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  • Uyghur fighters in Syria vow to come for China next

    A Uyghur militant group that helped to topple Bashar-al Assad has vowed to take the fight to China.

  • Fears mount for Syria’s minorities as video emerges showing rebel fighters executing suspects

    Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has become Syria’s new strongman, replacing the Alawite regime of Bashar al-Assad. Once a partner of al Qaeda, Jolani now speaks the language of tolerance towards Syria’s ethnic and religious minorities and told his fighters to refrain from extrajudicial violence. Videos emerging on social media, including one apparently showing the execution of four suspected regime collaborators, suggest that not all of his fighters are following hi

  • Why Israel captured Syria’s tallest mountain just hours after Assad fell

    Israel wasted no time after Bashar al-Assad’s fall to bomb all the Syrian military assets it wanted to keep out of the rebels’ hands – striking nearly 500 targets, destroying the navy, and taking out, it claims, 90% of Syria’s known surface-to-air missiles.

  • Israeli troops can remain in Gaza after war, Hamas concedes in major U-turn

    Hamas has reportedly agreed to allow Israeli troops to remain in Gaza in a major about-turn that could unblock a hostage deal.

  • Bloody siege ends Myanmar army control of western border

    Insurgents seized Myanmar's border with Bangladesh in one of the bloodiest battles of the civil war.

  • North Korean troops performing well on battlefield, say Russian bloggers

    North Korean troops have captured a village from Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region, Russian military bloggers have reported.

  • Battered corpses show the horrors of life and death under Syria’s Assad

    The 35 or so bodies were found in a military hospital in the Syrian capital of Damascus, days after the regime fell. They are believed to be among the last victims of Assad.

  • Russia ‘close to’ deal with rebels to retain military bases in Syria

    Russia is close to securing a deal to retain control of two military bases in Syria following talks with rebels who overthrew dictator Bashar al-Assad last week, officials close to the Kremlin believe.

  • Demoralised and abandoned by allies: why Assad’s army failed to fight in Syria

    Twenty-three-year-old Syrian military conscript Farhan al-Khouli was badly paid and demoralized. For years, the Islamist rebels of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) had sat behind the nearby frontline, with Syria's long civil war frozen.

  • Netanyahu releases video message to the Iranian people saying that the regime's allies are falling

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video message addressed to the Iranian people Thursday celebrating the weakening of the "Iranian regime's axis of terror." Speaking in English in a video with Farsi subtitles, Netanyahu said that Israeli attacks on Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon had set off a "chain reaction" in the Middle East.

  • Syria's interim PM hails 'the birth of a nation' at Friday prayers

    STORY: :: Syria's interim PM calls for mercy and unity as he leads Friday prayers at the Umayyad Mosque:: December 13, 2024:: Damascus, Syria:: Mohamed al-Bashir, Syrian Caretaker Prime Minister:: "Have mercy. You should be merciful. You should take Syria as a symbol of freedom. Let Syria be a symbol of mercy.":: "Victory and the liberation of the land is not just about breaking chains or raising flags. It is the birth of a nation, the restoration of dignity, and the writing of history.":: "He (ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad) thought his rule would last forever, but God brought him to ruin, just as He did to Pharaoh."Since Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group swept Bashar al-Assad from power on Sunday (December 8) at the head of a rebel alliance, its bureaucrats - who until last week were running an Islamist administration in a remote corner of Syria's northwest - have moved into government headquarters in Damascus.The appointment of Mohammed al-Bashir, the head of the regional government in HTS' enclave of Idlib, as Syria's new interim prime minister on Monday (December 9) underlined the group's status as the most powerful of the armed groups that battled for more than 13 years to end Assad's iron-fisted rule.

  • China FM says 'deeply concerned' about Syria in talks with Egypt counterpart

    China's foreign minister Wang Yi told his Egyptian counterpart on Friday that Beijing is "deeply concerned" about the situation in Syria, as the two top diplomats met in the Chinese capital."The two sides are deeply concerned about the current situation in Syria and call for respect for Syria's sovereignty," Wang told journalists, urging the prevention of "terrorist and extremist forces from taking advantage of the chaos".

  • Russia ‘close to agreeing deal with Syria rebels to keep military bases’

    Russia is reportedly close to securing a deal with the new Syrian leadership that would secure the future of its military bases in the country.

  • Discovery of vast Syrian drug lab reveals secrets of illicit trade

    STORY: Inside this massive warehouse on the western edge of Damascus, rebel fighters found what appears to be an industrial-scale narcotics lab.The rebels who ousted President Bashar al-Assad say they've found thousands of pills of an addictive amphetamine-like stimulant commonly known as captagon.Many were packed inside electrical equipment.This fighter said "This is how they wrap them, and send them to countries abroad.'He said the were meant to be wrapped in copper to hide them.Some pills were secreted inside fruit.Assad's government long denied ties to the international narcotics trade. But he was accused by Washington and others of profiteering from the production and sale of captagon. The fall of his regime has allowed journalists to start searching Syria for evidence of the captagon empire for the first time.Experts say the annual trade in captagon is worth billions of dollars a year, experts say. And Western governments have linked the illicit trade in Syria to Assad's brother, Maher al-Assad.His whereabouts are not known and Reuters could not reach him for comment on the allegations.Inside the warehouse was a pill-press and dozens of barrels, boxes and bottles of different chemicals.Captagon was the brand name of a stimulant first produced in Germany in the 1960s to help treat attention conditions.It was discontinued, but an illicit version of the drug known as "poor man's cocaine" continued to be produced.The stimulant has become entrenched across the Middle East - from the frontlines of wars to high-end parties.It has been banned in many countries including the U.S. and can have harmful side effects.The Damascus site is one of several fighters say they have found across the country, where the drug was produced and prepared for export.And according to the director of a New York-based institute that tracks the captagon trade, it appears to be one of the largest captagon labs ever found.

  • Syrian Shi'ites and other minorities flee to Lebanon, fearing Islamist rule

    Tens of thousands of Syrians, mostly Shi'ite Muslims, have fled to Lebanon since Sunni Muslim Islamists toppled Bashar al-Assad, fearing persecution despite assurances from the new rulers in Damascus that they will be safe, a Lebanese official said. At the border with Lebanon, where thousands of people were trying to leave Syria on Thursday, a dozen Shi'ite Muslims interviewed by Reuters described threats made against them, sometimes in person but mostly on social media. Their accounts reflect fears of persecution despite promises of protection by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) - the Sunni Islamist group which has emerged as the dominant force in the new Syria but is far from being the only armed faction on the ground.

  • After Assad's ouster, Syrian rebel leader tightens his grip on the state

    DAMASCUS/BEIRUT (Reuters) -Rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa's Islamist group is stamping its authority on Syria's state with the same lightning speed that it seized the country, deploying police, installing an interim government and meeting foreign envoys - raising concerns over how inclusive Damascus' new rulers intend to be. Since Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group swept Bashar al-Assad from power on Sunday at the head of a rebel alliance, its bureaucrats - who until last week were running an Islamist administration in a remote corner of Syria's northwest - have moved into government headquarters in Damascus. The appointment of Mohammed al-Bashir, the head of the regional government in HTS' enclave of Idlib, as Syria's new interim prime minister on Monday underlined the group's status as the most powerful of the armed groups that battled for more than 13 years to end Assad's iron-fisted rule.

  • BBC accused of portraying Palestinian Hamas fighters as ‘innocent civilians’

    Palestinian gunmen killed in Gaza have been repeatedly portrayed as innocent civilians by the BBC, it has been claimed.

  • Blinken makes unannounced trip to Iraq as international community grapples with Syrian regime collapse

    US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Iraq Friday to meet with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as the international community grapples with the implications of the Syrian government’s collapse.

  • G7 to meet on Syria, government pledges 'rule of law'

    G7 leaders will attempt Friday to forge a common approach to the new government of Syria, which has pledged to protect the rule of law after years of abuses under ousted president Bashar al-Assad."A judicial and human rights committee will be established to examine the constitution and then introduce amendments," he said, pledging that "rule of law" would be instituted.

  • Thai police detain 2 suspects after a bomb in a border province killed 3 and injured scores

    Thai police on Saturday said two suspects were in custody as authorities investigated a bombing in the north that killed at least three people and injured dozens of others. An explosive device was thrown into a crowd during an outdoor performance at an annual festival in Umphang town in Tak province, which borders Myanmar, on Friday just before midnight, according to the Association of the Umphang Rescue Groups. Local police said at least 48 people were injured and that police have not yet pressed charges against the suspects as the investigation is ongoing.