Page 2 - Syria

Syria's embassy suspends services as Lebanon hands over its army officers

Syria's embassy in Lebanon suspended consular services on Saturday, a day after two relatives of deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad were arrested at the Beirut airport with allegedly forged passports. Also on Saturday, Lebanese authorities handed over dozens of Syrians including former officers in the Syrian army under Assad to the new Syrian authorities after they were caught illegally entering Lebanon, a war monitor and Lebanese officials said. The embassy announced on its Facebook page that consular work was suspended until further notice at the order of the Syrian foreign ministry. The announcement did not give a reason for the suspension. Two Lebanese security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly, said the suspension was ordered because the passports belonging to Assad's relatives the wife and daughter of one of his cousins were believed to have been forged at the embassy. Assad's uncle, Rifaat Assad who has

Forces loyal to ex-Assad regime kill 14 as Syria sees upsurge in violence

Several deadly incidents in recent days underscore the fragile security situation in Syria following the downfall of Assad's long-standing regime

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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May we become pilgrims of hope, peace, and unity: Pope on Christmas

Pope Francis in his traditional Christmas message Wednesday urged all people of all nations to find courage during this Holy Year to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions plaguing the world, from the Middle East to Ukraine, Africa to Asia. The pontiff's Urbi et Orbi To the City and the World address serves as a summary of the woes facing the world this year. As Christmas coincided with the start of the 2025 Holy Year celebration that he dedicated to hope, Francis called for broad reconciliation, even (with) our enemies. "I invite every individual, and all people of all nations ... to become pilgrims of hope, to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions,' the pope said from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica to throngs of people below. The pope invoked the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica, which he opened on Christmas Eve to launch the 2025 Jubilee, as representing God's mercy, which unties every knot; it tears down every wall of division; it dispels hatred and

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

US drops $10 million bounty on Syrian rebel leader who ousted Assad

The Biden administration said Friday it has decided not to pursue a USD 10 million reward it had offered for the capture of a Syrian rebel leader whose forces led the ouster of President Bashar Assad earlier this month. The announcement followed a meeting in Damascus between the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was once aligned with al-Qaida, and the top US diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, who led the first US diplomatic delegation into Syria since Assad's ouster. HTS remains designated a foreign terrorist organisation, and Leaf would not say if sanctions stemming from that designation would be eased. But, she told reporters that al-Sharaa had committed to renouncing terrorism and as a result the US would no longer offer the reward. We discussed the critical need to ensure terrorist groups cannot pose a threat inside Syria or externally, including to the US and our partners in the region, she said. Based on our discussion, I told him that we .

News updates: BJP MP PP Chaudhary appointed as the Chairperson of JPC for 'One Nation One Election'

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Netanyahu eyes Iran after triumphs over Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria

Without Syria, the alliances Tehran has nurtured for decades have unraveled

US diplomats and hostage envoy in Syria on first visit since Assad ouster

The first US diplomats to visit Syria since President Bashar Assad's ouster earlier this month are now in Damascus to hold talks with the country's new leaders and seek information on the whereabouts of missing American journalist Austin Tice. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf, former special envoy for Syria Daniel Rubinstein and the Biden administration's chief envoy for hostage negotiations, Roger Carstens, made the trip for talks with Syria's interim leaders, the State Department said early Friday. The team is also the first group of American diplomats to formally visit Syria in more than a decade since the US shuttered its embassy in Damascus in 2012. They will be engaging directly with the Syrian people, including members of civil society, activists, members of different communities, and other Syrian voices about their vision for the future of their country and how the United States can help support them, the State Department said. At the top o

US has 2,000 troops in Syria, increase from previous 900, says Pentagon

He explained that such fluctuations in numbers of personnel are often quite common, and that the additional forces have been in place since before the December 8 downfall of Syrian President

Turkey, Russia engage in delicate manoeuvre over Syria after Assad's fall

The rapid downfall of Syrian leader Bashar Assad has touched off a new round of delicate geopolitical manoeuvring between Russia's Vladimir Putin and Turkiye's Recep Tayyip Erdogan. With the dust still settling from the stunning events in Damascus, the outcome for now seems to be favouring Ankara, which backed the victorious rebels, while Moscow suffered a bruising blow to its international clout. In the game of Czars vs. Sultans, this is Sultans 1 and Czars 0, said Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute. Far from being allies, Turkiye and Russia are competitors. And in this case, Turkiye has outsmarted Russia. The Assad regime's demise opens another chapter in the complex relationship between Putin and Erdogan, with wide-ranging implications not just for Syria but also for Ukraine and the two leaders' ties with Washington. Russia and Turkiye share economic and security interests along with an intense rivalry. The personal relationship

Israeli forces preventing Syrian villagers from accessing their fields

Israeli forces have set up a position in an abandoned Syrian army base in the village of Maariyah and prevented local farmers from accessing their fields, residents said Thursday. Associated Press journalists who visited the area saw the Israeli troops from a distance and watched a local resident waving a white flag approach to speak with them. The village, on the western edge of Syria's southern Daraa province, is near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, but outside of a buffer zone in the Golan established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement between Syria and Israel. Abdel Raouf Issa, a resident of Maariyah, said the Israeli military had penetrated about 1 kilometre into the village and is demanding that we hand over all weapons to the occupation. We told them that we have no weapons at all. They prevented us from farming. They prevented us from moving, he said. We call on the United Nations to remove the occupation as soon as possible. Kamal Saleh Damara, a local official in the vill

News updates: Delhi govt imposes 'perpetual ban' on firecrackers in city

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News updates: Sebi board approves proposal to tighten listing norms for SME IPOs

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