The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants starts after nearly 14 months of fighting

Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants starts after nearly 14 months of fighting.

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  • Why Syria’s army collapsed so suddenly

    Syrian President Bashar al-Assad flew out of Damascus for an unknown destination on Sunday, as rebels said they had infiltrated the capital with no sign of army deployments.

  • Assad’s family ‘flees’ to Russia – but Kremlin won’t come to Syrian leader’s rescue

    Bashar al-Assad’s family fled to Russia in the days after rebel forces launched a shock offensive that captured swathes of territory across northern Syria, it has been revealed.

  • Syrian president leaves Damascus on plane as army says his rule ends - reports

    The Syrian government appears to have fallen after a lightning offensive by rebels. President Bashar al Assad fled Damascus on a plane for an unknown destination, according to two senior Syrian army officers speaking to the Reuters news agency, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Syria's army command has now notified officers that his 24-year rule has ended, an officer who was informed of the move told Reuters.

  • In Syria, a ruthless dictator is under siege. Will anyone step up to save him?

    Across northern and central Syria this week, families who've been torn apart by more than a decade of civil war have been holding joyous reunions."I didn't believe it, it was very emotional," said Ismail Alabullah, a volunteer with the Syrian NGO the White Helmets, as he described returning to the city of Aleppo for the first time since 2013 and reuniting with his sister."I couldn't believe I was seeing her again," he told CBC News from northern Syria. "I lost my brother, my mother and father ov

  • Hezbollah sent 'supervising' forces to Syria's Homs, sources say

    Lebanese armed group Hezbollah sent a small number of "supervising forces" from Lebanon to Syria overnight to help prevent anti-government fighters from seizing the strategic city of Homs, two senior Lebanese security sources said on Friday. "Homs must not fall," one of the sources told Reuters, adding that senior officers deployed overnight to oversee some Hezbollah fighters who had been in Syria near the border with Lebanon for years.

  • Iron-fisted Assad never quelled the Syrian rebels who came back to topple him

    President for 24 years, Assad flew out of Damascus for an unknown destination early on Sunday, two senior army officers told Reuters. Rebels declared the city "free of the tyrant Bashar al-Assad". A half-century of Assad family rule was over, army command told officers, according to a Syrian officer.

  • US-backed Syrian Kurds seize eastern city of Deir el-Zor, sources say

    HASAKEH, Syria (Reuters) -A U.S.-backed alliance led by Syrian Kurdish fighters captured the main city in eastern Syria and the main border crossing with Iraq on Friday, taking effective control of Syria's vast eastern desert in two rapid moves. Two security sources based in eastern Syria said that by Friday afternoon the alliance, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), had taken full control of the city of Deir el-Zor, the third city to fall out of President Bashar al-Assad's control in a week.

  • Syrian rebels take the capital Damascus, say Bashar Al-Assad has fled the country

    The advances in the past week are by far the largest in recent years by opposition factions, led by a group that has its origins in al-Qaeda and is considered a terrorist organisation by the US and the United Nations.View on euronews

  • Rebels enter Syrian third-largest city Homs, says war monitor

    Syrian rebels entered Syria's third city Homs late Saturday, taking control of some districts, according to rebels and a Britain-based observation group. Syria's defence ministry denied the claim. Further south, opposition fighters reached the suburbs of the capital Damascus, extending this week's dramatic lightning offensive. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. This live blog is no longer being updated. For more coverage on the war in the Middle East, click here. Yesterday's key

  • Syria latest: Syrians celebrate Bashar Assad's fall as his whereabouts remain unknown

    Crowds gathered in Syria's Damascus on Sunday to celebrate the fall of Bashar Assad’s government with chants, prayers and the occasional gunfire after opposition fighters entered the capital following a stunning advance. Rami Abdurrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Syrian opposition war monitor, said Assad took a flight from Damascus and left early Sunday. There was no immediate official statement from the Syrian government and Assad's whereabouts remain unknown.

  • Syria rebels vow no more 'sectarianism and tyranny'

    Syrian rebel commander Hassan Abdel Ghani sought to reassure religious minorities on Saturday after Islamist-led fighters snatched key cities and swathes of territory from government control.His comments online came a little over a week into a lightning offensive led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) against the forces of President Bashar al-Assad, who was last seen in images released by his office from a Sunday meeting with Iran's foreign minister in Damascus.Abdel Ghani, a senior commander in the rebel alliance and its spokesman, recognised in a statement on Telegram that the rebel forces had seized areas where "different religious sects and minorities" live."We ask that all sects be reassured... for the era of sectarianism and tyranny has gone away forever," he said.Key urban centres seized in recent days include second city Aleppo, which has a Christian community, and Hama, whose nearby towns are home to members of the Ismaili sect.Homs, where the rebel advance is meeting government resistance, is also home to a sizeable Alawite minority, who share Assad's faith. Minorities have often been persecuted over the course of Syria's long conflict, and HTS's precursor Al-Nusra Front, which was linked to Al-Qaeda, had carried out deadly attacks on Alawites in Homs early in the war.On the ground, Syria's army said Saturday it was redeploying in the south, where according to a war monitor the government had lost control of the key city of Daraa, the cradle of the country's 2011 uprising.An AFP correspondent there saw local fighters guarding public property and civil institutions on Saturday morning.In the central Homs area, a key passage to the seat of power in Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said government forces had brought "large reinforcements" and stopped the rebels' advance.An army statement carried by Syrian state media said that government forces were "redeploying and repositioning" in two southern provinces, including Daraa.But both the Observatory and rebels said Saturday that government forces no longer controlled any of the province.While Aleppo and Hama were seized by Islamist-led rebels, Daraa was taken by local armed groups, according to the Britain-based monitor.Early Saturday, Syria's army said it was "beginning to regain control in Homs and Hama provinces".- Evacuation calls -Daraa province borders the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, where Israel said it was boosting its troop presence, and Jordan, which late Friday urged its citizens to leave Syria "as soon as possible".Russia, an important military backer of Assad, and the United States, which has troops in Syria as part of an anti-jihadist coalition, have also advised their nationals to leave.Syria's civil war, which began with Assad's crackdown on democracy protests, has killed more than 500,000 people and forced more than half the population to flee their homes.The HTS-led alliance has made rapid gains in the west since launching its offensive on November 27. By Friday, the government was also pulling its troops out of Deir Ezzor in the east, with Kurdish-led forces saying they had moved in to take control of the territory.The leader of HTS, known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, said in an interview published Friday that the aim of the offensive was to oust Assad."The goal of the revolution remains the overthrow of this regime. It is our right to use all available means to achieve that goal," Jolani told CNN.HTS is rooted in the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda. Proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Western governments, it has sought to soften its image in recent years.Jolani, who visited Aleppo's landmark citadel on Wednesday, urged his fighters to "calm the concerns of our people, from all communities", in a statement on Telegram."Aleppo has always been a meeting point for civilisations and cultures, and it will remain so," he said.The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, who are backed by the United States and control territory in the east, expressed readiness for dialogue with rival rebels and Turkey, saying the offensive heralded a "new" political reality for Syria.- 'Syria is ours' -US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for a "political solution to the conflict" and for the protection of civilians and minorities, his spokesperson said Friday, in a call with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.Fidan was in Qatar on Saturday for discussions on Syria with his Iranian and Russian counterparts.Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, said the world had been "surprised" by the speed of the rebels' advance, calling for "a political framework" to prevent violence from spiralling.He also said Assad had failed to "start engaging and restoring his relationship with his people" during a period of calm in the country's war.At least 826 people, mostly combatants but also including 111 civilians, have been killed since the offensive began last week, according to the Observatory's figures, while the United Nations said the violence has displaced 370,000 people.Many of the scenes witnessed in recent days would have been unimaginable earlier in the war.In Hama, an AFP photographer saw residents set fire to a giant poster of Assad on the facade of city hall."The rebels entered Hama, it was a great joy for us -- something we had been waiting for since 2011," said resident Maymouna Jawad, expressing her hope that anti-government forces would "liberate" the whole country.Online footage verified by AFP showed residents toppling a statue of Assad's father Hafez, under whose brutal rule the army carried out a massacre in the city in the 1980s.bur-ami/smw

  • Syrian insurgents seize Damascus suburbs while state media deny Assad has fled

    Syrian insurgents have reached Damascus suburbs, their first advance near the capital since 2018, while Syrian state media deny rumours of Assad fleeing.View on euronews

  • Syrian government falls in stunning end to 50-year rule of Assad family

    The Syrian government fell early Sunday in a stunning end to the 50-year rule of the Assad family after a sudden rebel offensive sprinted across government-held territory and entered the capital in 10 days. Syrian state television aired a video statement by a group of men saying that President Bashar Assad has been overthrown and all detainees in jails have been set free. The man who read the statement said the Operations Room to Conquer Damascus, an opposition group, called on all opposition fighters and citizens to preserve state institutions of “the free Syrian state.”

  • Which foreign armies are in Syria and why are they there?

    STORY: The resurgence of fighting in Syria has brought into focus the role of foreign powers in the country. With many having deployed troops since 2011, who are the foreign armies involved in Syria?:: Turkey:: October 11, 2017Turkey has deployed troops across northwestern Syria in support of the 2011 rebel uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.Turkey wants to weaken Syrian Kurdish armed groups which carved out autonomous enclaves along the Turkish border during the civil war.:: February 27, 2020Ankara views the groups as an extension of the Kurdish Workers' Party, which it deems a terrorist group and has been waging an insurgency in Turkey since 1984.:: September 10, 2013It also wants a return home for some three million Syrians who have fled to Turkey during the war.Turkey has mounted multiple operations in Syria involving thousands of troops since 2016.:: Iran and allies:: October 17, 2015Iran deployed its Revolutionary Guards to Syria as early as 2012 to help Assad. Lebanon's Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, played a big part.::February 25, 2019For Iran, Assad is a crucial ally, part of its "Axis of Resistance" to Israel and U.S. influence in the Middle East.Other Tehran-backed Shi'ite Islamist groups, from Afghanistan and Iraq, have also played a vital combat role. :: Israeli army handout:: Released December 13, 2023Iran's presence in Syria has been a big point of concern for Israel, prompting it to carry out frequent airstrikes.:: Russia:: October, 2015Russian forces have had a presence militarily in Syria since the Cold War, but intervened on Assad's side in 2015.Coordinating with Iran they operated from an airbase in Latakia province with Russian air power decisively tilting the conflict Assad's way.:: Released October 5, 2023On the ground, Russian troops are involved in government-held areas, with military police deployed during attempts to de-escalate fighting.:: United States:: March 11, 2019U.S. military intervention in Syria began in 2014 against the Islamic State jihadist group that had declared its rule over a third of Syria and Iraq.:: July 29, 2016Working with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) they fought to drive Islamic State from areas it had captured in Syria's north and east.Declaring the battle with Islamic State almost won, President Donald Trump announced in 2018 he wanted to pull out U.S. troops.But the plan was softened after facing criticism for leaving a void that Iran and Russia would fill.Around 9,000 U.S. troops remain in Syria to support the SDF.Assad's government views the U.S. forces as occupiers.

  • Syrian rebels say they have entered Damascus as Assad regime’s defense crumbles

    Less than two weeks after launching an offensive, rebels have entered the capital city

  • Rebel forces 'reach Damascus suburbs' as protesters topple statue on outskirts

    Syrian rebels have reportedly taken the key city of Homs and reached the suburbs of the capital Damascus as their lightning offensive threatens to end Bashar al Assad's 24-year rule. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said insurgents are now active in three Damascus suburbs, including Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya - making it the first time they have reached the outskirts of the city since 2018, when government forces recaptured the area after a years-long siege. Meanwhile, Syrian rebel commander Hassan Abdul-Ghani said insurgent forces had now "fully liberated" Syria's central city of Homs - in a strategically important move the cuts off Damascus from coastal military bases.

  • Melbourne synagogue fire an act of 'terrorism': Australian PM

    Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Sunday called a deliberately lit fire in a Melbourne synagogue an act of "terrorism" and warned about the "worrying rise in anti-Semitism" in Australia. "There has been a worrying rise in anti-Semitism," the prime minister told reporters, adding that he would continue to "call it out". 

  • Statue of former Syrian president toppled in Hama

    The image is particularly symbolic: A statue of former President Hafez al-Assad, the father of Syria's current ruler Bashar, was toppled in Hama after Islamist-led rebels overran the country's fourth-largest city, video authenticated by AFP showed.Young men celebrated the rebels' sweep of Hama as part of a lightning offensive, yelling "freedom for eternity" from Assad, referring to the current president who before Hama had also lost control of Aleppo, Syria's second city, for the first time sinc

  • Syrian Kurds say they've taken Deir el-Zor, as rebels advance

    STORY: :: U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters say they have full control of Deir el-Zor as rebels advance across the country ::December 7, 2024:: Deir el-Zor, Syria:: Khaled Hassan, Syrian Kurdish fighter"We, the forces of the Deir el-Zor Military Council, entered the city of Deir el-Zor today in al-Qusour neighborhood and we released the prisoners. Now Deir el-Zor is under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces. We are the sons of Deir el-Zor and we liberated our city from the Syrian regime, the Damascus government, and the Iranian and affiliated militias."SDF forces were seen patrolling the streets of Deir el-Zor on the banks of the Euphrates river, armed and driving in pick up trucks, one day after seizing the eastern Syrian city. The SDF advance came as Syrian rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an Islamist group formerly affiliated with Al-Qaeda, entered suburbs of the key city of Homs on Saturday, sources said, pressing a lightning fast advance as government forces battle to save President Bashar al-Assad's 24-year rule.The rebels had already taken the northern city of Aleppo last week and the city of Hama earlier this week, dealing the biggest blows to Assad in years.

  • Bashar al-Assad reported to have fled Syria as rebels say they have captured Damascus

    Celebrations on streets of Syrian cities as as Assad regime appears to have fallen