
Over 1,400 killed in March violence in Syria coast
Damascus
A Syrian fact-finding committee on Tuesday confirmed that 1,426 people - mostly civilians, including many Alawites - were killed during a wave of violence in the country's coastal provinces between March 6 and 9.
According to committee spokesman Yasser al-Farhan, the clashes began when remnants of armed groups linked to toppled dictator Bashar al-Assad launched coordinated attacks on government forces in Latakia, Tartous and Hama, killing 238 army and security personnel.
Among the dead were 90 women, most of them unarmed civilians, the committee said as it presented its findings at a press conference in Damascus.
The attackers were described as organized, unlawful groups loyal to the ousted Assad regime, now operating independently and resisting transitional authorities.
The new government launched a military operation to quash the violence.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, estimated at the time that over 1,600 people, mainly from the Alawite minority, to which Assad belonged, had been killed in the unrest.
According to the committee, 550 individuals have been identified as responsible for the attacks and subsequent sectarian violence, though their names remain confidential, with only 31 suspects arrested so far.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Qatar Tribune
14 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Trump gives Russia 10 or 12 days to end war on Ukraine
Agencies TURNBERRY US President Donald Trump set a new deadline on Monday of 10 or 12 days for Russia to make progress toward ending the war in Ukraine or face consequences, underscoring frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the 3-1/2-year-old conflict. Trump has threatened both sanctions on Russia and buyers of its exports unless progress is made. The fresh deadline suggests the US president is prepared to move forward on those threats after previous hesitation to do so. Speaking in Scotland, where he is holding meetings with European leaders and playing golf, Trump said he was disappointed in Putin and shortening a 50-day deadline he had set on the issue earlier this month. 'I'm going to make a new deadline of about ... 10 or 12 days from today,' Trump told reporters during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. 'There's no reason in waiting... We just don't see any progress being made.' There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin. Ukraine welcomed the statement. Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff, thanked Trump in a social media post for 'standing firm and delivering a clear message of peace through strength.' Trump, who has expressed annoyance also with Zelensky, has not always followed tough talk about Putin with action, citing what he deems a good relationship that the two men have had previously. On Monday, Trump indicated he was not interested in more talks with Putin. He said sanctions and tariffs would be used as penalties for Moscow if it did not meet Trump's demands. 'There's no reason to wait. If you know what the answer is going to be, why wait? And it would be sanctions and maybe tariffs, secondary tariffs,' Trump said. 'I don't want to do that to Russia. I love the Russian people.' Ukraine had proposed a summit between Putin and Zelensky before the end of August, but the Kremlin has said that timeline was unlikely and that a meeting could only happen as a final step to clinch peace. Russia's foreign ministry said on Saturday that if the West wanted real peace with Ukraine, it would stop supplying Kyiv with weapons. Trump has repeatedly voiced exasperation with Putin for pursuing attacks on Ukraine despite US efforts to end the war. Trump has played up successes in other parts of the world where the United States has helped to broker peace agreements and has been flattered by some leaders who suggest he should be given the Nobel Peace Prize. 'I'm disappointed in President Putin,' Trump said on Monday. 'I'm going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number because I think I already know the answer what's going to happen.' Trump, who is also struggling to achieve a peace deal in Gaza, has touted his role in ending conflicts between India and Pakistan as well as Rwanda and Congo. Before returning to the White House in January, Trump campaigned on a promise to end Russia's conflict with Ukraine in a day. 'We thought we had that settled numerous times, and then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city like Kiev and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever,' Trump said.


Qatar Tribune
14 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Global supply chains brace as US, China seek to avert escalation
Agencies Top US and Chinese economic officials resumed talks in Stockholm on Monday to resolve longstanding economic disputes at the center of a trade war between the world's top two economies, aiming to extend a truce by three months. US Treasury Chief Scott Bessent was part of a US negotiating team that arrived at Rosenbad, the Swedish prime minister's office in central Stockholm, in the early afternoon. China's Vice Premier He Lifeng was also seen at the venue on video footage. China is facing an August 12 deadline to reach a durable tariff agreement with President Donald Trump's administration, after Beijing and Washington reached preliminary deals in May and June to end weeks of escalating tit-for-tat tariffs and a cut-off of rare earth minerals. Trump touched on the talks during a wide-ranging press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland. 'I'd love to see China open up their country. So we're dealing with China right now as we speak,' Trump said. Without an agreement, global supply chains could face renewed turmoil from US duties snapping back to triple-digit levels that would amount to a bilateral trade embargo. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said he did not expect 'some kind of enormous breakthrough today' at the talks in Stockholm that he was attending. 'What I expect is continued monitoring and checking in on the implementation of our agreement thus far, making sure that key critical minerals are flowing between the parties and setting the groundwork for enhanced trade and balanced trade going forward,' he told CNBC. The Stockholm talks follow Trump's biggest trade deal yet with the European Union on Sunday for a 15 percent tariff on most EU goods exports to the United States. Trade analysts said another 90-day extension of a tariff and export control truce struck in mid-May between China and the United States was likely. An extension would facilitate planning for a potential meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in late October or early November. The Financial Times reported on Monday that the US had paused curbs on tech exports to China to avoid disrupting trade talks with Beijing and support Trump's efforts to secure a meeting with Xi this year. Meanwhile, in Washington, US senators from both major parties plan to introduce bills this week targeting China over its treatment of minority groups, dissidents, and Taiwan, emphasizing security and human rights, which could complicate talks in Stockholm. Previous US-China trade talks in Geneva and London in May and June focused on bringing US and Chinese retaliatory tariffs down from triple-digit levels and restoring the flow of rare earth minerals halted by China and Nvidia's H20 AI chips, and other goods halted by the United States. So far, the talks have not delved into broader economic issues. They include US complaints that China's state-led, export-driven model is flooding world markets with cheap goods, and Beijing's complaints that US national security export controls on tech goods seek to stunt Chinese growth. 'Geneva and London were really just about trying to get the relationship back on track so that they could, at some point, actually negotiate about the issues which animate the disagreement between the countries in the first place,' said Scott Kennedy, a China economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington


Qatar Tribune
14 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Gaza children look ‘very hungry,' US to set up food centres: Trump
dpa Aberdeen, Scotland US President Donald Trump on Monday described the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip as 'terrible,' and said hungry Palestinian children must be helped. 'We have to get the kids fed,' Trump said during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland, adding that the children in Gaza look 'very hungry.' His remarks came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted there is 'no starvation' occurring in Gaza. 'You know, we want to help. It's a terrible situation. The whole thing is terrible,' Trump said, adding that he would bring up the issue with Netanyahu when they next speak. He announced plans for the US to help establish 'food centres' in Gaza, but did not provide specifics beyond calling it a multinational initiative. 'We're going to set up food centres and we're going to do it in conjunction with some very good people,' he said. 'We've got a lot of money and we're going to spend a little money on some food and other nations are joining us. I know your nation's joining us,' Trump said to Starmer, 'and we have all of the European nations joining us.' Trump said that the US had provided $60 million in food aid for Gaza in recent weeks. 'We only hope the food goes to the people that need it,' he said. Asked about Israel's role in ensuring humanitarian aid reaches civilians, Trump responded: 'Israel has a lot of responsibility.' However, he added that Israel's power to act is 'hampered by the fact' that Hamas and other militant groups continue to hold dozens of hostages in Gaza. Since March, Israel has permitted only limited aid deliveries into the Gaza Strip. The resulting shortages of food and water have prompted warnings from UN agencies of 'catastrophic hunger' and imminent famine.