The parliament of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region approved a plan on Friday to hold a referendum on independence on Sept. 25, ignoring opposition from Baghdad and the wider region as well as Western concerns that the vote could spark fresh conflict. Parliament reconvened in Erbil,...
U.S.-backed Syrian militias will not let government forces cross the Euphrates River in their bid to recover eastern Syria, their commander said on Friday, but Russia said army units had already done so near the city of Deir al-Zor. An aide to President Bashar al-Assad meanwhile said...
(Zaman Al Wasl)- A Syrian regime warplane failed to take off due to technical failure in Dumayr airport east of the capital, local activist told Zaman al-Wasl on Friday. Activist Omar Hamdan said the warplane had been crashed after hitting an army barrack near the airport at...
Russia, Iran and Turkey will post observers on the edge of a de-escalation zone in northern Syria’s Idlib region largely controlled by Islamist militants, the three nations said on Friday. The move is part of a broader plan under which Moscow, Tehran and Ankara will set up four such...
(Zaman Al Wasl)- At least 6 regime army soldiers wounded in Tayfour military airbase in the eastern countryside of Homs province due to a huge explosion struck weapons depots, pro-regime media outlets aid on Friday. The military airbase, 85 km (about 60 miles) east of Homs lies in the...
An American citizen fighting for Islamic State in Syria surrendered to U.S-backed fighters earlier this week and has been handed over to U.S. forces, the Pentagon said on Thursday. The American surrendered to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S.-backed alliance of mostly Arab and...
(Zaman Al Wasl)- Islamic State said at least 320 people have killed in a deadly aerial and ground bombing on Deir Ezzor by the Syrian regime, US-led coalition and Russia, Amaq news agency said on Thursday. The horrible death toll followed Russia's seven cruise missiles on Deir Ezzor,...
Zaman Al Wasl)- Residents of Babila and Beyt Sahm, southern suburbs of Damascus, have demonstrated against forced displacement and demographic change under the Four-Town evacuation deal that includes Kafriya and al-Fu'a, Madaya and Zabadani". Hundreds of people of from...
Human Rights Watch says millions of dollars of school aid for Syrian refugees went unaccounted for last year, leaving schools across the region understaffed and contributing to a massive under-enrollment of Syrian children. The New York-based group says more than a half million...
(Zaman Al Wasl)- Jaish al-Ahrar on Thursday has defected from the powerful Tahrir al-Sham group over mounted abuses by the former al-Qaeda group in Syria, the key rebel faction said in statement. The new defection followed the withdrawal of the ultraconservative Ahrar...
Buses carrying evacuated Islamic State fighters reached Syria’s Deir al-Zor on Wednesday in return for releasing a Hezbollah prisoner, a commander in the pro-Damascus alliance told Reuters. Damascus and Hezbollah allowed nearly 300 lightly armed militants and 300 relatives to leave the...
After breaking an ISIS blockade, Syrian regime army is seeking to encircle the remaining extremist-held parts of Deir al-Zor city, a military source said Wednesday. The city is the capital of oil-rich eastern Deir al-Zor province, regarded as a strategic prize by both Russian-backed...
Flicking through before-and-after photos of Aleppo's Umayyad mosque on his phone, the city's mufti Mahmoud Akkam said he initially wanted the celebrated landmark to be restored by fellow Syrians. But when Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman chief of Russia's Chechnya region, offered to repair...
(Zaman Al Wasl)- Lebanese soldiers raided al-Qariya refugee camp in the town of Arsal on Wednesday in search for "terrorists linked to ISIS." Eyewitnesses told Zaman al-Wasl that the raid was the most violent after Tahrir al-Sham and Saraya Ahl al-Sham and ISIS left Arsal in July and...
China signaled on Wednesday it was willing to back an international inquiry into atrocities in Yemen, as demanded by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, but Saudi Arabia and the United States said they did not support the idea. For three years running U.N. human rights chief...
(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Republican Palace, Bashar al-Assad's ruling office, has opened an urgent investigation tracking corrupt officers over arms sales and dealings with ISIS and rebels, well-informed source told Zaman al-Wasl. A committee formed by Assad to lessen the anger of...
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump to broadly implement a ban on refugees entering the country from around the world. The justices granted a request from the Trump administration to block a federal appeals court decision that, according to the Justice...
(Zaman Al Wasl)- Tens of Syrian displaced fleeing the ISIS-held town of Uqayribat in Hama province were arrested by regime forces and allied militias on Tuesday, claiming they are fighters in the radical group, local council member said. Zeyad Abu Abdo, press...
Iran signed deals with Damascus on Tuesday to repair Syria's power grid, state media said, a potentially lucrative move for Tehran that points to a deepening economic role after years of fighting in the Syrian conflict. Shunned by Western powers, the Syrian government is looking to...
The Lebanese Shi‘ite group Hezbollah has declared victory in the Syrian war while Russia said government forces had driven militants from 85 percent of the country where President Bashar al-Assad’s rule seemed in danger two years ago. The comments from two Syrian government...
