Latest news with #SyrianGovernment
Arab News
2 days ago
- General
- Arab News
Syrian president to make first official visit to Kuwait
CAIRO: Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa will make his first official visit to Kuwait on Sunday accompanied by an official delegation. 'Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, accompanied by an official delegation, is due to arrive in Kuwait on Sunday,' read a statement on KUNA News Agency. Earlier this month, sources close to Al-Sharaa have reported that the Syrian president was planning a trip to the gulf state towards the end of May. On his gulf tour, Al-Sharaa had visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. On his trip to Kuwait, the Syrian president will meet the Kuwaiti leadership to discuss ways to boost bilateral relations.
The National
3 days ago
- General
- The National
US flag raised at the official ambassadorial residence in Damascus
Embassy remains closed for now, but the move is a sign of warming relations between Washington and the new Syrian government
Asharq Al-Awsat
4 days ago
- General
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Erdogan Says Kurdish SDF ‘Stalling' Despite Integration Deal with Damascus
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Kurdish-dominated and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were using "stalling tactics" despite an agreement with the new Syrian government for the group's integration into Syrian armed forces. Speaking to reporters on a flight from Azerbaijan, Erdogan repeated Türkiye's position that Syria's unity and territorial integrity must be preserved, saying the SDF-Damascus deal must be implemented in the agreed and planned timeline. "We had said before we welcomed the agreement. But we see that the Syrian Democratic Forces are still continuing their stalling tactics. They must stop this," he was cited as saying by his office on Thursday.
The National
24-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
Damascus and Kurdish-led SDF begin co-ordination on return of Syrians from ISIS-linked camps
Syria's new ruling authorities have begun co-ordinating with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who control the north-east of the country, regarding the return of Syrians held in Al Hol camp for ISIS-linked prisoners and their families, its director Jihan Hanan told The National. On Saturday, a Syrian government delegation visited the Al Hol camp for the first time, paving the way for the first-ever return of detainees. 'Syrians in our camp are from areas under government control, like Idlib, Aleppo, Damascus, and need to return to their homes in co-ordination with the government in Damascus. We're meeting with the delegation to determine a mechanism. Co-ordination between us and them is necessary,' she said. Al Hol is part of a network of camps and prisons run by Kurdish-led authorities in north-east Syria. Earlier in May, US President Donald Trump called on Syrian interim President Ahmad Al Shara to take responsibility for ISIS detention centers in the region. Ms Hanan denied speculation that the visit was related to the handover of the camp to the new Syrian authorities. 'The delegation was here regarding the return of the Syrians, not the handover of the camp,' she said. 'It's a voluntary return, if they want to come back, it will happen through co-ordination with the new authorities.' In March, the Syrian government reached a breakthrough agreement with the SDF to integrate most civilian and military institutions in north-east Syria, including border crossings, the airport, and oil and gas fields, under the control of the new central government. The deal has yet to be implemented. The vast majority of the camp's 37,000 residents are women and children, including nationals from Western countries. Originally established for Iraqi and Syrian civilians fleeing the war against ISIS, the camp's population surged following the the extremist group's defeat in Baghouz in 2019. As a result, it hosts both war displaced and suspected ISIS families. Asked about the mechanism and who would be eligible for return, Mr Haana said the details had yet to be determined. The National visited the sprawling camp in February, where thousands live in dire conditions, further threatened by looming aid cuts. Amid the deteriorating situation, Iraq has also launched a repatriation programme, which it says will be completed by 2027.
The Independent
21-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Militants kill 2 soldiers in attack on Russian air base in Syria
Militants attacked a Russian air base in Syria, killing two soldiers, a Syrian government official and a local activist said Wednesday. They said that the two militants who launched the attack Tuesday on the Hmeimim air base on Syria's coast were also killed. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. The Syrian official said that it was unclear whether the two people killed at the base were Russian soldiers or Syrian contractors. Russia's ministry of defense did not respond to a request for comment. The Syrian government has given no official statement on the incident. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, reported that at least three people were killed in the attack but that it had been unable to determine if they were attackers or Russian forces. It said the attackers were believed to be foreign fighters affiliated with the new Syrian defense forces. The government official said the two militants who were killed were foreign nationals who had worked as military trainers at a naval college that was training members of the new government's military. He said they had acted on their own in attacking the base and were not officially affiliated with any faction. The new Syrian government, which has been trying to build its diplomatic ties, has been under pressure by the United States and other countries to deal with the ranks of foreign Islamist fighters who joined the armed opposition to Assad and who are often seen as having more extreme and fundamentalist views than their Syrian counterparts. The local activist said he had heard clashes in the area around the base, including both gunfire and shelling. Videos shared on social media showed smoke rising from behind a building at the base amid the sound of gunshots. Former Syrian President Bashar Assad, who fell in a lightning rebel offensive in December, was a close ally of Russia. Moscow's scorched-earth intervention in support of Assad once turned the tide of Syria's civil war, and since his ouster, he has been granted asylum in Russia. But the former insurgents leading Syria's transitional government since Assad's fall have maintained relations with Moscow and have not forced a complete exit of Russian military forces from bases in Syria. In March, when clashes between pro-Assad armed groups and the new government security forces spiraled into sectarian attacks on civilians from the Alawite religious minority to which Assad belongs, thousands of Alawite civilians took refuge in the Hmeimim base, many of whom have remained there. On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov publicly condemned what he called 'ethnic cleansing' in Syria but did not mention the reported attack on the air base.
