Latest Syria government News
Middle East latest: Israeli military orders another Gaza evacuation ahead of an offensive
The Israeli military on Wednesday ordered another evacuation in central Gaza ahead of an offensive in the area, even as Israel and the militant group Hamas appeared to inch closer to a ceasefire in the 14-month war. “This is an advance warning ahead of an offensive,” Israeli...
AP PHOTOS: Majdal Shams, Israeli-controlled home to the Druze, perches uneasily at the edge of war
MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights (AP) — High in the mountains of the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, the town of Majdal Shams is home to members of one of the Middle East’s most insular religious minorities: the Druze. With its roots in 10th century Ismailism, a branch of Shiite...
Israel's borders have shifted throughout its history. Action in Syria may reshape them again
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, entered Syrian territory Tuesday and said Israeli troops would remain in the area indefinitely, blurring the border with its northern neighbor. Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has never had fully recognized...
Middle East latest: Israel plans an extended occupation of Syrian buffer zone
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli troops will occupy a buffer zone inside Syria for the foreseeable future. Israel’s recent capture of the buffer zone has sparked condemnation, with critics accusing Israel of violating the 1974 ceasefire and possibly exploiting the chaos in...
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...
Netanyahu says Israeli troops will occupy a buffer zone inside Syria for the foreseeable future
JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israeli forces will stay in a buffer zone on the Syrian border, seized after the ouster of Syria's President Bashar Assad, until another arrangement is in place “that ensures Israel's security.” Netanyahu made...
Greek authorities rescue 23 people near Lesbos and warn pressure on migration routes is rising
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities say 23 migrants were rescued from a dinghy near the island of Lesbos in the eastern Aegean Sea on Tuesday. Rescue teams also recovered two more bodies after a boat carrying migrants sank off of Gavdos over the weekend, bringing the death toll to seven. ...
Middle East latest: Assad says he wanted to stay in Syria but Russia evacuated him
Ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad says he had no plans to leave the country after the fall of Damascus a week ago but the Russian military evacuated him from their base in western Syria after it came under attack. “I did not leave the country as part of a plan as it was reported...
Russian presence in Syria remains. But it's unclear for how long
HMEIMIM, Syria (AP) — A convoy of Russian military vehicles rolled down the highway towards the Syrian city of Tartus on Monday as soldiers stood guard. Planes periodically descended and rose from Russia’s Hmeimim air base in the Syrian coastal province of Latakia while smoke...
Syria's ousted leader Bashar Assad says he wanted to keep fighting but Russians evacuated him
DAMASCUS (AP) — Ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad said in a statement Monday he wanted to stay in the country after rebels captured the capital Damascus a week ago, but the Russian military evacuated him from their base in western Syria after it came under attack. The comments...
