The United Nations envoy for Syria said Saturday he had "very good discussions" in Damascus and hoped that talks on a new Syrian constitution could resume soon. "We had very substantial, very good discussions," Norwegian diplomat Geir Pedersen said after meeting the Bashar Assad regime's...

 WARSAW, Poland (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday that she found it unacceptable that refugees were being used to apply pressure to Poland and other European Union members on the border with Belarus. Speaking at a news conference during what she said she expected to...

An attack on Turkish troops in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province has killed two soldiers and wounded three others, according to the Turkish defence ministry. Saturday’s assault happened following a search and screening operation in the Idlib de-escalation zone, the ministry said in a...

Amnesty has seen plans for UN return operation from Rukban camp in desert ‘berm’ area, despite clear risk of persecution in Syria   ‘[The Syrian authorities] hate people from Rukban’ - Samer ‘The evidence that Syria is not safe for returns is overwhelming’ - Marie Forestier The UN...

CAIRO — Egypt’s daily reported cases of coronavirus have surpassed 400 for the first time in months. The Health Ministry on Friday reported 413 cases and 12 fatalities for the past 24 hours. Daily cases have been spiking in recent weeks since the more contagious delta variant was detected in...

A cement plant in Syria at the centre of a terror financing investigation in France was used by western intelligence agencies to gather information on hostages held by Islamic State, sources connected to the operation have said. A Jordanian intelligence officer who was central to the spying...

After a lull in violence in northwest rural Hama, since last year people began returning to their homes, including As-suqaylabiyah city, to rebuild their lives following years of displacement. With the current economic downturn, families, who have lived through a decade of violence, struggle...

JERUSALEM (AP) — For nearly two decades, Zakaria Zubeidi has been an object of fascination for Israelis and Palestinians alike, who have seen his progression from a child actor to a swaggering militant, to the scarred face of a West Bank theater promoting “cultural resistance” to Israeli...

Lebanon will not deport six men from Deraa in Syria after they were arrested last month for illegally crossing the border, the country’s top intelligence official has said. “General Security will not deport the six Syrians and will work to regularise their legal status,” Abbas Ibrahim, who...

Syrian regime troops entered Deraa al Balaad, the birthplace of the uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s rule, for the first time since it lost control over the area a decade ago, residents, the army and former rebels said. Army units set up at least nine checkpoints across the city under a...

At least four people, including a child and a woman, were killed and fifteen more wounded in Syrian artillery attacks on the rebel-held areas in northwestern Syria, opposition activists said. The  Tuesday's night  shelling of the city of Idlib came after several airstrikes...

Syrian refugees who returned home were subjected to torture, detention and disappearance by security forces, Amnesty International has said, urging foreign governments to protect them from deportation and forcible return. In a report, titled “You’re going to your death”, the...

With COVID-19 cases rising and hospitals in parts of war-torn Syria struggling to cope, there has been an urgent need to speed up the vaccination programme. This weekend over 358,000 doses were delivered cross-border by WHO Turkey into northwest Syria. WHO is pleased to announce that this is the...

A precarious ceasefire held in the city of Deraa on Monday after negotiators for rebel forces and the Syrian government tried to close to a comprehensive peace agreement to end a three-month siege. The tense negotiations to finalise the deal came after new government demands to deploy nine...

Qatar on Sunday has condemned the Syrian regime's "brutal attack" on southern Daraa city, saying it led to the displacement of dozens of families. A statement issued by the Qatari Foreign Ministry described the attack as "an extension of the series of heinous crimes that the regime has...

 Lawyers of six Syrian refugees arrested in Lebanon said on Sunday that the country's security services have given them a 24-hour ultimatum — either leave Lebanon to a third country or be deported to Syria, the war-ravaged country they fled. Lawyer Mohammed Sablouh said the move is...

Syrian regime forces early Sunday escalated attacks on the Daraa al-Balad neighborhood in southwestern Syria. The Iranian-backed 4th Division militia group targeted the neighborhood with intense attacks after four days, said Eymen Ebu Nokta, spokesman for the Horan Freedoms Community, a...

The US Department of Defence has denied the validity of Iranian media reports about the withdrawal of US troops from its military bases in Syria. A Pentagon spokesperson confirmed in a statement to the Russian RIA Novosti: "This is not true. The standards of our mission in Syria remain the...

Syria said on Saturday that it welcomed Lebanon's request to import Egyptian gas for energy generation via its territory after Lebanese ministers made the highest level visit to Damascus in years. Lebanon is suffering energy shortages that have forced even essential services including...

A senior Lebanese government delegation arrived in Syria on Saturday for talks expected to focus on the crippling fuel crisis that has paralyzed Lebanon. It marked the highest official visit since Syria’s civil war began more than a decade ago. Lebanon is expecting a shipment of fuel from...