A new Syrian commercial airline plans to start operating to several Arab cities next month, its chairman told AFP on Thursday, despite the conflict raging in the country. “We hope to operate our first flights in mid-May,” Kinda Airlines chairman Naim…
Browsing: Syria
The number of Syrians registered as refugees in Lebanon after fleeing war in their country has surpassed one million, the UN refugee agency said on Thursday. Refugees from Syria, half of them children, now equal a quarter of Lebanon’s resident population…
More than 150,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011, a monitoring group said in a new toll released on Tuesday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had documented the deaths of 150,344 people, 51,212…
Syrian troops made fresh gains in the strategic Qalamun area near the Lebanese border Saturday, seizing two villages from rebels, a military source told AFP. “The army took control this morning of the villages of Ras al-Maarra and Flita, after bombing…
Syrian rebels seized the Kasab village and border crossing with Turkey Monday, an NGO said, as the regime launched fresh air strikes in a bid to halt the opposition advance. The air raids come a day after a Syrian warplane was shot down by Ankara’…
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday congratulated the military for downing a Syrian warplane near its border and warned of a “heavy” response if its airspace was violated. “Our response from now will be heavy if you violate our airspace…
Syrian rebels seized a strategic hill west of Aleppo after a fierce battle with government troops on Saturday as fighting elsewhere in the north spread across Latakia province, an NGO said. At least 21 pro-government forces and 21 rebels were killed…
At least seven Syrian soldiers and 17 rebels were killed Friday as three Islamist groups battled to take a border crossing into Turkey. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Islamists included the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Nusra Front. “Al-Nusra…
The Pentagon was due to host Saudi Arabia’s deputy defense minister for talks Thursday as the two sides try to smooth over differences on US policy towards Iran and Syria. Prince Salman bin Sultan was scheduled to meet Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel as…
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Muhamad Raslan is no stranger to violence. He has been fighting in the mountains of Idlib with the Free Syrian Army for more than two years. But when his unit overthrew a regime prison in Maart al Numan, he said the conditions of…
TIRANA, Albania — Once branded the world’s first self-declared atheist country, Albania isn’t exactly known as a hotbed for Islamic militants. With the outbreak of the conflict in Syria, however, militant groups have been gaining a small but significant…
Germany said Thursday it had accepted a UN request to destroy remnants of Syria’s chemical weapons on its own soil as part of a bid to eliminate the arsenal by June 30. The foreign and defence ministries said in a joint statement that the move was intended…
A Spanish judge on Tuesday remanded in custody a man suspected of belonging to an Al-Qaeda linked militant group taking part in the Syrian conflict. The judge ordered Abdelwahid Sadik Mohamed, 28, to be held in custody while he is investigated for the…
Syrian rebels in the northern Damascus district of Barzeh on Sunday agreed a local ceasefire with President Bashar al-Assad’s regime after nearly a year of fighting and bombardment, activists said. “After intense negotiation in recent days between the…
Syria’s main opposition National Coalition re-elected Ahmad Jarba as its leader during a general assembly meeting in Istanbul on Sunday, the coalition said in a statement. Jarba won 65 votes, beating his only rival Riad Hijab — the best-known defector…
Jihadists killed at least 31 rival rebels in northern Syria as clashes raged on a new front in the country’s brutal war, a monitor said Sunday, citing insurgents and medics. Fighting flared on Friday between rebels and forces loyal to the Islamic State…
The five Doctors Without Borders (MSF) staffers seized by an unknown group in northern Syria this week are Belgian, Danish, Peruvian, Swedish and Swiss nationals, the humanitarian organisation said Saturday. “We can confirm that our personnel who have…
A newly formed Syrian rebel alliance has declared war on the powerful Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and joined other opposition groups in battling the extremists. “We, the Army of the Mujahideen, pledge to defend ourselves…
Syrian rebels in opposition-held areas were engaged in fierce battles with Al-Qaeda-linked elements Friday in what activists say is growing resistance to the jihadists’ brutal grip in many places. Elsewhere in northern Syria, an unidentified group seized…
Violence in Iraq surged in 2013 to its worst level in five years, fuelled by widespread discontent among the Sunni Arab minority and Syria’s civil war, figures released Wednesday showed. Bombs tore through markets, cafes, football fields and mosques…