https://www.scmp.com/rss/523016/feed The latest news and top stories on Tom Barrack, the US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy for Syria, actively engaged in Middle East diplomatic efforts. His responsibilities include discussing Hezbollah’s disarmament with Lebanese authorities. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Reuters Reuters Syria on Tuesday announced a ceasefire with Kurdish forces it has seized swathes of territory from in the northeast and gave them four days to agree on integrating into the central ‌state, which their main ally, the United States, urged them to accept. The lightning government advances in recent days and the apparent withdrawal of US support for the continued holding of territory by the Syrian Democratic ‍Forces represent the biggest change of control in the country since rebels ousted Bashar... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3340614/syria-gives-kurds-4-days-accept-integration-us-signals-end-support?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3340614/syria-gives-kurds-4-days-accept-integration-us-signals-end-support?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Jan 2026 18:49:18 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse US and allied forces carried out “large-scale” strikes against the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria on Saturday, the US military said, in the latest response to an attack last month that left three Americans dead. Washington said a lone gunman from the militant group carried out the December 13 attack in Palmyra – home to Unesco-listed ancient ruins and once controlled by jihadist fighters – that killed two US soldiers and a US civilian interpreter. “The strikes today targeted ISIS... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3339465/us-says-it-carried-out-new-large-scale-strikes-against-isis-syria?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3339465/us-says-it-carried-out-new-large-scale-strikes-against-isis-syria?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 Jan 2026 21:54:49 +0000 Reuters Reuters Kurdish fighters rejected a call to leave Syria’s Aleppo on Friday after the government announced a truce in deadly fighting that forced thousands of civilians to flee. Since Tuesday, government forces had been fighting the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Aleppo, the country’s second city. The violence killed 21 people and was the latest challenge for a country still struggling to forge a new path after Islamist authorities ousted long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad just over... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3339287/syria-declares-ceasefire-aleppo-after-deadly-clashes-kurdish-forces?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3339287/syria-declares-ceasefire-aleppo-after-deadly-clashes-kurdish-forces?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Jan 2026 06:15:43 +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 Alex Lo Alex Lo Tom Barrack, the United States special envoy for Syria, recently made waves at an international forum in Doha, Qatar, by suggesting that “benevolent monarchies” might be the most effective form of government for the Middle East. He also suggested that Israel was not a democracy. His remarks were probably welcomed in some parts of the region, but probably less well received by the US and other Western media, which all but consider themselves guardians of proper world opinion. Barrack was just... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3335998/would-world-be-safer-if-military-were-charge-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3335998/would-world-be-safer-if-military-were-charge-us?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Dec 2025 12:30:07 +0000 Tom Hussain Tom Hussain Lebanon is bracing for intensified Israeli attacks in the new year, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration set a December 31 deadline for Hezbollah to disarm, following its assassination of the group’s military commander. Rather than heralding another land invasion like a year ago, however, analysts say the military ultimatum issued by Defence Minister Israel Katz last week aims to further diminish the role of Hezbollah – and its creator Iran – in Lebanon’s national... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3334841/israel-sets-deadline-hezbollah-disarmament-can-lebanon-deliver?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3334841/israel-sets-deadline-hezbollah-disarmament-can-lebanon-deliver?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Dec 2025 03:31:07 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in the United States on Saturday for a landmark official visit, his country’s state news agency reported, a day after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday. The interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president’s regional tour in May. US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3332079/syrias-leader-arrives-us-trump-visit-after-removal-terrorism-blacklist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3332079/syrias-leader-arrives-us-trump-visit-after-removal-terrorism-blacklist?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Nov 2025 23:10:17 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press US President Donald Trump held talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House on Thursday and signalled that the United States might soon lift its hold on sales of advanced fighter aircraft to Ankara. During Trump’s first term, the US removed Turkey, a Nato ally, from its flagship F-35 programme after Turkey bought an air defence system from Russia. US officials worried that Turkey’s use of Russia’s S-400 surface-to-air missile system could be used to gather data on the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3326903/trump-hosts-erdogan-us-considers-lifting-ban-f-35-sales-turkey?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3326903/trump-hosts-erdogan-us-considers-lifting-ban-f-35-sales-turkey?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Sep 2025 21:33:38 +0000 Tom Hussain Tom Hussain Nearly two years after Hamas militants stormed southern Israel, the war in Gaza has entered a darker, deadlier phase. The territory now faces a reckoning its residents describe as annihilation. Israel’s latest military campaign in Gaza and its West Bank annexation plans have left observers warning that the age-old Palestinian presence across both could soon be erased. On Wednesday, Israel’s government unveiled plans to annex 82 per cent of the occupied West Bank. The escalation comes despite... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3324541/israels-annexation-plans-fuel-fears-final-solution-palestinians?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3324541/israels-annexation-plans-fuel-fears-final-solution-palestinians?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Sep 2025 08:00:24 +0000 Reuters Reuters Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said on Monday that the Lebanese government must first ensure Israel complies with a November 27 ceasefire agreement before talks on a national defence strategy can take place, reaffirming the Iran-backed group’s refusal to disarm. “Israel may occupy but we will confront it to prevent it from settling and achieving its goals, and this confrontation will continue,” Qassem said. “If this government continues in its current form, it cannot be trusted to safeguard... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3323112/hezbollah-leader-rejects-disarmament-demands-israel-comply-ceasefire-first?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3323112/hezbollah-leader-rejects-disarmament-demands-israel-comply-ceasefire-first?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Aug 2025 16:50:01 +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 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 Tom Hussain Tom Hussain After years of strained relations and embargoes, Turkey is poised to become an “indispensable” defence partner for Europe, as Germany lifts its veto on advanced jet sales and the United States seeks to end a damaging arms dispute. Analysts say the changes reflect a recalibration of Europe’s security architecture – and the West’s strategic priorities – amid rising tensions with Russia. Germany last week dropped its veto on the sale of 40 Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Turkey, a fellow Nato member,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3319945/how-turkey-re-emerged-wests-indispensable-defence-partner?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3319945/how-turkey-re-emerged-wests-indispensable-defence-partner?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Jul 2025 10:00:16 +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 Israel has attacked Houthi targets in three Yemeni ports and a power plant, the Israeli military said early on Monday, marking the first Israeli attack on Yemen in almost a month. The strikes on Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Salif ports, and Ras Qantib power plant were due to repeated Houthi attacks on Israel, the military added. Hours after the strikes, the Israeli military said two missiles were launched from Yemen and attempts were made to intercept them, but the results of interception were still... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3317165/explosions-heard-yemens-hodeidah-port-after-israel-issues-evacuation-orders?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3317165/explosions-heard-yemens-hodeidah-port-after-israel-issues-evacuation-orders?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 Jul 2025 21:52:01 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said on Sunday his group would not surrender or lay down its weapons in response to Israeli threats, despite pressure on the Lebanese militant group to disarm. “This threat will not make us accept surrender,” Qassem said in a televised speech to thousands of his supporters in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, during the Shiite Muslim religious commemoration of Ashura. Lebanese leaders who took office in the aftermath of a war between Israel and... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3317141/hezbollah-will-not-disarm-or-surrender-under-threat-israel-leader-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3317141/hezbollah-will-not-disarm-or-surrender-under-threat-israel-leader-says?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 Jul 2025 09:52:22 +0000