Latest Damascus News
Russian government delegation makes first official visit to Syria since Assad's fall
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A delegation of Russian officials arrived in Damascus on Tuesday for the first such visit to Syria since the fall of former President Bashar Assad. Assad, an ally of Moscow, took refuge in Russia after his ouster in December in a lightning rebel offensive. ...
Intelligence sharing by the US and its allies has saved lives. Trump could test those ties
LONDON (AP) — As Russia moved closer to invading Ukraine nearly three years ago, the United States and its allies took the extraordinary step of declassifying and sharing intelligence to expose Moscow’s plans. Information flew across the Atlantic from U.S. spy agencies to NATO...
Syria's economic pains far from over despite Assad's ouster
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Samir al-Baghdad grabbed his pickax and walked up a wobbly set of stairs made of cinderblocks and rubble. He is rebuilding his destroyed family house in the Qaboun neighborhood near Damascus, Syria 's capital. The traditional building, which...
Southern rebels loom large as Syria's new rulers try to form a national army
NAWA, Syria (AP) — As insurgents raced across Syria in a surprise offensive launched in the country's northwest late last year, officials from several countries backing either the rebels or Syria’s government met in Qatar on what to do. According to people briefed on the Dec. 7...
A train station was once the pride of Syria's capital. Some see it as a symbol of revival after war
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A train station in Damascus was once the pride of the Syrian capital, an essential link between Europe and the Arabian Peninsula during the Ottoman Empire and then a national transit hub. But more than a decade of war left it a wasteland of bullet-scarred walls and twisted...
AP PHOTOS: Scrawled on walls of Assad's prisons, graffiti express fears, loves of tormented Syrians
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Languishing in a dungeon cell of Syria’s then-ruler Bashar Assad, an unknown prisoner scrawled a verse of Arabic poetry on his cell wall — an expression of pain and love amid his torment. “My country, even if it oppresses me, is dear. My people, even if...
Middle East latest: Netanyahu says deal to return hostages from Gaza reached after last snags
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that a deal to return hostages held in the Gaza Strip has been reached. The announcement came a day after Netanyahu’s office said there were last minute snags in talks to free hostages in return for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of...
Syrian intelligence agency says it thwarted a planned Islamic State attack on a Shiite shrine
DAMASCUS (AP) — Intelligence officials in Syria's new de facto government thwarted a plan by the Islamic State group to set off a bomb at a Shiite shrine in the Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab, state media reported Saturday. State news agency SANA reported, citing an unnamed...
Syrians celebrate a month since Assad’s overthrow with revolutionary songs in Damascus
DAMASCUS (AP) — A packed concert hall in Damascus came alive this week with cheers as Wasfi Maasarani, a renowned singer and symbol of the Syrian uprising, performed in celebration of “Syria’s victory." The concert Wednesday marked Maasarani’s return to Syria after 13 years...
