https://www.scmp.com/rss/324286/feed The Syrian conflict is the deadliest conflict of the 21st century to date. In 2011, protests erupted in Syria after 15 boys were detained and tortured for having written graffiti in support of the Arab Spring. One of the boys, was killed after having been brutally tortured. The Syrian government, led by President Bashar al-Assad, responded to the protests by killing hundreds of demonstrators and imprisoning many more. In July 2011, defectors from the military announced the formation of the Free... en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse A Berlin court on Thursday jailed a Syrian man for 13 years for a jihadist-inspired knife attack on a Spanish tourist at the German capital’s Holocaust memorial. The 20-year-old suspect, named only as Wassim Al M., was convicted of attempted murder, grievous bodily harm and attempted membership of a terrorist organisation, the court said. The stabbing in February 2025 inflamed an already heated debate on migration just a few days before a general election in Germany. Presiding judge Doris Husch... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3345567/berlin-jails-man-13-years-over-stabbing-holocaust-memorial?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3345567/berlin-jails-man-13-years-over-stabbing-holocaust-memorial?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Mar 2026 09:32:26 +0000 Reuters Reuters The United States has warned Syria against relying on Chinese technology in its telecommunications sector, arguing it conflicts with US interests and threatens US national security, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The message was conveyed during an unreported meeting between a US State Department team and Syrian Communications Minister Abdulsalam Haykal in San Francisco on Tuesday. Washington has been ‌coordinating closely with Damascus since 2024, when Syria’s now President... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3344793/us-presses-syria-shift-chinese-telecoms-systems-cites-threat-national-security?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3344793/us-presses-syria-shift-chinese-telecoms-systems-cites-threat-national-security?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Feb 2026 22:42:08 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Syria and Saudi Arabia signed deals on Saturday that include a joint airline and a US$1 billion project to develop telecommunications, officials said, as Syria seeks to rebuild after years of war. Saudi Arabia has been a major backer of Syria’s Islamist authorities who took power after toppling long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. The new authorities in Damascus have worked to attract investment and have signed major agreements with several companies and governments, including Saudi... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3342788/saudi-arabia-syria-sign-telecom-and-airline-deals-sanctions-lift?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3342788/saudi-arabia-syria-sign-telecom-and-airline-deals-sanctions-lift?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 Feb 2026 15:27:02 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press A day after a sweeping deal was announced between the Syrian government and the country’s main Kurdish-led force, the agreement appeared to be falling apart on Monday. After new outbreaks of clashes Monday, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces issued a statement calling for “all of our youth” to “join the ranks of the resistance”. “Just as our comrades in 2014 forged a historic resistance in Kobani and turned it into a graveyard for (the Islamic State group) ... today we affirm with the same... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3340481/syria-deal-kurdish-fighters-appears-unravel-islamic-state-prisoners-escape?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3340481/syria-deal-kurdish-fighters-appears-unravel-islamic-state-prisoners-escape?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Jan 2026 23:22:02 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Kurdish-led forces withdrew on Sunday from Syria’s largest oilfield, a conflict monitor said, as government troops extended their grip over swathes of territory in the country’s north and east. The push came after President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a decree granting the Kurds official recognition in an apparent goodwill gesture, even as his Islamist government seeks to assert its authority across Syria after the ousting of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad in 2024. The Kurds’ de facto autonomous... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3340340/syrian-government-forces-take-al-omar-oilfield-kurds-withdraw?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3340340/syrian-government-forces-take-al-omar-oilfield-kurds-withdraw?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Jan 2026 13:21:04 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse At least three people were killed on Sunday during Alawite protests in western Syria, health authorities said, as thousands took to the streets across the religious minority’s heartland following a deadly mosque bombing. Thousands in coastal provinces and central Syria participated in demonstrations called by a religious authority to protest the mosque attack in Homs on Friday that killed eight people and reignited minorities’ fears under the new Islamist authorities. War monitor the Syrian... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3337957/3-dead-syria-thousands-alawites-protest-against-deadly-mosque-bombing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3337957/3-dead-syria-thousands-alawites-protest-against-deadly-mosque-bombing?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 Dec 2025 17:11:25 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse An Islamist militant group has claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed at least eight worshippers at a mosque in a predominantly Alawite area of Homs, Syria, on Friday. In a statement on Telegram, Saraya Ansar al-Sunna announced that its fighters “detonated a number of explosive devices” inside the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque. The group – which was formed after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad – previously claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed 20 people at a Damascus church... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3337843/blast-syria-kills-8-mosque-targeting-alawite-minority-homs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3337843/blast-syria-kills-8-mosque-targeting-alawite-minority-homs?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Dec 2025 13:00:20 +0000 Tom Hussain Tom Hussain A year after the curtain fell on the Assad regime’s five-decade reign of terror, Syria is emerging as a rare beacon of renewal in a conflict-weary region. President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former jihadi filled with revolutionary zeal to rebuild his home after 14 years of civil war, has successfully consolidated power and won broad international recognition. Over the past 12 months, Syria has “transformed from a global pariah to a fully fledged, integral component of the international community”,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3336269/syrias-year-epic-transformation-earns-it-trumps-protection?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3336269/syrias-year-epic-transformation-earns-it-trumps-protection?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 Dec 2025 08:00:19 +0000 Reuters Reuters Syrians marked the first anniversary of the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad and his iron-fisted rule on Monday, as the fractured nation struggles to find stability and recover after years of war. Official celebrations are planned for the central Umayyad Square in Damascus, which has been packed with jubilant gatherings ahead of December 8, and in other parts of the country. Military parades are also expected. Assad fled Syria for Russia a year ago as rebels commanded by Syria’s new president, Ahmed... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3335621/syria-celebrates-anniversary-assads-fall-and-new-dawn-under-ahmed-al-sharaa?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3335621/syria-celebrates-anniversary-assads-fall-and-new-dawn-under-ahmed-al-sharaa?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Dec 2025 10:14:02 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Members of Syria’s security and military services have been detained as part of an investigation into sectarian violence in the southern province of Sweida in July that left hundreds of people dead, investigators said on Sunday. The head of a Syrian committee investigating the violence in Sweida held a news conference in the capital, Damascus, to talk about progress made but did not release a death toll, saying this will come in the final report that is expected by the end of the year. In... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3333019/members-syrias-security-forces-and-military-detained-over-sectarian-violence-sweida?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3333019/members-syrias-security-forces-and-military-detained-over-sectarian-violence-sweida?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Nov 2025 22:51:59 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Syria is joining the global coalition against Islamic State, a US official said on Monday hours after President Donald Trump welcomed his Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa for historic White House talks. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, was the first Syrian leader to visit the White House since the Middle Eastern country’s independence in 1946. But the 43-year-old’s landmark visit to the Oval Office came just days after Washington removed him... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3332254/trump-hosts-syrias-president-sharaa-white-house-renews-temporary-waiver-sanctions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3332254/trump-hosts-syrias-president-sharaa-white-house-renews-temporary-waiver-sanctions?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Nov 2025 19:19:46 +0000 Tom Hussain Tom Hussain Turkey is closing out 2025 as a pivotal Middle Eastern power broker, its influence resurgent amid shifting alliances that have pushed Ankara to the centre of diplomacy spanning from Syria to Gaza. Twelve months ago, few could have predicted the speed – and irony – with which the tides would turn in Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s favour. Just five years after the US imposed sanctions on Turkey for its military campaign against Kurdish separatists in Syria, Washington is now throwing its... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3331982/middle-easts-diplomatic-drama-turkey-takes-centre-stage?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3331982/middle-easts-diplomatic-drama-turkey-takes-centre-stage?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Nov 2025 08:00:18 +0000 Alessandro Arduino Alessandro Arduino Early this month, Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani is expected in Beijing for what both sides have billed as a “reset” in relations. The move reflects a wider trend across the Middle East, where governments wary of Western conditionality are increasingly seeking what they view as less encumbered partnerships with China. The winds of realpolitik are sweeping from the Middle East to Central and South Asia, bringing “hard resets” across entire regions. India’s quiet pivot towards the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3331122/what-syrias-post-war-pivot-china-tells-us-about-new-world-order?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3331122/what-syrias-post-war-pivot-china-tells-us-about-new-world-order?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Nov 2025 05:30:07 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Syria will select members of its first post-Assad parliament on Sunday in a process criticised as undemocratic, with a third of the members appointed by interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. The assembly’s formation is set to consolidate the power of Sharaa, whose Islamist forces led a coalition that toppled long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad in December after more than 13 years of civil war and five decades of one-family rule. According to the organising committee, more than 1,500 candidates – just 14... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3327901/syria-select-post-assad-parliamentary-members-process-deemed-undemocratic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3327901/syria-select-post-assad-parliamentary-members-process-deemed-undemocratic?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Oct 2025 03:30:41 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa arrived in New York on Sunday to take part in the UN General Assembly, the first president of Syria to do so in nearly six decades. The last time a Syrian head of state attended the General Assembly was in 1967. That was before the 50-year rule of the Assad family dynasty, which came to an end in December when then-president Bashar al-Assad was ousted in a lightning insurgent offensive led by Sharaa. Assad’s fall also brought to an end nearly 14 years of civil... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3326324/syrian-president-arrives-us-un-general-assembly-first-time-nearly-60-years?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3326324/syrian-president-arrives-us-un-general-assembly-first-time-nearly-60-years?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Sep 2025 23:08:01 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Syria on Sunday denied targeting a village in Aleppo province a day earlier, instead blaming Kurdish-led forces for an attack that a human rights monitor said killed seven civilians. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that five women and two children were killed on Saturday in the village of Umm Tina, in the Deir Hafer area of Aleppo province, in bombardment carried out “by Syrian army personnel.” A semi-autonomous Kurdish administration controls swathes of north and northeast... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3326314/7-killed-aleppo-bombardment-syria-blames-kurdish-led-forces?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3326314/7-killed-aleppo-bombardment-syria-blames-kurdish-led-forces?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Sep 2025 13:56:27 +0000 Reuters Reuters Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has expressed hope that his country would avoid military conflict with US-backed Kurdish forces if efforts to integrate their autonomous administration in northeast Syria into the state structure collapse. In remarks late on Saturday to senior figures from Idlib, where he has mustered loyalist forces, Sharaa said Kurdish leaders had signalled readiness to move forward with a landmark deal in March to bring their Kurdish-run areas under state authority. But their... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3322157/syrias-president-sharaa-hopes-kurdish-deal-prevent-conflict?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3322157/syrias-president-sharaa-hopes-kurdish-deal-prevent-conflict?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 Aug 2025 18:42:22 +0000 Reuters Reuters Syria will not take part in planned meetings with Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Paris, Syria’s state news agency quoted a government source as saying on Saturday, casting doubt over an integration deal signed by the two sides in March. The SDF was the main fighting force allied to the United States in Syria during the fighting that defeated Islamic State in 2019 after the group declared a caliphate across swathes of Syria and Iraq. In March, the SDF signed a deal with the new... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3321315/syria-steps-back-paris-meetings-kurdish-led-sdf?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3321315/syria-steps-back-paris-meetings-kurdish-led-sdf?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Aug 2025 09:28:32 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press New outbreaks of violence overnight into Sunday rocked Syria at two distinct flashpoints, straining a fragile ceasefire and calling into question the ability of the transitional government to exert its authority across the whole country. In the north, government-affiliated fighters confronted Kurdish-led forces who control much of the region, while in the southern province of Sweida, they clashed with Druze armed groups. The outbreaks come at a time when Syria’s interim authorities are trying to... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3320601/fresh-clashes-syria-al-sharaas-interim-government-flails?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3320601/fresh-clashes-syria-al-sharaas-interim-government-flails?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Aug 2025 13:05:17 +0000 Tom Hussain Tom Hussain As Syria approaches a watershed moment in its post-war transition, the country’s fragile peace is being tested by renewed diplomatic manoeuvres, sectarian violence and a deepening humanitarian crisis. The latest round of Western and Arab mediation comes a full 14 years since the outbreak of civil war and follows sectarian clashes in mid-July that left 1,400 dead in the southwestern Sweida region, highlighting the urgent need to preserve Syria’s territorial integrity from the designs of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3320490/syrias-make-or-break-moment-looms-first-post-assad-election?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3320490/syrias-make-or-break-moment-looms-first-post-assad-election?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Aug 2025 08:00:16 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse A Stockholm court on Thursday handed down a life term to Swedish jihadist Osama Krayem over the murder of a Jordanian pilot burned alive by Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, which sparked international outrage in 2015. The Swedish court was the first to try a person over the infamous killing. Judge Anna Liljenberg Gullesjo said in a statement that “the investigation has shown that the defendant was at the execution site, uniformed and armed, and allowed himself to be filmed”. While noting that... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3320316/swedish-jihadist-jailed-life-over-jordan-pilot-burned-alive-syria?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3320316/swedish-jihadist-jailed-life-over-jordan-pilot-burned-alive-syria?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 31 Jul 2025 11:21:34 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Syria will hold parliamentary elections in September, the head of a body tasked with organising the election process told state media on Sunday. Mohammed Taha al-Ahmad, chairman of the Higher Committee for People’s Assembly Elections, told state news agency SANA that elections will take place between September 15 and 20. They will be the first to take place under the country’s new authorities after the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad in a lightning rebel offensive in December. One third... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3319775/syria-hold-parliamentary-elections-september-first-assads-fall?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3319775/syria-hold-parliamentary-elections-september-first-assads-fall?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Jul 2025 21:04:48 +0000 Reuters Reuters Hatem Radwan stared at the bloodstained floor and cushions in the Al-Radwan guest house in Syria’s Druze city of Sweida, still wondering how he survived the shooting spree more than a week ago that killed his relatives and friends. “I’m not sleeping. I wish I would have died; it would have been better for me,” the 70-year-old said, stating two of his sons-in-law and his daughter’s father-in-law were killed when armed men stormed into the guest house on July 16. Hundreds of people were killed in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3319766/syrias-druze-grieve-amid-sectarian-violence-bedouin-tribes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3319766/syrias-druze-grieve-amid-sectarian-violence-bedouin-tribes?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Jul 2025 15:00:59 +0000 Hani Shehada Hani Shehada Most global actors still treat education as an afterthought during crises, something to address only once food, water and shelter are secured. But in places like Palestine, Syria and Afghanistan, this hierarchy collapses. Education isn’t a post-crisis luxury; it’s the anchor in the chaos. Over the past decade, I’ve learned that education must be treated as a frontline intervention, restoring not only learning, but also safety, identity and hope. It’s not just about classrooms. It’s about systems... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3318487/war-ravaged-youth-education-anchor-amid-chaos-not-luxury?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3318487/war-ravaged-youth-education-anchor-amid-chaos-not-luxury?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Jul 2025 12:30:08 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Syria’s armed Bedouin clans announced on Sunday they had withdrawn from the Druze-majority city of Sweida following weeklong clashes and a US-brokered ceasefire, as humanitarian aid convoys started to enter the battered southern city. The clashes between militias of the Druze religious minority and the Sunni Muslim clans killed hundreds and threatened to unravel Syria’s already fragile post-war transition. Israel also launched dozens of air strikes in the Druze-majority Sweida province,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3318927/syrias-armed-bedouin-say-they-have-withdrawn-druze-majority-city-sweida?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3318927/syrias-armed-bedouin-say-they-have-withdrawn-druze-majority-city-sweida?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Jul 2025 17:37:23 +0000 Reuters Reuters One elderly man had been shot in the head in his living room. Another in his bedroom. The body of a woman lay in the street. After days of bloodshed in Syria’s Druze city of Sweida, survivors emerged on Thursday to collect and bury the scores of dead found across the city. A ceasefire overnight brought an end to ferocious fighting between Druze militia and government forces sent to the city to quell clashes between Druze and Bedouin fighters. The violence worsened sharply after the arrival of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3318689/syrias-sweida-city-corpses-and-ruin-druze-reel-bloodshed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3318689/syrias-sweida-city-corpses-and-ruin-druze-reel-bloodshed?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Jul 2025 04:44:22 +0000 Tom Hussain Tom Hussain Some US$20 billion of foreign investment and financial aid is set to pour into Syria over the next few years, kick-starting the reconstruction of the war-torn country after Western sanctions were lifted two months ago. But the desperately needed funds forthcoming from Gulf Arab, Turkish and Western firms remain tied to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s willingness to reach some kind of Washington-backed peace agreement with an antagonistic Israel, according to several Middle East experts who... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3318602/syrias-future-tied-israel-peace-deal-billions-investment-set-arrive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3318602/syrias-future-tied-israel-peace-deal-billions-investment-set-arrive?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Jul 2025 09:33:32 +0000 dpa dpa Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Thursday accused Israel of trying to instigate a war and vowed that Syria would not be drawn into the conflict. “We, the people of Syria, know very well who is trying to drag us into war and who is working to divide us,” Sharaa said in a dawn speech broadcast on national television. “We will not give them the opportunity to entangle our people in a war that serves only to fragment our homeland and sow destruction.” Sharaa blamed Israel for exploiting... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3318554/syrian-president-warns-israel-against-attempts-drag-syria-war?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3318554/syrian-president-warns-israel-against-attempts-drag-syria-war?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Jul 2025 06:56:27 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Syria announced that its army had begun to withdraw from violence-hit Sweida on Wednesday, following a wave of Israeli strikes on the capital and a US call for government forces to leave the majority-Druze southern city. The United States, which is close allies with Israel and has been trying to reboot its relationship with Syria, said an agreement had been reached to restore calm in the area, and urged “all parties to deliver on the commitments they have made”. The Syrian government earlier... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3318457/clashes-erupt-syria-israel-threatens-escalation-protect-druze-minority?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3318457/clashes-erupt-syria-israel-threatens-escalation-protect-druze-minority?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Jul 2025 10:32:28 +0000 Reuters Reuters At least 18 members of Syria’s security forces have been killed in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, the Defence Ministry said, after they deployed to quell deadly sectarian clashes that had resumed on Monday, while Israel said it struck tanks in a town in the same province on the same day. Sunday’s fighting between Druze militiamen and Bedouin tribal fighters was the first time that sectarian violence erupted inside the city of Sweida itself, following months of tensions in the broader... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3318205/attacks-syrian-security-forces-sent-quell-sectarian-fighting-leave-18-dead?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3318205/attacks-syrian-security-forces-sent-quell-sectarian-fighting-leave-18-dead?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Jul 2025 22:00:30 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse The United States on Monday announced it was revoking its designation as a “foreign terrorist organisation” of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group once linked to al-Qaeda that toppled Syria’s government in December. “In consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury, I hereby revoke the designation of al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (and other aliases) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization,” wrote US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a memo. An armed... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3317292/us-revoking-terrorist-designation-syrias-hts-group-overthrew-president-assad?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3317292/us-revoking-terrorist-designation-syrias-hts-group-overthrew-president-assad?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 07 Jul 2025 17:29:43 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse A shooting and suicide bombing at a Damascus church during a packed service on Sunday killed at least 22 people, authorities said, blaming a member of Islamic State for the unprecedented attack. The international community condemned the attack, the first of its kind in the Syrian capital since Islamist-led forces toppled long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad in December. It was also the first inside a church in Syria since the country’s civil war erupted in 2011, according to a monitor. Security... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3315414/suicide-bomber-kills-least-15-during-mass-syrian-church-damascus?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3315414/suicide-bomber-kills-least-15-during-mass-syrian-church-damascus?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Jun 2025 17:53:33 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Syria’s new Islamist authorities said on Tuesday that women going to public beaches must wear burkinis or other “decent” clothes that cover the body, giving some private venues an exemption. In the largely conservative country, few women wear swimsuits that reveal their bodies. Six months after Islamist-led forces toppled long-time Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian tourism ministry announced in a statement that beachgoers must wear “more decent” clothes, citing the “public’s interest” as... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3313915/syria-says-women-must-wear-burkinis-decent-clothing-public-beaches?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3313915/syria-says-women-must-wear-burkinis-decent-clothing-public-beaches?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Jun 2025 17:28:09 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Syria’s new authorities have agreed to help the United States locate and return Americans who went missing in the war-torn country, a US envoy said on Sunday. “The new Syrian government has agreed to assist the USA in locating and returning USA citizens or their remains,” US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack wrote on X, describing it as a “powerful step forward”. “The families of Austin Tice, Majd Kamalmaz, and Kayla Mueller must have closure,” he added, referring to American citizens who had... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3311714/syrian-government-aid-search-missing-americans-us-envoy-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3311714/syrian-government-aid-search-missing-americans-us-envoy-says?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 May 2025 08:28:34 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Tuesday that Syria could be weeks away from a fresh civil war of “epic proportions”, as he called for support to the transitional leadership. The top American diplomat blamed a resurgence of Islamic State in areas outside the transitional government’s control, as well as Iran. He told a US Senate hearing that the government, “given the challenges they’re facing, are maybe weeks – not many months – away from potential collapse and a full-scale civil war of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3311170/syria-brink-rubio-warns-full-scale-civil-war-epic-proportions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3311170/syria-brink-rubio-warns-full-scale-civil-war-epic-proportions?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 May 2025 04:49:01 +0000 Reuters Reuters When US President Donald Trump announced in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday that he would lift all sanctions on Syria, the decision – which will boost a country devastated by 13 years of war – took many in the region by surprise. It also caught some in his own administration off guard. In Washington, senior officials at the US State Department and Treasury Department scrambled to understand how to cancel the sanctions, many of which have been in place for decades, according to four American officials... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3310383/trump-move-end-syria-sanctions-catches-his-own-administration-surprise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3310383/trump-move-end-syria-sanctions-catches-his-own-administration-surprise?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 May 2025 23:18:10 +0000 Reuters Reuters US President Donald Trump met with Syria’s president in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and urged him to normalise ties with long-time foe Israel, after a surprise US announcement that it would lift all sanctions on the Islamist-led government. Trump met Syria’s Ahmed al-Sharaa before a summit between the United States and Gulf Arab countries. Photos posted on Saudi state television showed them shaking hands in the presence of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS. Turkish... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3310328/trump-meets-syrias-rebel-leader-sharaa-urges-him-establish-israel-ties?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3310328/trump-meets-syrias-rebel-leader-sharaa-urges-him-establish-israel-ties?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 May 2025 10:30:19 +0000 Reuters Reuters Syria’s Ahmed al-Sharaa has transformed himself from al-Qaeda militant to Syrian president in a dramatic political rise capped on Wednesday by a meeting with US President Donald Trump. The encounter in Saudi Arabia is a milestone for a man who joined al-Qaeda in Iraq around the time of the 2003 US-led invasion and spent years in US prison there before returning to Syria to join the insurgency against Bashar al-Assad. The meeting – following Trump’s announcement of an end to US sanctions on Syria... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3310322/syrias-rebel-leader-sharaas-path-global-jihad-trump-meeting?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3310322/syrias-rebel-leader-sharaas-path-global-jihad-trump-meeting?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 May 2025 09:56:40 +0000 Reuters Reuters US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would order the lifting of sanctions on Syria at the behest of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, in a huge boost for interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa as he seeks to stabilise a country shattered by war. Trump made the surprise announcement during a regional tour that began in Saudi Arabia. The White House said Trump would say hello to Sharaa during his Saudi visit, indicating a meeting between the president and a former al-Qaeda commander who spent... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3310225/trump-says-he-will-remove-syria-sanctions-surprise-boost-war-torn-nation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3310225/trump-says-he-will-remove-syria-sanctions-surprise-boost-war-torn-nation?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 May 2025 17:12:14 +0000 Meredith Chen Meredith Chen China has “lots to learn” if it hopes to transition from a bystander to a credible mediator in the Middle East, according to analysts, who noted that Beijing faced major challenges in engaging Syria’s new government. They made the comments during a virtual panel on Monday held by US-based think tank the Foreign Policy Research Institute. While meeting the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations Fu Cong in New York on Monday, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said the two countries would... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3308894/will-syria-challenges-stand-way-chinas-middle-east-ambitions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3308894/will-syria-challenges-stand-way-chinas-middle-east-ambitions?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 May 2025 02:00:24 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani expressed on Monday his government’s willingness to build a “strategic partnership” with China, a key backer of ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad. A foreign ministry statement said that Shaibani met the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, at UN headquarters in New York, where he had been representing Syria at a session of the Security Council. In the meeting with Beijing’s envoy, Shaibani said Syria’s new government was seeking to “strengthen... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3308273/syrias-foreign-minister-wants-strengthen-relations-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3308273/syrias-foreign-minister-wants-strengthen-relations-china?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Apr 2025 20:33:30 +0000 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel on Friday of sowing divisions in Syria in a bid to “dynamite” the “revolution” that toppled dictator Bashar al-Assad. Turkey is a key backer of Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led the rebel coalition that ousted Assad in December. “Israel is trying to dynamite the December 8 revolution by stirring up ethnic and religious affiliations and turning minorities in Syria against the government,”... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3306299/turkey-accuses-israel-undermining-syria-stirring-ethnic-religious-tensions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3306299/turkey-accuses-israel-undermining-syria-stirring-ethnic-religious-tensions?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Apr 2025 13:16:30 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press The Trump administration has notified the World Food Programme and other partners that it has terminated some of the last remaining life-saving humanitarian programmes across the Middle East, a US official and a UN official said on Monday. The projects were being cancelled “for the convenience of the US government” at the direction of Jeremy Lewin, a top lieutenant at Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) whom the Trump administration appointed to oversee and... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3305576/trump-administration-ends-some-usaid-contracts-providing-life-saving-aid-across-middle-east?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3305576/trump-administration-ends-some-usaid-contracts-providing-life-saving-aid-across-middle-east?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 07 Apr 2025 18:23:23 +0000 A month after jailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan called on his party to end its 40-year insurgency with Turkey, the future of embattled Kurdish communities there and in neighbouring Syria and Iraq hangs in the balance. Ocalan’s unprecedented statement on February 27 urging the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to disarm and disband raised hopes among Turkey’s Kurdish citizens that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could be prepared to grant them democratic rights as part of a quid... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3304321/kurds-ponder-future-turkey-syria-and-iraq-guarded-optimism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3304321/kurds-ponder-future-turkey-syria-and-iraq-guarded-optimism?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 28 Mar 2025 10:05:53 +0000 Israeli artillery and air strikes hit south Lebanon on Saturday after Israel said it had intercepted rockets fired from across the border, endangering a shaky truce that ended a year-long war between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. That conflict marked the deadliest spillover of the Gaza war, rumbling across the border for months before a blistering Israeli offensive that wiped out Hezbollah’s top commanders, many of its fighters and much of its arsenal. Hezbollah denied... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3303487/israel-attacks-lebanon-following-cross-border-rocket-fire?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3303487/israel-attacks-lebanon-following-cross-border-rocket-fire?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Mar 2025 15:50:59 +0000 When he arrived in the town of Masaoudiyeh in northern Lebanon earlier this month, fleeing massacres on Syria’s Mediterranean coast, Dhulfiqar Ali had escaped death not once but twice. He is among thousands of Syrians who have fled across the border after armed groups descended on the Syrian coastal heartland of ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite minority and killed hundreds of civilians, mostly Alawites. “They didn’t even speak Arabic … they knew only: ‘Alawites, pigs, kill them’,” Ali... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3303459/syrias-alawite-minority-finds-refuge-lebanon?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3303459/syrias-alawite-minority-finds-refuge-lebanon?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Mar 2025 08:31:03 +0000 Lebanon’s Defence Minister Michel Menassa and his Syrian counterpart Murhaf Abu Qasra agreed on a ceasefire, the Lebanese and Syrian defence ministries said in statements on Monday, as cross-border clashes in the past two days left 10 dead. Three soldiers in Syria’s new army and seven Lebanese were killed in border clashes during the past two days, the Syrian defence ministry and Lebanese health ministry said. On the Lebanese side, 52 people were wounded, the health ministry said. The Lebanese... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3302757/lebanon-and-syria-agree-ceasefire-after-cross-border-clashes-leave-10-dead?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3302757/lebanon-and-syria-agree-ceasefire-after-cross-border-clashes-leave-10-dead?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Mar 2025 22:50:57 +0000 The head of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been killed in Iraq in an operation by members of the Iraqi national intelligence service along with US-led coalition forces, the Iraqi prime minister announced on Friday. “The Iraqis continue their impressive victories over the forces of darkness and terrorism,” Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. Abdallah Maki Mosleh al-Rifai, or “Abu Khadija,” was “deputy caliph” of the militant... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3302501/head-islamic-state-iraq-and-syria-killed-iraqi-pm-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3302501/head-islamic-state-iraq-and-syria-killed-iraqi-pm-says?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 15 Mar 2025 04:17:03 +0000 Syria’s new leader has vowed accountability and an investigation after reports of mass killings of Alawite civilians triggered an international backlash against the worst violence since Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow. In its latest toll Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said 973 civilians had perished since March 6 in “killings, field executions and ethnic cleansing operations” by security personnel or pro-government fighters in the coastal heartland of the Alawite... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3301678/syrian-president-calls-unity-following-mass-killings?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3301678/syrian-president-calls-unity-following-mass-killings?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Mar 2025 09:25:17 +0000 Optimism about Syria’s future that greeted the fall of the Assad regime in December is fast waning as sustained US economic sanctions against Damascus and distrust of its transitional government threaten to tilt the country towards chaos again after 14 years of civil war. There are also fears over Israel’s military intervention in southern Syria to prevent the Islamist administration of transitional president Ahmed al-Sharaa from establishing control there. Meanwhile, the Kurdish-majority... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3301033/syria-risks-relapsing-chaos-amid-us-sanctions-infighting?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3301033/syria-risks-relapsing-chaos-amid-us-sanctions-infighting?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Mar 2025 10:32:28 +0000