Russia, Syrian army step up attacks on rebel-held northwestern Syria

May 10th, 20190 AMMAN - Russian and Syrian forces intensified air strikes and shelling in rebel-held northwestern Syria overnight, the heaviest assault since the area was declared a demilitarized zone under a Russian-Turkish deal, residents and medics said on Thursday. The targeted villages and towns in northern Hama and southern Idlib fall within a...

Syrian government seizes control in birthplace of rebellion

July 14th, 20180 AMMAN/BEIRUT — The Syrian government raised the national flag on Thursday over areas of Deraa city that have been in rebel hands for years, a major victory for President Bashar al-Assad in the birthplace of the revolt against his rule. Syrian state television said the army hoisted the flag near the post office, the only government...

Syria rebels depart eastern Ghouta town on government buses in first surrender

March 23rd, 20180 BEIRUT/DAMASCUS — Syrian rebels withdrew in busloads from a town in eastern Ghouta on Thursday and handed it over to the Syrian army, the first such surrender since one of the fiercest campaigns of the seven-year war began more than a month ago. The Ahrar al-Sham group's decision to accept the army's terms and abandon the town of...

Fighting intensifies in eastern Ghouta as UN pleads for ceasefire

February 23rd, 20180 The United Nations Security Council will vote on Friday on a draft resolution demanding a 30-day truce in Syria to allow aid deliveries and medical evacuations, but it was not immediately clear if the text had won the support of Syrian ally Russia. The vote comes as warplanes pounded eastern Ghouta, the last rebel enclave near Syria's...

Syrians talk peace in Vienna prior to Russian meeting

January 26th, 20180 VIENNA — 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...

Unpaid government workers deepen economic pain in Yemen’s war

January 29th, 20172 SANAA ― Already suffering grievously under nearly two years of civil war, many thousands of Yemeni state workers now face destitution as their salaries have gone largely unpaid for months. The immediate reason is a decision by the internationally-recognized government to shift Yemen's central bank out of Sanaa, the capital city...