Archives for December, 2024

OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

As rebels advance south, how much trouble is Syria's Assad in?

Syrian rebel groups have taken Aleppo and Hama and moving south to Homs, inching closer to Damascus in an urgent threat to the Assad regime.

Rosaleen Carroll

By Rosaleen Carroll

In Washington, DC, US, reporting on the Middle East

Bpifrance, Saudi PIF sign $10B financing agreement

The five-year agreement will increase collaboration between PIF and Bpifrance Assurance Export, focusing on projects to support Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia’s plan to diversify the economy away from reliance on oil.

Syria's Christian community has dwindled since the start of the civil war in 2011

Islamist rebels seek to assure Christians in Syria's Aleppo

Agence France-Presse

People check the damage outside the Kamal Adwan hospital in north Gaza's Beit Lahia following a reported Israeli raid

North Gaza air strikes bring chaos to nearby hospital

Agence France-Presse

Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein welcomes his Syrian counterpart Bassam al-Sabbagh ahead of a meeting in Baghdad

Iraq PM says keeping up diplomacy to 'contain crisis' in Syria

Agence France-Presse

Syrian anti-government fighters celebrate as they pour into the captured city of Hama, Dec. 6, 2024.

Analysis

Israel cheers disintegration of Iran axis, mulls collapse of Assad's Syria

While pleased about the seeming collapse of the Iran-led "axis of resistance," Israeli leaders are concerned about its speed and Syria's possible disintegration.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Rebel bullets riddle a portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on the facade of city hall in Hama.

Syria govt loses control of key city Daraa

Agence France-Presse

ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP via Getty Images

Top Senate Republican urges Trump to sanction Sudan’s Hemedti over war conduct

The United States and the United Nations found that the Rapid Support Forces under Hemedti have committed war crimes including sexual violence and mass killings.

A general view shows warships docked at Hamad Port during the Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition & Conference (DIMDEX), in the Qatari capital Doha on March 20, 2022.

Analysis

As Qatar looks to modernize navy, Turkey and Italy emerge as dominant players

Qatar's navy ambitions are broad and impressive, but can they be sustained?

Francesco Schiavi

By Francesco Schiavi

In Bologna, reporting on security, defense, economy, governance

Palestinian professor Ahmed Abu Shaban, here giving a lecture at York University in Toronto, still tries to deliver remote learning to students stuck in Gaza

From Canada, professor tries to keep Gaza university 'alive'

Agence France-Presse

US soldiers inspect the site of reported Turkish shelling days earlier on an oil extraction facility on the outskirts of Rumaylan, in Syria's Kurdish-controlled northeastern Hasakeh province on Oct. 28, 2024.

Three US troops in Syria evaluated for brain injuries after Deir ez-Zor incident

It remains unclear whether the injured American troops were involved in supporting a nearby effort by US-backed militia to oust pro-Assad forces from local villages east of the Euphrates River.

This combination of file photographs created on July 7, 2024, shows Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) in Ankara on May 29, 2023, and Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on July 16, 2023.

Turkey’s Erdogan ups rhetoric, says Assad must ‘urgently engage' with rebels

Erdogan is urging the Syrian government to urgently launch a dialogue with rebels in a bid to end the civil war after insurgents captured Hama.

YPJ Commander in Chief Rojhelat Afrin pictured at YPJ headquarters near Al-Hasakh with YPJ spokesperson Heval Roksana and YPJ Field Commander Heval Kurdistan, Nov. 23, 204.

Interview

US-allied Syrian Kurdish woman commander: ISIS poised to carry 'fight to new level'

As Islamic State militants reportedly made advances in Syria on Thursday, the commander in chief of the Women’s Protection Units warned in an exclusive interview that the group’s plans included taking “over entire villages.”

Rojhelat Afrin

Rojhelat Afrin

Women’s Protection Units Commander in Chief

An anti-government fighter covers his ears as a multi-barrel rocket launcher fires against regime forces, in the northern outskirts of Syria's west-central city of Hama on Dec. 4, 2024.

Analysis

Rebel offensive to force Syria onto Trump’s agenda

With just over a month before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, Syria’s forgotten war has reignited.

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

An Israeli strike on the Al-Mawasi camp in southern Gaza sent residents into a panic Wednesday night

Bereaved Gazans clear shelter remains after deadly camp bombing

Agence France-Presse

picture taken at the entrance of the Kweyris military airfield in the eastern part of Aleppo province, on Dec. 3, 2024, shows a portrait of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

Syrian rebels take control of Hama in major blow to Assad

Government and rebel forces had been fighting over the strategic city for days after the latter seized Aleppo.