Syrian leader Sharaa meets Chinese envoy in first bilateral exchange since fall of Assad
China, which backed Assad, saw its embassy in Damascus looted after his fall. Syria's new Islamist rulers have also installed some foreign fighters including Uygurs - a mainly Muslim ethnic minority in China that Western rights groups say has been persecuted by Beijing - into the Syrian armed forces. Beijing has denied accusations of abuses against Uygurs.
The official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on Sharaa's meeting with ambassador Shi Hongwei but gave no details of what was discussed.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
The decision to give official roles, some at senior level, to several Islamist militants could alarm foreign governments and Syrian citizens fearful of the new administration's intentions, despite its pledges not to export Islamic revolution and to rule with tolerance for Syria's large minority groups.
In 2015, Chinese authorities said many Uygurs who had fled to Turkey via Southeast Asia planned to bring jihad back to China, alleging that some were involved in "terrorism activities".
Chinese President Xi Jinping had vowed to support Assad against external interference. He also offered the long-time Syrian leader a rare break from years of international isolation since the start of Syria's civil war in 2011, when he accorded Assad and his wife a warm welcome during a visit to China in 2023.
Assad was toppled a year later in a swift offensive by a coalition of rebels headed by the Sharaa-led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, that ended 54 years of Assad family rule.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2025. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump administration reportedly wants a 10% stake in Intel
The Trump administration is in talks to take a roughly 10% stake in Intel in a deal that would make the U.S. the largest shareholder in the struggling chipmaker, according to a report. The federal government is mulling an investment that would convert some or all of the grants allocated to the company under the U.S. bipartisan Chips and Science Act into equity, Bloomberg reported. Intel was granted a combined $10.9 billion in grants under the act for commercial and military manufacturing, which former President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022. That figure would equate to a little over 10% of Intel's $103.8 billion market value as of Aug. 18, though sources told the news outlet that the White House has not yet decided whether to go ahead with the plan. The potential investment, first reported last week , would support Intel's plans to build a factory hub in Ohio and would come at a time when Intel has been cutting jobs as part of a cost cutting drive, having fallen behind rivals like Nvidia in the global AI chipmaking race. A stake in Intel would be President Donald Trump's latest try at intervening in the chipmaking industry. Earlier this week, the U.S. government announced a deal that would have two of Intel's rivals, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, pay it 15% of their revenues from sales in China. The reported deal with Intel would also mark a sharp turnaround after Trump demanded last week that its CEO Lip-Bu Tan resign over purported connections to the Chinese government, describing him as someone who's 'conflicted' in his business dealings. 'The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem. Thank you for your attention to this problem!' Trump wrote in an Aug. 7 social media post. Tan took over Intel in March, as the company was locked in negotiations with the Trump administration to shift its chip-making plants to a Taiwanese rival. Intel is seen by many as the best chance for the U.S. to compete with global rivals like TSMC, and the Ohio plant would help the country make sure it can make high-end semiconductors on home soil. However, it has struggled amid stagnant sales and ongoing losses in recent years, with the likes of Nvidia surging ahead. Already under Tan it has announced plans to lay off 20% of its staff to pare back bureaucracy within the company. The funding under the Chips Act was meant to be directed to fortify Intel's domestic computer chip manufacturing with new projects including the Ohio plant, and was supposed to be dispersed over time. A deal with the government would not necessarily mean significantly more cash, but it could mean the company gets hold of it faster. Trump announced a new 100% tariff on semiconductor imports earlier in August, but included an enormous caveat that could spare tech firms like Intel. U.S. companies that have planned a domestic spending spree in the country are likely to avoid the sizable import tax. Intel has stated it will pour $100 billion in new U.S. corporate spending over the next five years, a move it had announced before the 2024 election. Intel and U.S. government did not immediately respond to Quartz's requests for comment.
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Official say US military raid in Syria killed country's ISIS leader-in-waiting
The U.S. military carried out a raid in northern Syria on Tuesday, killing a senior ISIS figure who had been poised to become the group's next leader in the country, a U.S. official told Fox News. A key ISIS financial official was also killed in the operation, the official said, noting that both men had been actively planning attacks in Syria and Iraq. No U.S. forces were injured. Advertisement On the background of a U.S. official to Fox News, the raid was described as a 'successful operation' targeting a senior ISIS member assessed to be a strong candidate to assume the role of ISIS Syria Emir, a position that would have posed a direct threat to U.S. and Coalition forces as well as the new Syrian government. No civilians were injured or killed, and there were no injuries to U.S. or Coalition forces. The operation is part of continued U.S. counterterrorism efforts in the region following ISIS's territorial defeat in Syria and Iraq in 2019. 4 Islamic State/Iraq/Syria: A masked Islamic State soldier poses holding the ISIL banner somewhere in the deserts of Iraq or Syria. Pictures from History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Advertisement 4 Emergency services work at the scene of a suicide bombing at Mar Elias Church on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, on June 22 2025. MOHAMMED AL RIFAI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock 4 A grafitti on a wall in Tadamon that depicts the flag of the ISIS. Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images 4 A clergyman walks among debris at the scene of a suicide bombing at Mar Elias Church on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, 22 June 2025. MOHAMMED AL RIFAI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Advertisement 'We will continue to pursue ISIS terrorists with unwavering determination throughout the region,' the official added, stressing that the U.S. and its partners remain committed to ensuring the lasting defeat of ISIS and the protection of the homeland. The State Department did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
After Trump-backed peace deal, survivors recount rebel massacre in Congo
The Washington Post interviewed three witnesses to the initial massacre, as well as six residents of the nearest town, and reviewed photographs and videos from the aftermath. Locals described farmers being gunned down indiscriminately by M23 fighters as they worked the fields and survivors hiding for days among the dead. They spoke on the condition of anonymity, communicating by voice notes on borrowed phones, out of fear for their safety. Advertisement Rwanda has always denied backing M23 — despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary from UN experts — and the rebels were not signatories to the US-backed peace deal. M23 representatives and the government of Congo signed an agreement on July 19 pledging to establish a ceasefire as part of a separate peace process mediated by Qatar, though M23 told the BBC on Monday it was pulling out of the Doha-based talks, saying Kinshasa had reneged on the deal. Advertisement It was not immediately clear how the killings would affect the US-backed peace deal. Earlier this month, the US Treasury Department announced new sanctions on an armed group opposed to M23, as well as Chinese and Congolese mining companies, which it said were fueling the region's illicit mineral trade. The announcement noted that the 'Rwanda-backed' M23 group 'has rapidly expanded its territorial control in eastern DRC and is responsible for human rights abuses.' US officials, however, have made no public comment about the recent killings, and the president claimed again on Monday to have 'settled six wars in six months,' a count that includes the conflict in Congo. 'It's well past time that President Trump was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last month. Massad Boulos, Trump's Senior Africa Advisor, said in a statement to The Post that 'we will continue to work through any challenges to ensure that 30 years of war come to an end, and people can live in peace.' The White House press office said Trump had secured a 'historic agreement' between Rwanda and Congo and that his administration would ensure that all sides 'honor their commitments.' In an Aug. 7 post on X, Congo's ministry of information said M23 had killed more than 300 civilians in the North Kivu region; M23 swiftly denied any role in the killings and dismissed what it called 'false accusations.' Advertisement In an interview with The Post, Congolese Information Minister Patrick Muyaya called for an international investigation: 'Any kind of violence must be condemned by the US,' he said, urging American officials to 'continue to put pressure so we can fully implement the Washington accord and get Rwandan troops out of DRC.' Rwanda's government spokeswoman, Yolande Makolo, said the country's forces had 'absolutely nothing to do' with the latest violence, adding that M23 is not 'Rwandan-controlled.' Lawrence Kanyuka, the M23 spokesman targeted with sanctions by the US government in February, did not respond to a request for comment. Kigali accuses Congo of supporting the remnants of ethnic Hutu militias responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide; Congo accuses Rwanda of using proxy forces, including M23, to terrorize Hutu communities and loot the country's vast but underdeveloped mineral reserves. In January, M23 fighters seized control of the regional capital of Goma in a lightning offensive and have taken more Congolese territory in recent months, including the area where the July killings took place. Support from the Rwandan Defense Forces 'played a critical role in the territorial expansion of [M23] and its occupation of new territories,' a report by a UN panel of experts found last month. The latest massacres happened near Binza, about 65 miles north of Goma, in mid-July, but information has been slow to trickle out because phone networks are unreliable and locals fear further reprisals from M23. Residents and survivors told The Post that the violence originated with clashes between M23, which controls the town, and the Wazalendo, a loose array of local militias often supported by the Congolese government. After losing a skirmish, M23 fighters turned against civilians working in the fields of Binza on July 13, three survivors said. Advertisement A man told The Post he began to run as soon as he heard the first shots, tripping on a body as he fled. Many victims came from different villages, he said, and his brother was still missing. 'I saw many dead people on the way home,' he said. He estimated that at least 50 people were killed that day. The Post could not independently verify the toll. Terrified residents told him 'the M23 were killing anyone they found,' the man said. A woman who escaped the initial massacre said she spent three days hiding among corpses with no food or water. When she finally made her way back to the town of Nyamilima, she said, she walked past at least 20 bodies. 'It was the M23,' she told The Post. 'People were massacred … and until now they have not been buried.'
