July 8th, 20181BEIRUT - Syrian military air defenses struck an Israeli warplane and shot down Israeli missiles targeting the T4 air base in Homs province in response to an act of “aggression” on Sunday night, Syrian state media said.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said Israel does not comment on foreign reports.
Israel has grown deeply...
July 6th, 20181By Pepe Escobar
Ahead of the Trump-Putin summit on July 16 in Helsinki, Syria-centered spin has gone into overdrive. Different sources have leaked what is billed as President Trump’s alleged Syria deal discussed with Jordan’s King Abdullah.
Trump would “allow” Damascus, supported by Russian air power, to regain...
June 19th, 20180As the Arab and Muslim worlds were ending a month of blessed fasting, observing the most holy month in Islam and getting ready to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, there isn’t much to celebrate there— a region engulfed in bloodshed and complicated conflicts among brothers and neighbors.
In Gaza, a real massacre engulfing the besieged Strip...
June 12th, 20180GENEVA/BEIRUT ― The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR hopes the Lebanese foreign ministry will quickly reverse a decision to freeze residency applications the agency has submitted for its staff, its spokesman said on Tuesday.
Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil ordered the freeze last week after accusing UNHCR of hindering the return of...
June 5th, 20180BEIRUT — Lebanon is working with Damascus for the return of thousands of refugees who want to go back to Syria, a Lebanese official said on Thursday.
As the Syrian army, backed by Iran and Russia, has recovered territory, Lebanon’s president and other politicians have called for refugees to go back to “secure areas” before a...
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...
June 1st, 20180DEARBORN — Farah, a 9-year-old girl flaunting a colorful dress, proudly hands a drawing she made to a woman who’d just gifted her a toy doll.
Farah, whose name translates to “joy” in Arabic, said she loves drawing and would someday day like to teach art. Mohammed, her 6-year-old brother, sports a black bandana. He’s...
May 25th, 20180The nuclear deal: List of U.S. demands vs list of Iranian condition
WASHINGTON/TEHRAN — on Monday, the Trump administration demanded that Iran make wholesale changes in its military and regional policies or face "the strongest sanctions in history" as it sought to turn up heat on Tehran after President Trump's decision to withdraw...
May 24th, 20180BEIRUT - Syrian state media said a military airport near Homs city had come under missile attack which was repelled by its air defense systems on Thursday.
“One of our military airports in the central region was exposed to a hostile missile attack, and our air defense systems confronted the attack and prevented it from achieving its...
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...
May 18th, 20180By Mohamed Mohamed
“It was like a dream.”
That is how my maternal grandfather, Abu Ahmad, described his memories of our village near Safad in the Galilee in the northern part of Palestine, after I had curiously asked him about it as a kid. He told me it was cradled within a lush, beautiful landscape, where cherry and...
May 11th, 20180"Many of the ICA's congregants are Arab Americans who have fled war and poverty caused by Israeli aggression in their homeland." - Suhail Bitar, whose relatives were slain during the 1996 Qana massacre
DEARBORN – It was clear it wasn’t going to be a regular Sunday prayer service at the Islamic Center of America (ICA), the...
May 4th, 20180BEIRUT — Syrian militants accepted a deal on Wednesday to quit their enclave near Homs city, a militant official said, as the Syrian army crushes the last two besieged insurgent pockets in the country.
The agreement, which Russia brokered, would restore state rule, with fighters handing over their heavy weapons, the Syrian official...
May 4th, 20180CAIRO - Sending Arab troops to Syria is a possibility that is being discussed by officials from various countries, Egypt’s foreign minister was quoted as saying in a state newspaper on Friday.
“In regards to the situation in Syria, Shoukry said that the idea of replacing forces with another that may be Arab is a possibility,”...
May 2nd, 20180BEIRUT - Syrian militants accepted a deal on Wednesday to quit their enclave near Homs city, a militant official said, as the Syrian army crushes the last two besieged insurgent pockets in the country.
The agreement, which Russia brokered, would restore state rule, with fighters handing over their heavy weapons, the Syrian official in...
April 26th, 20180BRUSSELS ― International donors raised $4.4 billion in emergency aid for Syria and its neighbors this year on Wednesday, but the total fell well short of the U.N. target for 2018 after the United States failed to submit a pledge.
Humanitarian agencies also pleaded for peace before the Syrian military and its Russian and Iranian...
April 24th, 20180WASHINGTON, D.C. ― President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron pledged on Tuesday to seek stronger measures to contain Iran, as Trump considers whether to ditch an international accord meant to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
At a joint news conference after lengthy talks, Trump did not repeat threats to...
April 23rd, 20180WASHINGTON, D.C. — A man linked to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, who was said to have praised "violent jihad", was captured in Syria by U.S.-backed forces more than a month ago, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
"We can confirm that Mohammad Haydar Zammar, a Syrian-born German national, was captured more than a month...
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 18th, 20180SHEBAA, Lebanon — Several hundred Syrians who have lived for years as refugees in Lebanon left for their home country on Wednesday in a rare case of a mass return of those who left the country since the Syrian civil war began in 2011.
Nearly 500 people, including children and the elderly, left the Shebaa area in southeast Lebanon in...
April 16th, 20180AMMAN - Syrian anti-aircraft defenses shot down missiles that hit the Syrian air base of Shayrat in Homs province late Monday night, Syrian state television said.
State television showed pictures of a missile that was shot in the air above the air base only days after a U.S., British and French attack on Syrian targets in retaliation...
April 16th, 20180PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday France will contribute 50 million euros ($61.9 million) toward urgent humanitarian aid for Syria following a meeting with a group of non-governmental organizations (NGO) in Paris.
“This evening I brought together NGOs working on the ground in Syria. Faced with the...
April 13th, 20181By Farah Harb
The Arab American News
While the U.S. media is focused on the coverage of President Trump’s “blurry” tweets bashing Syria and other fellow politicians along with the news about Khloe Kardashian’s cheating boyfriend, major events in Gaza, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon have gone almost...
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 9th, 20180WASHINGTON, D.C. — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday he would not rule out “anything” after a suspected chemical attack in Syria triggered speculation about a U.S. military response, and he piled blame on Russia for falling short on its obligations to ensure that Syria abandoned its chemical weapons...
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...
April 4th, 20180WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump agreed in a National Security Council meeting this week to keep U.S. troops in Syria a little longer to defeat Islamic State but wants them out relatively soon, a senior administration official said on Wednesday.
Trump did not approve a specific withdrawal timetable at Tuesday’s meeting, the...
March 30th, 20180BEIRUT — The massive Russian-backed Syrian military offensive in the suburbs east of Damascus is almost over, with rebels holed up in just a single town after abandoning the rest of the eastern Ghouta enclave, Moscow declared on Thursday.
Russia and the rebel faction controlling Douma, the last Ghouta town still in insurgent hands,...
