he seeks financial support to rebuild his devastated country, as well as rehabilitation for his regime from years of isolation over Syria's civil war. He will attend the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Games in...

Modified Iranian drones used by Moscow in its war in Ukraine could feed back to Iran, which in turn may employ them in its campaign to prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich told a briefing in Abu Dhabi. Washington accuses Iran of supplying Moscow with drones...

China becomes one of only a handful of countries outside the Middle East that Assad has visited since the 2011 start of a civil war that has since killed more than half a million people, displaced millions more, and battered Syria's infrastructure and industry. Assad also becomes the latest in...

Damascus, Syria - Syrian President Bashar Assad is set to make his first visit to China this week, highlighting China's continued support throughout Syria's 12-year conflict.  China has been expanding its presence in the Middle East, mediating between Saudi Arabia and Iran earlier this year and aiding Assad's regime, which...

Turkish military action has principally targeted the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) and its Syrian Kurdish ally, the People's Defence Units (YPG). A Turkish drone strike on Sunday killed a senior PKK official and three fighters in the Sinjar Mountains of northwestern Iraq, Iraqi Kurdish authorities said.

During more than a decade of war in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on its territory, targeting Iran-backed forces and Hezbollah fighters as well as Syrian army positions. Israel rarely comments on individual strikes it carries out on targets in Syria, but it has repeatedly said it would not allow Iran...

Beijing, China - Angry China fans turned on their team and applauded the visiting Syrians off the pitch after what Chinese state media called "another embarrassing defeat". China's Serbian coach Aleksandar Jankovic blamed bad luck for the 1-0 friendly loss in Chengdu on Tuesday, which came days after they were held...

An AFP correspondent in Sidon reported the sound of intermittent automatic weapon fire and rocket launchers emanating from within the camp on Friday morning.

Millions of Syrians have fled abroad since their country's civil war broke out in 2011 following the government's repression of peaceful pro-democracy protests.

"Village Umm Amuda Kabira in Aleppo once had 3,000 to 3,500 residents and some 200 mud houses," said Mahmud al-Mheilej, standing beside deserted homes with weeds growing out of the roofs. "Everyone left" after the region saw heavy fighting and was overrun by Islamic State group jihadists.

The clashes broke out after pro-Ankara rebels tried to infiltrate Kurdish-held northeast Syria, killing 23 people, a war monitor said. The spike in violence comes amid days of separate clashes in Kurdish-held parts of neighboring Deir Ezzor province after US-backed, Kurdish-led fighters detained the head of a local military body...

Tehran, Iran -- Iran and Turkey target $30 billion in annual trade in their endeavor to broaden political and economic relations, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said Sunday. Speaking at a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, held in Tehran on Sunday, Amirabdollahian said they have held...

Tehran, Iran-- Iran and Syria have signed an agreement to connect the rail network between the two countries through Iraq. Mehrdad Bazrpash, Iran's Minister of Roads and Urban Development, made the announcement at the inauguration ceremony of the construction of the Shalamcheh-Basra railway on Saturday.  "The construction of the Shalamcheh...

BEIRUT, LEBANON - Sporadic clashes took place on Saturday in a Kurdish-held area of eastern Syria, a monitor said, after a curfew was imposed following the arrest of an Arab armed group's leader. Fighting erupted in the Kurdish-controlled areas of Deir Ezzor province on Monday after the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces...

War-scarred Iraq, originally mainly a drug transit country, has faced an explosion in narcotics use in recent years, mainly of captagon and crystal meth.

Kyrgyzstan has already twice taken back its citizens from Syria or Iraq. In March 2021, 79 children were repatriated while in February this year another 59 women and children were returned. Thousands of people from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia -- Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan --...

Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in the last 12 years of civil war in Syria, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters as well as Syrian army positions. "The Israeli enemy undertook an aerial aggression from the direction of the Mediterranean west of Latakia, targeting Aleppo International...

The Republican delegation comprising French Hill, Ben Cline and Scott Fitzgerald entered Syria from Turkey through the Bab al-Salama border crossing, where they were welcomed by a banner reading "Welcome to Free Syria" and revolutionary flags. The delegation visited a hospital in Aleppo province and met orphans of the Syrian...

The rebels "detonated tunnels they had dug beneath army positions and simultaneously launched an assault from other tunnels", said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Britain-based Observatory. The attack, which also wounded 20 soldiers, came as Syria and its main military ally Russia bombarded the mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya area of...

Both the Syrian army and Russian air force "carried out several air and artillery strikes targeting terrorist headquarters in the countryside of Aleppo, Latakia and Hama," a statement said, after "repeated attacks" on regime-held areas in the provinces. The strikes left dozens of fighters "dead or wounded", the defence ministry...

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said the strikes near Ain Shib had targeted "military bases belonging to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)", the jihadist group that controls the bastion. Other late-night Russian strikes targeted the town of Ariha, south of Idlib city, AFP's correspondent and the Observatory...

Israel, during more than a decade of civil war in Syria, has launched hundreds of air strikes on its territory, targeting Iran-backed forces and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters as well as Syrian army positions. Israel rarely comments on the strikes, but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its...

Beirut, Lebanon - Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets again on Monday in Syria's southern city of Sweida, local media and an activist reported, as dire living conditions stoke discontent in regime-held areas. Days of rare protests have erupted in the south after the government lifted fuel subsidies last week,...

"Russian warplanes carried out air strikes on the western outskirts of Idlib city, targeting a military base belonging to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)... killing at least eight fighters," said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. HTS, led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, controls swathes of...

Amman, Jordan--Jordanian security forces have scuttled an attempt to smuggle narcotics from Syrian territories to Jordan. According to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, the border guards, in coordination with the Anti-Narcotics Department and other military apparatuses, thwarted an attempt by a group of smugglers who tried to cross the Syrian-Jordanian...

Damascus, Syria - Syria's reentry into the Arab League in May was anticipated to herald positive changes for the country's fortunes. Diplomatic relations warmed, with a normalization agreement signed with Saudi Arabia and a tense, Russia-brokered meeting between Turkish and Syrian foreign ministers. However, despite these diplomatic strides, Syria's economic...

Latakia, Syria--The Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) has inaugurated the Al Naqa housing project in the Latakia Governorate in Syria. The ERC announced in April the construction of 1,000 prefabricated housing units in seven areas in the Latakia Governorate worth $18 million to assist Syrian families affected by the earthquake that...

On a riverbank in war-ravaged Syria's north, felling has reduced what was once a lush forest to dispersed trees and decimated trunks poking out from dry, crumbly soil. Syria's war has devastated the environment, triggering an "alarming" loss of forest cover across the country, Dutch peacebuilding group PAX warned in...

Idlib, Syria - Thousands of fans in Syria's last opposition bastion have packed into a stadium for the frenzied final of a football cup -- an escape valve amid years of conflict and misery. "I'm really happy today," said Mohammed al-Zeer, 28, from the northwestern city of Idlib. "Between the war...

In a separate statement late Tuesday, the commerce ministry announced the total lifting of subsidies on petrol and a partial lifting of subsidies on fuel oil. As a result the price of petrol has risen to 8,000 pounds from 3,000 previously, and fuel oil to 2,000 pounds from 700 previously,...

Twelve years after conflict broke out when President Bashar al-Assad repressed peaceful pro-democracy protests, Syrians are still trying to escape a war that has killed more than 500,000 people. At least 141 Syrians were among up to 750 migrants thought to have been on a trawler that set off from...

BEIRUT, LEBANON – The US is responsible for the military escalation in eastern Syria, where terrorist groups such as the Islamic State (outlawed in Russia) intensified their activities recently, the Syrian Arab Republic’s foreign ministry said. "US forces are sponsoring terrorists, who are responsible for the August 10 ambush on...

Residents of the Damascus region heard the blasts which came from "the warehouses of pro-Iran militias" in a mountainous area east of the capital. During more than a decade of war in Syria, neighboring Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on Syrian territory, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and Hezbollah fighters, as...

BEIRUT, LEBANON -The Lebanese army arrested 134 migrants near the northern border with Syria on Saturday after foiling their attempt to take a boat to Europe, it said in a statement. The group of would-be migrants -- made up of 130 Syrians and four Lebanese nationals -- were taken into custody...

Despite losing their last piece of territory in Syria in 2019, IS has maintained hideouts in the vast Syrian desert from which it has carried out ambushes and hit-and-run attacks. Its members in recent weeks have increased their attacks in Syria's north and northeast.

While living and hygiene conditions can be dire even in official displacement camps, the situation in informal settlements is sometimes worse, with no semblance of organisation and little or no humanitarian assistance. Tanya Evans of the International Rescue Committee said such informal camps "can be considered the 'forgotten camps' of...

Through an arrangement that began in 2014, the UN delivered relief to the areas directly through the Bab al-Hawa crossing from Turkey. But last month, the UN Security Council failed to reach consensus on extending the key aid route. The Syrian government has said it will allow humanitarian aid to pass...

The battered country, where half a million died in the conflict, has also suffered the impacts of climate change, from searing summer heat to prolonged drought. The flow of the Euphrates -- one of the region's mighty streams, where the world's earliest civilizations flourished -- has been further impacted by...

Authorities in Iraq -- a key conduit for the amphetamine-type drug -- regularly announce such operations in which large hauls of captagon are seized, often coming from Syria with which it shares 600-kilometre (370 miles) porous border.

The forum was agreed during talks between Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus earlier this month as regional concern mounts over an influx of the banned stimulant captagon from Syria. Jordanian security forces have tightened border controls in recent years and occasionally announce thwarted...

The demonstrators marched through the Swiss city in opposition to the 1923 treaty, while organisers urged the international community to reconsider the agreement and its consequences for the Kurdish people. The demonstrators, who came from across Europe, gathered by Lake Geneva before marching uphill to the Palais de Rumine where...

AMMAN, JORDAN - The United Nations' World Food Program has announced it would reduce cash assistance to nearly 120,000 Syrian refugees in Jordanian camps, saying the move was "unavoidable as funds run precariously low". The UN logs about 650,000 Syrians in Jordan who fled their native country since war broke out...

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes also targeted positions of the Syrian army's elite Fourth Division near the airport in the town of Dimas. One Syrian pro-regime fighter and two foreign, Iran-affiliated combattants were killed in the strikes, the Observatory said.

The city of Sharjah accounted for the largest (3,794) share of the transactions.

They discussed "reinforcing cooperation between the two countries in various sectors... in addition to joint efforts to fight back against terrorism", a statement from Assad's office said.

Baghdad, Iraq -- Iraq said Sunday it has found a site in a province bordering Saudi Arabia where captagon is produced, a rare discovery in a country that has become a transit route for the illicit drug. "Today, and maybe for the first time, a laboratory where captagon is produced was...