syria

Defying Damascus, Sweida’s Druze Fight A Struggle To Survive

Defying Damascus, Sweida’s Druze Fight A Struggle To Survive

September 13, 2025 6:41 am

In the heart of southern Syria, the Druze community of Sweida has found itself at the center of a deadly confrontation with the Damascus government, driven by demands for self-determination and survival.

“The people of Sweida feel betrayed and abandoned by the majority of Syrians at the worst time in our history,” one resident told reporters anonymously, citing fear for his family’s safety. He called on Syrians to reject sectarianism and to resist the government’s grip, insisting that the Druze will never accept extremist figures or groups like Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

The violence that swept through Sweida in mid-July …

UN Says Syria ‘Deeply Fragile’ As Humanitarian Needs Rise

UN Says Syria ‘Deeply Fragile’ As Humanitarian Needs Rise

August 21, 2025 4:36 pm

The United Nations warned Thursday that Syria remains “deeply fragile” despite a recent period of relative calm, urging the Security Council to step up efforts toward peace, accountability, and humanitarian support.

“As we meet, Syrians in Damascus and elsewhere, inside and outside Syria, are marking the somber anniversary of the Ghouta chemical weapons attack of 2013,” UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen told the Council. “It is a painful reminder of the suffering endured by Syrian civilians, and of the grave abuses and violations of international law that must never be repeated.”

Pedersen emphasized renewed diplomacy and respect for …

13 Reported Dead In Two Days Of Syria Rebel Clashes

13 Reported Dead In Two Days Of Syria Rebel Clashes

October 12, 2022 9:26 pm

Fresh reports reaching the desk of Africa Daily News, New York has revealed that up to thirteen people who are mostly fighters have been found to have been murdered in the two days of ongoing clashes between some of the rival factions competing for power in northwest Syria, a war monitor said Wednesday.

The terrible fighting between the two pro-Turkish Syrian rebel groups began in the town of Al-Bab in northern Aleppo province before spreading to other areas and drawing in other factions, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Read Also: Russia Lashes Out At Continued Israeli Strikes

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Russia Lashes Out At Continued Israeli Strikes On Syria

Russia Lashes Out At Continued Israeli Strikes On Syria

September 5, 2022 5:45 am

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has announced that Moscow condemns in strong terms as unacceptable the ongoing Israeli attacks on Syria that could result in a significant military escalation.

‘We consider similar irresponsible moves by Israel to be absolutely inadmissible. We resolutely condemn them,’ Zakharova emphasised.

The Russian diplomat also claimed that the Israeli strikes are a flagrant violation of Syrian sovereignty and fundamental principles of international law.

‘We believe that such a vicious practice in no way contributes to reducing security risks for Israel itself. On the contrary, destabilising acts of force may provoke retaliatory moves and lead …

Landmine Explosion Kills Eleven In Syria

Landmine Explosion Kills Eleven In Syria

June 12, 2022 3:07 am

No fewer than eleven people were killed and dozens left wounded when their pick-up truck ran over a landmine near Syria’s southern city of Daraa, a war monitor disclosed on Sunday.

‘Eleven people, including five children under 16 and three women, were killed and around 34 people were injured’ in the explosion, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, adding that some were in critical condition.

Most of the victims were labourers harvesting wheat, Syria’s official SANA news agency disclosed.

The latest toll brings to 124 the total number of people killed by explosive remnants since the beginning of 2022, …

Deadly Clashes In Syria’s Daraa Claims 16 Lives

Deadly Clashes In Syria’s Daraa Claims 16 Lives

July 30, 2021 3:10 am

No fewer than 13 combatants and three civilians were killed on Thursday in Syria’s southern province of Daraa during the fiercest clashes there since the area came under regime control, a war monitor has revealed.

The Russian-backed Syrian army and allied forces recaptured Daraa from rebels in 2018, a symbolic blow to the anti-government uprising born there in 2011.

State institutions have returned, but the army still hasn’t deployed across the whole province, and tit-for-tat bombings and assassinations between former opposition figures and regime forces have since become routine.

Read Also: At Least 12 Soldiers Killed In Militant Ambush In

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Isolated Over Iran, US Vetoes UN Resolution On Foreign Terrorists

Syrian Talks Resume Despite COVID-19 Cases – UN

August 27, 2020 5:17 pm

UN-backed talks on a new constitution for Syria resumed in Geneva on Thursday after Swiss health authorities gave the green light despite four delegates testing positive for Covid-19.

The discussions, aimed at rewriting the war-torn country’s constitution, were put on hold almost as soon as they started on Monday when the test results came through.

UN envoy Geir Pedersen, who is moderating the tentative talks between representatives of President Bashar al-Assad’s government, the opposition and civil society, has voiced hope they could pave the way towards a broader political process.

His office said in a statement that “following additional testing …

war Syria's Brutal War Enters 10th Year

Syria’s Brutal War Enters 10th Year

March 15, 2020 5:31 pm

Syria’s brutal conflict enters its 10th year Sunday with President Bashar al-Assad’s regime consolidating its hold over a war-wracked country with a decimated economy where foreign powers flex their muscle.

When Syrians took to the streets on March 15, 2011, they could scarcely have imagined their anti-government protests would turn into a complex war entangling rebels, jihadists and outside forces.

At least 384,000 people have since died, including more than 116,000 civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Saturday.

The conflict has displaced more than 11 million people internally and abroad.

“Nine years of revolution illustrate the …

Russia

Killings: US, UK, France, Others Attack Russia, Syria

February 29, 2020 1:10 pm
Russia and Syria are under fire from western countries in the UN Security Council over the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers in Syria on Thursday.

The soldiers died in an attack by Russia-backed Syrian government forces in the northwestern province of Idlib.

At an emergency meeting of the council in New York on Friday, the United Kingdom, United States, France, Germany, Belgium and Estonia condemned the attack.

Dominican Republic, Indonesia, South Africa, Vietnam, Tunisia and Niger demanded immediate ceasefire.

U.S. ambassador, Kelly Craft, described the attack as senseless and barbaric, adding that Turkey had America’s support to “respond in self-defence’’.

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Russia

Turkey, Russia Trade Accusations As Syria Tensions Rise

February 12, 2020 5:14 pm

Turkey’s president accused Russia of committing “massacres” in its support of the Syrian government on Wednesday, escalating a war of words as more Turkish reinforcements arrived on the ground.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to strike Syrian regime forces “everywhere” if its soldiers come under renewed attack, but Russia hit back and accused the Turks of failing to “neutralise terrorists” in the northwestern province of Idlib.

Turkey has shored up its positions in recent days in Idlib — the last rebel bastion in Syria — with hundreds of vehicles carrying artillery and soldiers.

And a new convoy of Turkish armoured vehicles

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Plane Crash: 172 Escape Death As Russia Accuses Israel

February 7, 2020 2:18 pm

A plane carrying 172 passengers from Tehran, the Iranian capital, to Damascus has made an emergency landing at the Hmeimim Air Base in Syria.

Russia said on Friday that the plane came under fire from Syrian air defences.

The Spokesperson of the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov told Interfax that the Syrian forces were retaliating Israeli strikes on targets in Syria.

This is exactly one month after a passenger plane belonging to Ukraine crashed shortly after take-off from Tehran.

The incident claimed the lives of all 176 passengers on board with Iran later claiming to have shut down the

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US Hits Pro-Iran Group With Deadly Strikes In Iraq, Syria

December 30, 2019 4:58 pm

The US has carried out air strikes against a pro-Iran militant group in Iraq, killing 19 fighters, two days after a rocket attack that killed an American civilian contractor.

The Pentagon said on Sunday it targeted weapons caches or command and control facilities linked to Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH) in Western Iraq, as well as Eastern Syria, in response to a barrage of 30 or more rockets fired on Friday.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said “we will not stand for the Islamic Republic of Iran to take actions that put American men and women in jeopardy”.

Four US service members …

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𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬, 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐘𝐨𝐫𝐤, is a nonpartisan online news portal founded on the truth to provide you with weekly, insightful articles written with precision and current updates on current events from Africa in particular and the rest of the world in general. All of our reports undergo extensive fact-checking to ensure their veracity, and we adhere strictly to the facts, no matter whose ox is gored.

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