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Syrian conflict

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives at the General Assembly to listen Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech at the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Turkey, on August 15, 2024. Photo: Reuters
Middle East

Turkey, Russia resume patrols in Syria as Ankara seeks reconciliation with Syria

Ankara seeks to reconcile with Assad after nearly a year’s break in Turkey and Russia’s joint patrols on the Syrian side of the border.

Britain

Former ‘IS bride’, Shamima Begum, loses UK citizenship removal appeal bid

Israel-Gaza war

Hezbollah says it attacked 9 Israeli military sites with rockets, drones

Middle East

‘Israel will be punished’: Iran supreme leader vows revenge for Syria strike

The strike on the Iranian embassy annex in Damascus killed seven Revolutionary Guards, including two commanders of its Quds Force foreign operations arm.

Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed revenge on Israel for an airstrike that killed two of its top generals at the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus, Syria. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/via AP
Terrorism

19 truffle hunters in Syria killed by landmine blast

The blast that hit the vehicle of the truffle searchers happened in a desert area known as a hideout for jihadists.

Britain

UK born ‘IS bride’ loses appeal against removal of citizenship

The British government took away Shamima Begum’s citizenship on national security grounds in 2019, shortly after she was found in a detention camp in Syria.

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Middle East

Opinion | In the Middle East, Biden’s ‘little carrot, no stick’ approach isn’t working

The US president’s aggressive regional shuttle diplomacy will not yield dividends without firmer defence measures. Biden’s reluctance to act forcefully in the region is sending the wrong message to rogue actors globally.

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The crew enter a Bradley fighting vehicle at a US military base at an undisclosed location in northeastern Syria on November 11, 2019. Photo: AP
United States

My Take | Joe Biden is trying to get us all killed

While it’s unclear whether Iran can be blamed for the drone killing of three US soldiers, it’s American decision makers like the president who put them in harm’s way in the first place.

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War and conflict

Turkey hits Kurdish targets in Iraq and Syria after 9 soldiers were killed

The strikes hit targets such as caves and bunkers, and ‘many’ militants were ‘neutralised’, Turkey’s defence ministry says.

Israel-Gaza war

Opinion | World peace cannot be held hostage to the UN Security Council’s veto whims

Since September 11, the UN Security Council has been repeatedly paralysed by the willingness of its permanent members to act unilaterally to protect their national interests. Why do questions of war and peace still rest almost entirely on the veto power of the five permanent members of the Security Council?

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
United States

US retaliates in Iraq with strikes on 3 sites used by Iran-backed militias

The strikes were in response to attacks against US troops in Iraq and Syria by the militias, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin says.

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US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin III at the Pentagon on September 1, 2021. The US carried out strikes on three sites used by Iran-backed forces in Iraq on Monday after an attack wounded American troops earlier in the day. Photo: AFP
Israel-Gaza war

Opinion | After a hot 2023 – from wars to the weather – may 2024 be cooler

It has been a hot year in too many ways, with temperatures rising and wars unfolding, and a good deal of hypocrisy in evidence.

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Middle East

Top UN court orders Syria to stop torture programme that killed thousands

The International Court of Justice also ruled that the country must preserve and prevent the destruction of all evidence relating to torture.

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Middle East

France issues ‘historic’ arrest warrant for Syria’s Assad for war crimes

The president is accused of complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes over sarin gas attacks in 2013.

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gives a speech at Al-Othman Mosque in Damascus in December 2020. Photo: Syrian Presidency via AFP
Middle East

‘Don’t bother screaming’: gay Syrian refugees face rising hostility in Lebanon

Lebanon was the first Arab country to hold a gay Pride week – in 2017 – and was a safe haven for the LGBTQ community in the Middle East, but this is changing.

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A gay pride flag bearing the cedar tree in the middle of it is carried by human rights activists during an anti-homophobia rally in Beirut on April 30, 2013. Lebanese homosexuals, human rights activists and members from the NGO Helem (the Arabic acronym of “Lebanese Protection for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders”) rallied to condemn the arrest on the weekend of three gay men and one transgender civilian in the town of Dekwaneh east of Beirut at a nightclub who were allegedly verbally and sexually harassed at the municipality headquarters. AFP PHOTO/JOSEPH EID (Photo by Joseph EID / AFP)
War and conflict

Outside In | Israel-Gaza war is just one example of how conflict is the biggest driver of world hunger

Almost all of the world’s worst food crises are the products of or worsened by war – from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sudan and Somalia, to Syria, Yemen and now, Gaza.

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Israel

Israel’s Russia ties under strain as it fights Iran proxies in Syria

A shift in Israeli policy means it no longer always warns Syria’s patron Russia in advance of attacks on Syrian territory.

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US-Iran tensions

Joe Biden warns Iran against targeting US troops in the Middle East

The US president sent a rare message to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warning Tehran against targeting US personnel in the Middle East after a spate of attacks on American forces in the region.

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US President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington o Wednesday. Photo: Reuters
Britain

British-born Islamic State bride appeals UK citizenship removal

The British government took away Shamima Begum’s citizenship on national security grounds in 2019, shortly after she was found in a detention camp in Syria.

Islamic State

Alleged ISIS ‘Beatle’ admits to terrorism charges

Aine Davis pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm contrary to Section 57 of the Terrorism Act 2000, and two charges of funding terrorism between 2013 and 2014.

Middle East

Drone attack kills 80 at a packed Syria military graduation ceremony

Civilians and military personnel were among those killed in the attack by drones laden with explosives.

Syrian Health Minister Hassan al-Ghabash (centre) visits a wounded victim of the drone attack. Photo: SANA via EPA-EFE
Diplomacy

Syrian first lady thanks China for support, halting plans ‘still being hatched’

During a visit to Beijing Foreign Studies University, Asma al-Assad lauds cultural links, praises China’s ‘amazing’ progress

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Syria’s first lady, Asma al-Assad, accompanies her husband on his first visit to China since the Syrian civil war started in 2011. Photo: EPA-EFE
Syria

Asian Angle | China’s outreach to Syria signals aim to be West’s counterweight in Middle East

The visit by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Hangzhou demonstrates that China wants to play a bigger role in the Middle East despite economic challenges.

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China-Middle East relations

Chinese leader calls for lifting of ‘illegal’ sanctions on Syria

Assad is in Hangzhou for the opening of the event as part of his first visit to China since the start of the Syrian civil war.

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China-Middle East relations

Syrian leader expected to seek China’s support in rebuilding economy: analysts

As Syria’s Bashar al-Assad visits Beijing for first time since start of civil war, observers say economic crisis and political reconciliation will top agenda in talks with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as China seeks bigger role in Middle East.

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s trip to China will include stops in Beijing and the eastern city of Hangzhou, where the Asian Games will open on Friday. Photo: AFP
Middle East

Syria’s Assad to head to China as Beijing boosts its reach in the Middle East

China has been one of the president’s main backers in the Syrian conflict and could eventually play a major role in the country’s reconstruction

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Syrian President Bashar Assad waves to his supporters in the town of Douma, near the Syrian capital Damascus, in May 2021. Photo: AP
Middle East

Jihadists kill, injure Syrian soldiers in tunnel attack

The al-Qaida-allied group detonated tunnels they had dug beneath army positions and simultaneously launched an assault from other tunnels, rights group said.

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United States

Pakistani doctor who sought to support Isis gets 18 years in US prison

Former Mayo Clinic researcher Muhammad Masood, who was arrested by the FBI in 2020, pleaded guilty a year ago in Minnesota to attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation.

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Syrian conflict
The Syrian conflict is the deadliest conflict of the 21st century to date. In 2011, protests erupted in Syria after 15 boys were detained and tortured for having written graffiti in support of the Arab Spring. One of the boys, was killed after having been brutally tortured. The Syrian government, led by President Bashar al-Assad, responded to the protests by killing hundreds of demonstrators and imprisoning many more. In July 2011, defectors from the military announced the formation of the Free Syrian Army, a rebel group aiming to overthrow the government, and civil war began.
last updated:
9 September, 2024
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