The political activist and former member of the "National Coalition", lawyer Marwan Hajo Al-Rifai died on Saturday of a heart attack in Istanbul. The opposition's activists and media news sites mourned Al-Rifai, 57,  expressing their grief over the loss of the former prisoner who...

The Jordanian army said on Friday that it had thwarted the smuggling of large quantities of narcotics into the territory of the kingdom from Syria. The army said in a statement: "Border Guard forces, in coordination with the Military Security Directorate and the Anti-Narcotics Department,...

Ten years after fleeing war in her native Syria, Hadeel is expecting a third child, brought into a life of poverty and uncertainty at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. The squalid camp, 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the capital Amman, is home to some 80,000 Syrian refugees, according...

Affordable, friendly and ready for tourists – this is the message behind a new drive to promote Syria as a holiday destination, despite a recent human rights report determining the Assad government was responsible for “crimes against humanity” and the Foreign Office warning against all travel to...

The Syrian intelligence officer at the centre of one of the most shocking acts of the civil war – the Tadamon massacre – is still working on a military base outside Damascus and has since been accused by colleagues of directing up to a dozen more mass killings. Amjad Yousef, a major in one...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces attacked Russia's hold on the southern city of Kherson on Thursday while fighting intensified in the country's east. The battles came amid reports that Moscow-appointed authorities have abandoned the city, joining tens of thousands of residents who fled to...

Hundreds of Syrian refugees boarded a convoy of trucks laden with mattresses, blankets, water and fuel tanks — and, in one case, a goat — in the remote Lebanese mountain town of Arsal on Wednesday, heading home to Syria. Their journey is the latest attempt by Beirut to organize a mass...

Israeli airstrikes targeted sites in the vicinity of Damascus early Thursday, marking the third such strikes in a week, Syrian state media reported. The Syrian military said that Israeli missiles were fired at posts near Damascus around 12:30 a.m. and that its air defenses had “confronted...

Syrian and Russian troops conducted joint military drills in Syria involving ground and air forces, Syrian state media reported Wednesday. Russian and Syrian troops simulated attacking enemy positions under the cover of artillery shelling and airstrikes by warplanes and helicopters,...

The US-backed opposition militia formerly known as "Maghawir al-Thawra" changed its name to "the Free Syrian Army" on Tuesday as part of a series of recent changes to the faction’s leadership and priorities. The Free Syrian Army is responsible for the 55-kilometer de-militarised zone on the...

The US on Monday designated three Syrian regime military officials involved in a chemical attack in Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, in 2013. "Of the atrocities committed by the Assad regime, some of which rise to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity, few are as inhumane...

Militant group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), al-Qaeda's former Syria affiliate, has largely withdrawn from Turkish-controlled Afrin, almost two weeks after seizing the northern city, several sources with knowledge on the matter told Middle East Eye. HTS, designated a terrorist group by Turkey...

Lebanon said Tuesday it will not forcibly return Syrian refugees to their home country. "We will not force any displaced Syrian to return to Syria," General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim told a press conference in the capital Beirut. Ibrahim denied any foreign pressure on...

The country is facing its worst economic crisis since the war began, as well as a deadly cholera outbreak that is rapidly spreading.  Mr. Pedersen reported on his recent “busy period of diplomatic engagement” with key Syrian and international stakeholders, including in connection with...

LONDON (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization’s Eastern Mediterranean region told staff in an email that he is “very disturbed” by allegations reported by The Associated Press that the U.N. health agency’s Syria director misspent millions, abused staff and violated the organization’s...

At least 130 tents of seven IDP camps in Idlib province have been damaged due to a rainstorm that swept northern Syria the past 72 hours, monitoring groups said Sunday.   The Syrian Network for Human Rights appealed to international relief organizations, including the United Nations...

An unidentified drone targeted the US base in the al-Omar gas field in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor city with a barrage of missiles, pro-Iran media outlet reported on Saturday. Several blasts were heard in the US base in the al-Omar field, the sources told Iran-funded Al-Mayadeen TV...

An aid convoy of the World Food Program (WFP) crossed the regime-held areas controlled to opposition-controlled areas in the eastern countryside of Idlib city, sources told Zaman al-Wasl on Saturday. At least 18 trucks loaded with food baskets and flour entered this afternoon from the...

ROME (AP) — Nearly 300 migrants disembarked in the southern Italian port of Taranto on Saturday after their rescue at sea in five different operations by the crew of a humanitarian vessel operated by Doctors Without Borders. About half of the 293 rescued passengers on the Geo Barents were...

Turkish security forces have been accused of preventing hundreds of Syrian migrants from crossing into Greece, a representative of the migrant group organising a convoy dubbed "Caravan of Light" said on Wednesday. "We wanted to cross the border and they refused," a spokesperson for the group...