President Trump’s sweeping executive order to halt foreign aid threatens to freeze a U.S. program supporting security forces inside a notorious camp in the Syrian desert that holds tens of thousands of Islamic State members and their families, Syrian and U.S. officials said. The order has also wreaked havoc on another U.S. organization in Syria … Read more
When the Arab Spring that toppled dictators in Tunisia, Libya, Yemen and Egypt began, in 2010, the al-Assad regime had already ruled Syrians through fear and repression for some 40 years, most of it under martial law. When power passed from Hafez al-Assad to his son Bashar in 2000, the regime appeared to rebrand. Bashar … Read more
For 20 years, I’ve been studying Western recruits to domestic and transnational terrorist organizations. I’ve interviewed jihadis, white-nationalist terrorists and eco-terrorists to understand their motivations and to prevent future violence. In my view, the appeal of some of the most crucial elements that ISIS offered to vulnerable or confused Western recruits — doctrinal certainty, identity, … Read more
Syria’s main international airport in Damascus will reopen next week, the new government said on Saturday, as it tries to re-establish a sense of normalcy after the uprising that toppled President Bashar al-Assad. The announcement came amid tensions along the border between Syria and Lebanon, where four Lebanese solders were wounded in clashes on Friday … Read more
Syria’s new leaders are set to meet the French and German foreign ministers in the capital, Damascus, on Friday in one of the highest-level Western diplomatic visits since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad last month. Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s top diplomat, and Jean-Noël Barrot, the French foreign minister, arrived in Damascus for the first such … Read more
Syrian citizens gather outside Saydnaya Convent during the lighting of the Christmas tree, in Saydnaya town on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, on Dec. 24, 2024. | Photo Credit: AP Sarah Latifa had feared that her Christian community in Syria may struggle to celebrate its first Christmas since Islamist-led rebels toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad … Read more
Germany’s move to freeze Syrian asylum applications cloud celebrations of the Assad regime’s fall Imad Al Suliman, 37, did not even catch a wink between December 7 and 8. As news emerged that the 54-year dictatorial regime led by the Assad family was brought to an end by militant forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham … Read more
Syria’s Assad regime transferred approximately $250 million in cash to Russia between March 2018 and September 2019, according to records cited by the Financial Times. The transfers, consisting of nearly two tons of $100 bills and €500 notes, were flown from the Syrian central bank to Moscow’s Vnukovo airport and deposited in Russian banks under … Read more
A torn posters shows the late Syrian President Hafez Assad and his son the ousted Syrian president Bashar Assad, that were set at the entrance of the notorious security detention centre called Palestine Branch, in Damascus, Syria, on December 14, 2024. | Photo Credit: AP The story so far:Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria for 24 … Read more
Syria’s Sednaya Prison | Video Credit: The Hindu As Bashar al-Assad’s regime fell in Syria on December 8, relatives of detainees in the country’s various prisons have been lining up to search for their missing family members. One such prison, Sednaya prison, became infamously known as a ‘human slaughterhouse’ due to its alleged brutal treatment … Read more