Sirens blaring, a truckful of armed men trailing in its wake, the black sport utility vehicle that sliced sharklike through the Syrian town of Ashrafieh Sahnaya on Friday morning was impossible to miss. Government forces had retaken control from the armed groups that turned the town into a sectarian battlefield for two days this week,…
The death toll from this week’s outbreak of sectarian violence in Syria has surpassed 100, a war monitoring group said on Thursday after the unrest spread to new areas. The violence erupted on Tuesday in the city of Jaramana after an audio clip circulated on social media purporting to be of a cleric from the…
In the Syrian capital, Damascus, the country’s new leader has hosted a national unity conference and welcomed foreign dignitaries as crowds gather at cafes, speaking out freely for the first time in decades. But 400 miles away in northeastern Syria, a region beyond the control of the Damascus government, battles that have been going on…
Sharief al-Homsi shivered, clutched his arms and pretended to go through Syrian regime withdrawal. Standing before an audience in Damascus, he was telling a joke that would have been unthinkable until just a few weeks before, when President Bashar al-Assad was suddenly ousted after more than five decades of his family’s oppressive rule. “We need…
Syria’s interim government is bringing together people from the country’s many religions and sects for a two-day national dialogue that began on Monday. What is the national dialogue? Ahmed al-Shara, the country’s interim president, whose rebel coalition seized control of Syria in early December, promised to hold a national dialogue to discuss the formation of…
A Trump administration envoy to the Middle East pressed Lebanon’s new leaders on Friday to ensure that Hezbollah does not become part of the government, as it grapples with a fragile cease-fire and violence that could undermine its push for stability. The United States deputy envoy to the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus, said at a…
Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Shara, is expected to discuss the future of Syria-Turkey relations on Tuesday during a meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. The meeting in the Turkish capital, Ankara, will be Mr. Erdogan’s first with Mr. al-Shara, the rebel leader who led the opposition offensive that toppled Syria’s former autocratic leader,…
Syria’s newly appointed interim president, Ahmed al-Shara, arrived in Saudi Arabia on Sunday for his first foreign trip since his rebel coalition ousted longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad. Mr. al-Shara landed in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, early on Sunday afternoon. He is expected to stay in Saudi Arabia for two days and meet with the oil-rich…
Soon after Islamist rebels overthrew the authoritarian president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, a hashtag gathered steam on Egyptian social media: “It’s your turn, dictator.” The message for President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt was unmistakable. But he hardly needed the warning. Since the ouster of Syria’s longtime dictator on Dec. 8, Egyptian leaders have watched…
The rebel coalition that seized control of Syria last month appointed its leader, Ahmed al-Shara, as president of the country to preside over a transitional period, Syrian state media reported on Wednesday. A spokesman for the coalition, Col. Hassan Abdel Ghani, also declared that the Constitution had been nullified and the legislature and army formed…