Syria is “unlikely” to meet a December 31 deadline to move its most dangerous chemical arms out of the country, the United Nations acknowledged for the first time Saturday. The UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said…
Browsing: Syria
Syrian artists have turned to black humour to depict the brutal war devastating their country as they marked on Wednesday the third Christmas since the deadly conflict erupted. Their works posted on the Internet reflect the tragedy that has struck Syria…
UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi held fresh talks Friday to pave the way to a January peace conference between Syria’s government and rebels, amid wrangling over who will be at the table. Brahimi and senior US and Russian officials met behind closed…
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned Friday that his Lebanese Shiite movement will “punish” Israel for the killing of a top leader earlier this month. “The killers will be punished sooner or later… Those who killed our brothers will not know safety…
The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday slammed rights abuses in Syria, whose UN envoy launched a furious onslaught against Saudi Arabia for pressing the initiative. A resolution that has become an annual event since the start of Syria’s civil…
Syria said Wednesday that a British doctor alleged to have been effectively murdered in custody had hanged himself after being arrested for “unauthorised activities.” Regime warplanes meanwhile pounded Aleppo for a fourth straight day in raids that…
Fighters in Somalia shot dead three Syrian doctors and their three Somali colleagues Wednesday as they travelled to a hospital outside the capital Mogadishu, an AFP reporter said. Their bullet-riddled bodies were carried into Mogadishu’s Medina hospital…
At least 25 people, including 14 children, were killed in regime air raids on rebel districts of the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. They were killed when regime forces unleashed an aerial attack using…
The first UN aid flight from Iraq landed in northeastern Syria on Sunday with badly needed supplies, after a winter storm delayed it for several days, the United Nations said. UN aid agencies have “started airlifting urgently needed humanitarian aid…
A Danish and a Norwegian frigate are anchored in the Cypriot port of Limassol awaiting orders to sail for Syria and help collect part of the regime’s deadly chemical arsenal. When the call comes, they will escort two cargo ships — one from each country…
A ship, two portable treatment plants and less than 90 days: that’s the plan the Pentagon unveiled Thursday to destroy “hundreds of tons” of Syria’s most dangerous chemical weapons. After Albania refused to destroy the lethal “priority 1” chemical agents…
Fighters linked to Al-Qaeda executed an Iraqi freelance cameraman as he was leaving Syria after a 10-day assignment in rebel-held territory, watchdogs said on Thursday. Yasser Faysal al-Joumaili was shot dead after being stopped at a checkpoint in mainly…
Hezbollah on Wednesday blamed Israel for murdering one of its top leaders near Beirut at a time of soaring tensions in Lebanon linked to the war in neighbouring Syria. The dead man, identified as Hassan Hawlo al-Lakiss, was the group’s most senior figure…
Pope Francis on Wednesday called for prayers for a group of nuns seized from their convent in Syria and for all hostages held in the war-torn country. “I invite you all to pray for the nuns of the Greek Orthodox convent of St Takla of Maalula in Syria…
A suicide bomber blew himself up in central Damascus on Tuesday, causing deaths and injuries, Syrian state television reported, with a monitoring group saying at least two people were killed. “A terrorist suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt blew…
Lebanese authorities decided Monday to place Tripoli under army control for six months after a wave of sectarian killings linked to Syria’s war left 11 dead in the main northern city. The decision was taken at a meeting between President Michel Sleiman…
The US military has begun outfitting a ship with special equipment that will be used to destroy part of Syria’s chemical arsenal, the Pentagon said Monday. A hydrolysis unit is being installed on the MV Cape Ray, a 650-foot (200 meters) cargo ship,…
Syrian rebels, including jihadist groups, have captured the historic Christian town of Maalula north of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday. Rebels assaulted the town by rolling explosive-filled tyres down the hills onto regime…
A least a million Syrians are going hungry, as fighting and checkpoints prevent aid deliveries, the international Red Cross warned on Monday. “A conservative estimate is a million people without food,” said Simon Eccleshall, crisis management chief…
Italian coastguards on Monday rescued around 120 mostly Syrian refugees from a packed fishing boat adrift off the coast of southern Italy in gale-force conditions. Coastguards exploited a brief lull in the weather to rescue the migrants, including some…