Bashar Al-assad

Assad loyalists kill at least 13 police officers in ambush on Syrian forces

Gunmen ambushed a Syrian police patrol in a coastal town Thursday, leaving at least 13 security members dead and many others wounded, a monitoring group and a local official said. The attack came as tensions in Syria's coastal region between former President Bashar Assad's minority Alawite sect and members of Islamic groups escalate. Assad was overthrown in early December in an offensive of insurgent groups led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the ambush in the town of Jableh, near the city of Latakia, killed at least 16. Rami Abdurrahman, head of the monitoring group, said the gunmen who ambushed the police force are Alawites. These are the worst clashes since the fall of the regime, Abdurrahman said. A local official in Damascus told The Associated Press that 13 members of the General Security directorate were killed in the ambush. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to release secur

Assad loyalists kill at least 13 police officers in ambush on Syrian forces

Gunmen ambushed a Syrian police patrol in a coastal town Thursday, leaving at least 13 security members dead and many others wounded, a monitoring group and a local official said. The attack came as tensions in Syria's coastal region between former President Bashar Assad's minority Alawite sect and members of Islamic groups escalate. Assad was overthrown in early December in an offensive of insurgent groups led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the ambush in the town of Jableh, near the city of Latakia, killed at least 16. Rami Abdurrahman, head of the monitoring group, said the gunmen who ambushed the police force are Alawites. These are the worst clashes since the fall of the regime, Abdurrahman said. A local official in Damascus told The Associated Press that 13 members of the General Security directorate were killed in the ambush. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to release secur

Leader of Syria's rebels who toppled Bashar Assad named interim president

The leader of Syria's rebels who toppled President Bashar Assad last month was named the country's interim president on Wednesday as former insurgents cancelled the existing constitution, saying a new charter would be drafted soon. The appointment of Ahmad al-Sharaa, a rebel once aligned with al-Qaida, as Syria's president in the transitional phase, came after a meeting of the former insurgent factions in Damascus, the Syrian capital. The announcement was made by the spokesperson for Syria's new, de facto government's military operations sector, Col. Hassan Abdul Ghani, the state-run SANA news agency said. Al-Sharaa had been expected to appear in a televised speech following the meeting, but did not immediately do so, and it remained unclear if he would. The exact mechanism under which the factions selected him as interim president was also not clear. Al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, is the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist former insurgent group that

Leader of Syria's rebels who toppled Bashar Assad named interim president

The leader of Syria's rebels who toppled President Bashar Assad last month was named the country's interim president on Wednesday as former insurgents cancelled the existing constitution, saying a new charter would be drafted soon. The appointment of Ahmad al-Sharaa, a rebel once aligned with al-Qaida, as Syria's president in the transitional phase, came after a meeting of the former insurgent factions in Damascus, the Syrian capital. The announcement was made by the spokesperson for Syria's new, de facto government's military operations sector, Col. Hassan Abdul Ghani, the state-run SANA news agency said. Al-Sharaa had been expected to appear in a televised speech following the meeting, but did not immediately do so, and it remained unclear if he would. The exact mechanism under which the factions selected him as interim president was also not clear. Al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, is the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist former insurgent group that

EU cautiously agrees to ease sanctions on Syria in wake of Assad's downfall

European Union foreign ministers on Monday agreed to begin lifting sanctions on Syria, while insisting that the measures should be reimposed if they see any abuses by the country's new rulers. The EU started to impose asset freezes and travel bans on Syrian officials and organisations in 2011 in response to Bashar Assad's crackdown on protesters, which festered into a civil war. The 27-nation bloc targeted 316 people and 86 entities accused of backing Syria's former ruler. It is keen to lift those measures if Syria's new leaders set the country on the path to a peaceful political future involving all minority groups and in which extremism and former allies Russia and Iran have no place. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said ministers had agreed on a roadmap for easing sanctions. Speaking after chairing the meeting, she said, the aim was to lift those measures that are most hindering the early buildup of the country and to move from there. She underlined that the ministers had on

Syrian civil war explained: What Assad’s fall means for India

Updates: Grap 3 curbs back in Delhi-NCR amid rise in air pollution levels

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News updates: US NSA Jake Sullivan set to visit India early next week

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Business Standard wishes all its readers a very happy new year

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News updates: Delhi records best December AQI since system began in 2015

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News updates: All govt programs on Fri cancelled, 7-day mourning in honour of Dr Manmohan Singh

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Clashes between Islamists in Syria and Assad's supporters kill 6 fighters

Clashes between Islamists who took over Syria and supporters of ousted President Bashar Assad's government killed six Islamic fighters on Wednesday and wounded others, according to a British-based war monitor. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighters were killed while trying to arrest a former official in Assad's government, accused of issuing execution orders and arbitrary rulings against thousands of prisoners. The fighters were from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which led the stunning offensive that toppled Assad earlier this month. Syria's transition has been surprisingly smooth but it's only been a few weeks since Assad fled the country and his administration and forces melted away. The insurgents who ousted Assad are rooted in fundamentalist Islamist ideology, and though they have vowed to create a pluralist system, it isn't clear how or whether they plan to share power. Since Assad's fall, dozens of Syrians have been killed in acts of revenge, according to ..

News updates: Arunish Chawla elected as revenue secretary

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News updates: CAQM for Delhi-NCR revokes Grap-IV curbs amid dip in pollution levels

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Syria's new authorities 'very receptive' to Assad's war crimes probe: UN

The U.N. organization assisting in investigating the most serious crimes in Syria said Monday the country's new authorities were very receptive to its request for cooperation during a just-concluded visit to Damascus, and it is preparing to deploy. The visit led by Robert Petit, head of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria, was the first since the organization was established by the U.N. General Assembly in 2016. It was created to assist in evidence-gathering and prosecution of individuals responsible for possible war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide since Syria's civil war began in 2011. Petit highlighted the urgency of preserving documents and other evidence before it is lost. Since the rebel overthrow of Syria's President Bashar Assad and the rebel opening of prisons and detention facilities there have been rising demands from Syrians for the prosecution of those responsible for atrocities and killings while he was in power. The fall of th

News updates: Filmmaker Shyam Benegal passes away at 90 after prolonged illness

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Trump's return to Hasina's fall: Upheavals India and the world saw in 2024

2024's geopolitical upheavals, from Trump's return to nuclear tensions in Ukraine and leadership changes in Syria and Bangladesh, signal transformative shifts with implications for India and the world

Deceit, betrayal marked final days of President Assad's regime in Syria

After dusk, the president slipped out of the capital, flying covertly to a Russian military base in northern Syria and then on a Russian jet to Moscow, as per reports

Deceit, betrayal marked final days of President Assad's regime in Syria

After dusk, the president slipped out of the capital, flying covertly to a Russian military base in northern Syria and then on a Russian jet to Moscow, as per reports

Syrian youth will resist incoming govt, says Iran's supreme leader

Iran's supreme leader on Sunday said that young Syrians will resist the new government emerging after the overthrow of President Bashar Assad as he again accused the United States and Israel of sowing chaos in the country. Iran had provided crucial support to Assad throughout Syria's nearly 14-year civil war, which erupted after he launched a violent crackdown on a popular uprising against his family's decades-long rule. Syria had long served as a key conduit for Iranian aid to Lebanon's militant Hezbollah. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in an address on Sunday that the young Syrian has nothing to lose" and suffers from insecurity following Assad's fall. What can he do? He should stand with strong will against those who designed and those who implemented the insecurity," Khamenei said. God willing, he will overcome them. He accused the United States and Israel of plotting against Assad's government in order to seize resources, saying: Now they feel victory, the