Observers say the regime of  Bashar al-Assad is using the coronavirus crisis to exploit prevention measures to consolidate its control. Syria’s health ministry has so far reported 59 cases of COVID-19, with three deaths, accounting only for people in areas under Assad’s control. But...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Crop fires have destroyed more than 1500 hectares in northeastern Syria, local activists said Wednesday. The massive fires flared in 12 areas in Hasakah and Deir Ezzor provinces as efforts failed by local farmers to extinguish the fire that hit the unharvested barley...

The Syrian government decided Tuesday to seize assets belonging to Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of President Bashar al-Assad and one of Syria's richest men, and his wife and children, according to a government document seen by Reuters. The document, stamped May 19 and signed by the Syrian...

Representatives of opposing sides in Syria's war have agreed to reconvene in Geneva for stalled negotiations on the constitution, according to Geir Pedersen, the United Nations special envoy to the country. A lull in fighting could provide an opportunity to start healing "deep, deep...

 (Zaman Al Wasl)- About 100 bodies have been exhumed from a mass graves in eastern Raqqa province, the First Response Team said Tuesday. Yaser al-Khamis, head of the local rescue group, said the corpse toll of the new mass grave in Tel Zaidan is expected to reach a...

 (Zaman Al Wasl)- Russia backed by the Syrian intelligence has recruited 500 people from northeastern Qamishli city to join the Russian Wagner paramilitary group in Libya, a well-informed source told Zaman al-Wasl Tuesday. The $1500-oil-guarding contracts have been Russia’s legal...

While a ceasefire in Syria has reduced combat between rebels and government forces, mercenaries from the two sides are still fighting in Libya on behalf of their Russian and Turkish backers. Turkey supports some Syrian rebels and Libya's UN-recognised Government of National Accord, while...

The U.N. special envoy for Syria called Monday for talks between Russia and the United States to help end the more than nine-year-old war, saying the two major powers could play "a key role." Geir Pedersen’s encouragement to Moscow and Washington to take a leading role was his first public...

 A former Syrian intelligence officer denied Monday beating and torturing detainees in prison as he faced trial in a German court for crimes against humanity. In a written statement read by his lawyers, Anwar Raslan, 57, said he had "neither beaten nor tortured" prisoners at the...

The Syrian lira crashed to a new low on Monday, after a new video was released by business tycoon Rami Makhlouf over the weekend, in which he appeared to again challenge Bashar Al-Assad's regime. Makhlouf posted a third video on his Facebook account on Sunday, in which he continued his...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Three people, two brothers and a woman, were killed in an ambush by ISIS (Daesh) group in eastern Deir Ezzor province, activists said Sunday. The first brother was operating in the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the second was a fighter in Usoud...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- About 350 displaced people have turned without a shelter as a blaze destroyed 60 makeshift tents in Sadaqa camp in northern Idlib province, head of the camp told Zaman al-Wasl Sunday. Anwar Nasouh said at least 60 families need help after the fire took hold at the...

Americans will be expelled from Iraq and Syria, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday, renewing Iran's demand for U.S. troops to be withdrawn from the Middle East. Iran almost got into a full-blown conflict with the United States when a U.S. drone strike killed top...

A senior adviser to Iran's parliament speaker on Sunday denied reports about reaching an agreement with Russia on the removal of Bashar al-Assad from power in Syria. In a tweet, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian described al-Assad as "the legitimate president of Syria." "Report of a deal between...

Seven members of the Daesh group escaped from a small prison in northeast Syria Sunday, with four recaptured and a search continuing for the remaining three, said Syrian state media and an official with the main Kurdish-led U.S.-backed force in the region. The militants fled from a jail on...

Late-night strikes on a position held by Iranian militias and their allies in eastern Syria killed seven fighters, a war monitor said Sunday. It was not immediately clear who carried out the strikes on "a base" controlled by Iranian forces and their proxies near the Syrian-Iraqi border town...

 (Zaman Al Wasl)- U.S.-led coalition backed by Kurdish fighters made an airdrop in eastern province of Deir Ezzor, tracking Daesh sleeper cells, local activists said Sunday. At least ten suspected Daesh fighters were arrested in the raid of Basirah town, residents say. The...

Syrian tycoon Rami Makhlouf said Sunday that authorities had set a deadline for him to resign from the country's leading mobile operator Syriatel or it would revoke the company's license, but that he would not step down. In a video, the third the businessmen has issued bringing into the...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- A huge fire broke out at a camp for Syrian displaced in northern Idlib province, destroying 25 makeshift tents, Civil Defence said Saturday. The blaze took hold at the Sadaqa camp at the Turkish border.  No casualties were reported. Another fire flared up on...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Syrian regime and militant Tahrir al-Sham group have made a prisoner swap in northern Aleppo province, local activists said Saturday.  The regime army released three members of the Tahrir al-Sham and a member of Ahrar al-Sham Movement. In return, the...