After 13 years of war, an offensive by Syrian opposition groups ousted Bashar al-Assad as Syria’s president in just 11 days. What happened? Who’s running Syria now? And what could happen next? Start Here with Sandra Gathmann explains. This episode features: Wafa Ali Mustafa | Syrian activist and daughter of Ali Mustafa, who was detained … Read more
For over a decade, tens of thousands of people living in Syria would disappear without explanation. They were picked up off the street. Plucked from university classes. Yanked out of stores as they bought groceries, and from taxis on their way home from work. Relatives were never told what had happened — but they knew. … Read more
The port city of Latakia on the Mediterranean Sea came under heavy attack, the BBC reported. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that “Israeli warplanes” had damaged or sunk about 10 Syrian naval vessels and levelled “the Barzeh scientific research center” in the town. That same facility was hit in 2018 by Western countries, … Read more
Years of war and sanctions have left much of the country in ruins. Years of war and sanctions mean Syria is in dire need of reconstruction. Foreign funding is essential, along with political stability so work vital to the country’s future can begin. So how can this be achieved? And who will pay? Presenter: Nick … Read more
Minority Christians in Syria have been living in a state of uneasy anticipation since insurgents headed by the Islamic militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham took control after ousting President Bashar Assad. Mazen Kalash, a resident of Bab Touma, a Christian neighborhood in Damascus, said he wants to know the plans of the new government that … Read more
Israel moves to seize more Syrian land near the Golan Heights after opposition forces topple former President Bashar al-Assad. As former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government falls, Israel seizes more territory in Syria’s Golan Heights. That move tears up a 50-year-old ceasefire agreement. But Israeli far-right ministers say their country’s borders should extend further – … Read more
Advances by opposition fighters raise questions over how Russia, Iran, Turkiye, Arab states and the US will respond. In Syria’s war, Russia, Iran, Turkiye, the United States and Arab states are all backing different factions. After a years-long deadlock, a swift opposition offensive has ushered in a new phase in the conflict. So how will … Read more
Syrian rebels shocked the country with a lightning offensive on its biggest city and the surrounding region starting last week, upending a 13-year-old civil war that had been dormant for several years. By seizing that city, Aleppo, occupying large stretches of the countryside and advancing on the western city of Hama, the rebels have been … Read more
As the Israeli military intensified a days-long barrage of strikes south of Beirut, the Lebanese capital, at least 12 emergency rescue workers were killed on Thursday in a strike on a civil defense center in the northeastern city of Baalbek, the regional governor said. Rescue operations were underway, and the city’s civil defense chief, Bilal … Read more
An Israeli strike on a residential building in the Sayeda Zainab district south of the Syrian capital Damascus killed seven civilians on Sunday, the Syrian defense ministry said, in the second such attack in less than a week. The fatalities included women and children, with 20 people also injured, the ministry said in a … Read more