December 13th, 20240After more than six decades of Ba'athist rule of Syria, 54 years under the Assad family, and 24 years of Bashar al-Assad’s presidency, the Syrian regime crumbled in a matter of just 11 days. This dramatic turn of events was driven by a rapid advance of armed opposition groups from Idlib to Damascus, supported by Turkey, timed with...
May 19th, 20230President Bashar al-Assad has always seen time as an ally in the Syrian civil war, along with the Iranian and Russian firepower that helped him defeat his enemies, according to sources familiar with his thinking.
After more than 12 years of civil conflict that made him a reviled figure to much of the world, his strategy appears have...
October 24th, 20220Before Lebanon's government approved a U.S.-brokered deal settling a decades-long maritime boundary dispute with Israel, the powerful Hezbollah had scrutinized the final draft line by line and given a crucial nod of acceptance.
Branded a "terrorist group" by Washington and a sworn enemy of Israel, the Iran-backed Hezbollah was certainly...
May 28th, 20210Syrian President Bashar al-Assad won a fourth term in office with 95.1 percent of the votes, in an election that will extend his rule over a country ruined by war, but which opponents and the West say was marked by fraud.
Assad's government says the election on Wednesday shows Syria is functioning normally despite the decade-old...
May 3rd, 20210DAMASCUS — On Monday, Syria's higher constitutional court selected two obscure figures to appear on ballots standing against President Bashar al-Assad in a May 26 election, which the West rejects as a farce that will hurt diplomatic efforts to end the civil war.
From a list of 51 potential candidates, the court approved just...
April 18th, 20210DAMASCUS — Syria will hold a presidential election on May 26 that is virtually certain to return President Bashar al-Assad for a third term — an event that Washington and the opposition say is a farce designed to cement his autocratic rule.
Assad's family and his Baath party have ruled Syria for five decades with the help of the...
March 15th, 20210ALEPPO — Mohammed Abu Rdan has known nothing but conflict throughout his short life.
Born in rural Aleppo in 2011 when peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s government began, his childhood is anything but typical.
The protests quickly turned into a multi-sided conflict that has sucked in world powers,...
March 8th, 20210SYRIA — Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and his wife, Asma, have tested positive for COVID-19 after showing minor symptoms, his office said on Monday.
The Syrian leader and his spouse, who announced her recovery from breast cancer in 2019, were in good health and would keep working in isolation at home, the statement...
June 17th, 20200
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. imposed its toughest sanctions ever on Wednesday, targeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to choke off revenue for his government in a bid to force it back to U.N.-led negotiations and broker an end to the country’s nearly decade-long war.
The fresh round of...
February 21st, 20200ALEPPO — The Syrian army said on Monday it had taken full control of dozens of towns in Aleppo’s northwestern countryside and it would press on with its campaign to wipe out militant groups “wherever they are found."
The advances were made after President Bashar al-Assad’s forces drove insurgents from the M5 highway linking...
September 9th, 20180BEIRUT — On Thursday, Syrian Prime Minister Imad Khamis said in Damascus that opposition-controlled Idlib province will soon be restored to Syrian state sovereignty, vowing to win any coming war.
“Idlib will soon be restored to the nation,” Khamis said in a speech during the opening ceremony of the 60th edition of the annual...
July 22nd, 20180BEIRUT/AMMAN — President Bashar al-Assad is set to recover control of the Syrian frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in a major victory over rebels who have agreed to surrender terms, sources on both sides said on Thursday.
Backed by Russian air power and unopposed by Assad’s foreign adversaries, government forces...
June 1st, 20180DAMASCUS – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad raised the possibility of conflict with U.S. forces in Syria if they do not withdraw from the country soon.
In an interview with Russia’s RT international broadcaster, Assad said he would negotiate with fighters backed on the ground by Washington, but would reclaim territory they control...
May 23rd, 20180TEL AVIV — Israel is pressing the Trump administration to recognize its sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, an Israeli cabinet minister said on Wednesday, predicting U.S. assent could come within months.
Interviewed by Reuters, Intelligence Minister Israel Katz described endorsement of Israel’s 51-year-old hold on the...
April 23rd, 20180By Farah Harb
The Arab American News
"Assad either didn't carry out the chemical attack or he "is the dumbest dictator on the planet Earth." -Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)
DEARBORN — The U.S. and its European allies carried out airstrikes on Friday, April 13, in retaliation for a suspected but unconfirmed chemical attack on April 7 in...
April 11th, 20180WASHINGTON/BEIRUT — President Trump warned Russia on Wednesday of imminent military action in Syria over a suspected poison gas attack, declaring that missiles “will be coming” and lambasting Moscow for standing by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Trump was reacting to a warning from Russia on Tuesday that any U.S. missiles...
April 6th, 20180Turkey, Iran and Russia pledge to work for stability in Syria
ANKARA — Turkey, Iran and Russia pledged on Wednesday to accelerate efforts to bring stability to Syria, underlining their joint commitment to the country a day after President Trump raised the prospect of withdrawing U.S. troops.
A statement by the three countries after...
March 26th, 20180BEIRUT - Syrian rebel factions are blaming each other for opening the way to their defeat near Damascus, underlining splits that plagued the armed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad since its earliest days.
The rivalry between the factions of eastern Ghouta - Failaq al-Rahman and Jaish al-Islam - had led to the effective...
March 23rd, 20181BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday Turkey's military offensive in Syria's northern town of Afrin was unacceptable and she criticized Russia for "just watching" the continuing attacks by Syrian forces on eastern Ghouta.
Speaking in the lower house of parliament, Merkel said the government also condemned the...
March 16th, 20180BEIRUT — Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah does not expect its arch foe Israel to launch a war for now in Lebanon but is prepared for one, the deputy leader of the group told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.
As the war in Syria enters its eighth year, Sheikh Naim Qassem also said there was no end in sight to the conflict which would...
February 23rd, 20180ANKARA/BEIRUT — Pro-Syrian government forces entered Syria's northwestern Afrin region on Tuesday to help a Kurdish militia there fend off a Turkish assault, raising the prospect of a wider escalation of the conflict.
Soon after the convoy of militia fighters - waving Syrian flags and brandishing weapons - entered Afrin, Syrian...
February 9th, 20180DAMASCUS/ANKARA — The leaders of Turkey, Russia and Iran agreed on Thursday to meet in Istanbul to discuss the conflict in Syria, a Turkish presidential source said.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan discussed the meeting in two phone calls on Thursday with the Russian and Iranian presidents, the source said. The date of the summit...
January 26th, 20180VIENNA — U.N.-brokered peace talks with the Syrian government and the opposition began on Thursday, a few days before separate negotiations hosted by Damascus's close ally Russia that the West views with suspicion.
"The meeting was good," the head of the Syrian government delegation, Bashar al-Ja'afari, told Reuters as he left the...
April 7th, 20170President Trump ordered missile strikes against a Syrian airfield from which a deadly chemical weapons attack was allegedly launched, declaring he acted in America's "vital national security interest."
The deadliest chemical weapons attack in years in Syria killed dozens of people in the rebel-held northern Idlib province on Tuesday...
