Islamic State militants accompanied by relatives surrendered to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) by the hundreds on Thursday as the jihadists lost ground to a U.S.-backed assault aimed seizing the last shred of IS territory, the SDF said.Here's The Full Story…
Rebels who have fought to topple President Bashar al-Assad for eight years are now largely confined to the enclave in the northwest near the Turkish border. Around 4 million people now live there, including hundreds of thousands of opponents of Assad who fled there from other parts of the country.Here's The Full Story…
Islamic State faces defeat in Baghouz, the only remaining patch of land it still holds in the area straddling Iraq and Syria where it declared a caliphate in 2014, although it still has control in a few remote areas.Here's The Full Story…
“President Putin and I also agreed on a shared goal – the removal from Syria of the foreign forces that came in after the civil war erupted,” Benjamin Netanyahu told the Israeli cabinet in broadcast remarks. “We agreed to set up a joint task force which, together with others, will work to advance towards this goal.” Read more.Here's The Full Story…
“We expect it to be over soon,” Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said. Read more.Here's The Full Story…
A joint statement released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Wednesday urged “the United States, whose military units are on Syrian territory illegally, to leave the country.” Read more.Here's The Full Story…
“We have experience in combining ceasefire agreements, safety measures and the creation of de-escalation zones with the roll-out of Russian military police,” Lavrov was cited as saying. Read more.Here's The Full Story…
“Tens of thousands have already returned to Syria, and are now living normal lives. Why do some people in Lebanon are standing against the return of displaced people?” Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said. Read more.Here's The Full Story…
The village is all that remains for Islamic State in the Euphrates valley region that became its final populated stronghold in Iraq and Syria after it lost the major cities of Mosul and Raqqa in 2017. Read more.Here's The Full Story…
“Autonomy means the partition of Syria. We have no way to partition Syria,” Bouthaina Shaaban, a senior adviser to Assad, flatly rejected the suggestion. Read more.Here's The Full Story…
Geir Pedersen, the fourth Syria mediator after Kofi Annan, Lakhdar Brahimi and Staffan de Mistura, said he also had ideas about how to build trust and confidence between the two sides, who have previously attended nine rounds of largely fruitless talks as the war rumbled on. Read more.Here's The Full Story…
“The question of the presence of a military contingent acting on the authority of a third country on the territory of a sovereign country and especially Syria must be decided directly by Damascus,” Maria Zakharova said in answer to a question about the Turkish safe zone plan. “That’s our base position.”Here's The Full Story…
Hundreds fled day and night from Baghouz, near the enclave where diehard IS fighters are making their last stand, as plumes of grey smoke billowed into the sky over the flat, desolate town.Here's The Full Story…
“The enemy is fully entrenched and ISIS fighters continue to conduct counter attacks,” said coalition spokesman Colonel Sean Ryan in an email, adding it was “too early for a timetable” on when the operation might end.Here's The Full Story…
Tiny Lebanon has been host to more than a million refugees from neighboring Syria since the civil war there began in 2011, though some have returned as fighting has eased in more and more areas of the country.Here's The Full Story…
Russia, an important Syrian government ally, and Turkey brokered a deal in September to create a demilitarised zone in the northwest Idlib region that would be evacuated of all heavy weapons and jihadist fighters.Here's The Full Story…
“The battle will be launched this evening and its mission will be to eliminate the last remnants of the terrorist organisation,” Mustafa Bali, the head of the SDF media office, said, describing it as the “last battle”.Here's The Full Story…