Latest Damascus News
Syrian soldiers distance themselves from Assad in return for promised amnesty
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Hundreds of former Syrian soldiers on Saturday reported to the country's new rulers for the first time since Bashar Assad was ousted to answer questions about whether they may have been involved in crimes against civilians in exchange for a promised amnesty and return to...
Middle East latest: Israeli strike in Gaza kills at least 7 people, including 4 kids
An Israeli airstrike on a residential building in central Gaza killed at least seven Palestinians, including four children, and wounded 16 other people Friday afternoon, health officials said. Israel faces heavy international criticism over the unprecedented levels of civilian...
US drops $10M terrorism bounty offered for capture of Syrian rebel leader who ousted Assad
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The Biden administration said Friday it has decided not to pursue a $10 million reward it had offered for the capture of a Syrian rebel leader whose forces led the ouster of President Bashar Assad earlier this month. The announcement followed a meeting in...
AP PHOTOS: Glimpses of horror emerge inside Syria's Saydnaya prison, dubbed 'The Slaughterhouse'
SAYDNAYA, Syria (AP) — Behind the coils of razor wire and concrete walls, glimpses of the horror emerge from the warren of dank, airless corridors of what has been dubbed “The Slaughterhouse.” A coarse, heavy rope lies on the ground, tied into a hangman’s noose. Prosthetic...
Thousands of Syrian doctors work in Germany. It hopes they will stay after Assad's fall
BERLIN (AP) — Thousands of Syrian doctors work in Germany, and the fall of Bashar Assad is raising concern over the potential consequences for the health sector if many of them were to return home. Germany became a leading destination for Syrian refugees over the past decade, and...
Separated for decades, Assad's fall spurs hope for families split by Golan Heights buffer zone
MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights (AP) — The four sisters gathered by the side of the road, craning their necks to peer far beyond the razor wire-reinforced fence snaking across the mountain. One took off her jacket and waved it slowly above her head. In the distance, a tiny white speck...
Middle East latest: Israel orders another Gaza evacuation ahead of an offensive
The Israeli military on Wednesday ordered Palestinians to evacuate another section of central Gaza ahead of an offensive in the built-up Bureij refugee camp, even as Israel and the Hamas appeared to inch closer to a ceasefire in the 14-month war. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said...
Editorial Roundup: United States
Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad: ___ Dec. 12 The Washington Post says Joe Biden shouldn't use preemptive pardons President Joe Biden used his pardon power on Thursday as the Constitution’s framers had...
CNN says its report on a freed Syrian prisoner is not what it initially believed
CNN is acknowledging that a gripping story it aired last week depicting a Syrian man being let free from a Damascus prison after the fall of dictator Bashar Assad's regime was not what it seemed. The network said that it has since found out that the man shown in correspondent...
After Assad's fall, the task of unearthing the dead from Syria's mass graves is just beginning
NAJHA, Syria (AP) — Bones are visible here and there among the mounds of earth in a field south of Damascus, one of the mass graves around Syria believed to hold the bodies of tens of thousands of people killed under Bashar Assad’s rule. With his ouster, residents, forensic teams and...
