About: Syria
EU urges ‘not to give up on Syria’ amid Russia’s war on Ukraine
The Syrian humanitarian crisis remains among the EU’s top priorities, the bloc's chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, said at the sixth pledging conference for the war-torn Middle-Eastern country in Brussels on Tuesday (10 May).
Russian troops ill-prepared for Ukraine war, says ex-Wagner mercenary
The Russian military's failure to seize the Ukrainian capital was inevitable because in the preceding years they had never directly faced a powerful enemy, according to a former mercenary with the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group who fought alongside the Russian army.
Palestine refugee agency could ‘implode’, UN warns
The collapse of the international agency responsible for Palestinian refugees due to chronic underfunding by UN countries could lead to unpredictable consequences in an already unstable region, experts and officials warn.
As Ukraine invasion drags on, Putin says Russia to use Middle East volunteer fighters
Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the green light on Friday (11 March) for up to 16,000 volunteers from the Middle East to be deployed alongside Russian-backed rebels to fight in Ukraine, doubling down an invasion that the West says has...
Turkey’s opposition leader looks to emerge from Erdogan’s shadow
A veteran Turkish politician who has struggled for years to have Erdoğan voted out of office says that his dream is drawing nearer, even as doubts remain whether he will be the main opposition candidate at the 2023 presidential elections.
EU asylum demands up as more Afghans flee
Requests for asylum in Europe hit a five-year high in September, with Afghans in particular seeking safety after the Taliban stormed to power in Kabul.
French delegation calls for ’emergency’ repatriation of children in Syria as winter nears
France and the EU should help organise “emergency” repatriation of French and other European women and children stuck in Syria before winter sets in, a French delegation said upon return from a mission to northeast Syria, where they met with Kurdish authorities.
US, Russian military chiefs meet in Helsinki for six hours
The top US military officers from United States and Russia held six hours of talks in Helsinki, in the first face-to-face meeting between them since 2019 as both nations adjust to the US pullout and Taliban takeover in Afghanistan.Putin meets Assad, takes swipe at US and Turkish forces in Syria
Russian President Vladimir Putin received his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad for the first time since 2018 and criticised foreign forces that are in Syria without permission or a UN mandate - a rebuke of the United States and Turkey.
Pogroms attest of growing anti-Syrian sentiments in Turkey
Turkish police detained dozens of people on Thursday (12 August) after a mob of angry men smashed up shops and cars believed to belong to Syrian migrants in the capital Ankara.
Undeclared conflict? America’s battles with Iran-backed militia escalate
US President Joe Biden’s latest strikes against Iran-backed militia in Syria and Iraq were not the first nor likely the last of his young presidency.
EU presses Turkey to maintain calm hoping for better ties
EU leaders on Thursday (24 June) pressed Turkey to keep de-escalating tensions with the bloc as they eyed improving ties with Ankara after a spike in tensions last year over the eastern Mediterranean.
Biden suggests ‘autocrat’ Putin’s Russia might be weaker than it seems
US President Joe Biden said that "autocrat" Vladimir Putin was right to say that relations were at their lowest point though he suggested that Russia might be weaker than it seemed and that Moscow had overreached in the Middle East.
War-ravaged Syria heads to polls with Assad set to win
Polling stations opened Wednesday (26 May) across Syria for an election where few doubt that Bashar al-Assad will extend his grip on power for a fourth term, in a war-battered country mired in economic crisis.
Israel retaliates after Syrian missile lands near nuclear reactor
A Syrian surface-to-air missile exploded in southern Israel on Thursday (22 April), the Israeli military said, in an incident that triggered warning sirens in an area near the secretive Dimona nuclear reactor.
EU ministers vow Syria ‘war criminals’ won’t go unpunished
EU foreign ministers insisted Wednesday (31 March) that they would demand "accountability" from Syria's government as well as jihadist and other armed groups over alleged war crimes committed since the 2011 uprising that plunged the nation into civil war.
Foreign fighters: Belgium to repatriate children and some mothers held in Syria
Belgium will repatriate children detained in a Syrian refugee camp to meet a 2019 court order, along with some mothers on a case by case basis, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo said on Thursday (4 March).
Foreign IS fighters in Northeast Syrian camps – a ‘ticking time bomb’ for Europe
Hundreds of women and children, many of them relatives of foreign fighters, are interned in the al-Hawl camp in Northeast Syria and have created “a miniature version of the Islamic State (IS)", which risks becoming a breeding ground and risk for Europe's security.
Putin, extending Russian footprint, approves new naval facility in Sudan
President Vladimir Putin on Monday (16 November) approved the creation of a Russian naval facility in Sudan capable of mooring nuclear-powered surface vessels, clearing the way for Moscow's first substantial military foothold in Africa since the Soviet fall.
Danish company charged with violating EU sanctions on Syria
Denmark’s financial crimes unit on Wednesday announced charges against a Danish company suspected of violating EU sanctions on Syria by delivering large quantities of fuel to Russian warplanes there. The transactions, carried out between 2015 and 2017, amounted to 647...
EU voices concern over UN Syria aid plan
The EU on Sunday (12 June) voiced "deep concern" at a UN move to close an access point for humanitarian aid to war-torn Syria.
We must not forget the legacy of Srebrenica
This week we mark 25 years since the Srebrenica genocide carried out against the Bosnian people during the break-up of Yugoslavia. On 11 July, 1995, Bosnian Serb forces led by General Ratko Mladic and Serbian paramilitary units systematically massacred 8,372 men and boys: each one a mother’s son, a father, husband or loved one, to those left behind. It must not be forgotten, writes Anna Fotyga.
International donors pledge $7.7 billion in aid to Syria
International donors pledged $7.7 billion in aid to face the ongoing humanitarian crisis at a Syrian aid summit co-hosted by the EU and the United Nations on Tuesday (30 June).