Red Cross opens hotlines to try to reunite Syrian families
Geneva, Switzerland Reuters The Red Cross said on Friday it had opened two new telephone hotlines to try to reunite Syrians who have been missing for years with their families, but warned that many cases will take months or years to resolve. Since the start of Syria’s civil war over 13 years ago, the International […]
Freed Syrian prisoners return to their ‘death dormitory’
Damascus, Syria Reuters Basim Faiz Mawat stood in the Damascus cell that his fellow prisoners used to call the “death dormitory”, struggling to believe that the system that abused him for so long had been overthrown and his suffering had ended. “I came here today only to see that truly nothing lasts forever,” the 48-year-old […]
Syrians explore Assad family’s massive summer resort for first time
Latakia, Syria Reuters Syrian cyclist Bassel Soufi rode his bike 40 kilometres from the north-western city of Latakia on Friday to visit the Assad family’s private coastal resort as local residents strolled around the compound for the first time in decades. After the family’s brutal 54-year rule and a 13-year civil war, Syrian rebels ousted […]
American pilgrim imprisoned in Assad’s Syria calls his release from prison a “blessing”
Damascus, Syria AP An American who disappeared seven months ago into former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s notorious prison system said early Friday he was released by the “liberators” who arrived in Damascus a day after the longtime ruler fled the capital. Travis Timmerman called his release a “blessing” when he spoke to The Associated Press […]
Syrian Shi’ites and other minorities flee to Lebanon, fearing Islamist rule
Beirut, Lebanon/Nubl, Syria Reuters Tens of thousands of Syrians, mostly Shi’ite Muslims, have fled to Lebanon since Sunni Muslim Islamists toppled Bashar al-Assad, fearing persecution despite assurances from the new rulers in Damascus that they will be safe, a Lebanese official said. At the border with Lebanon, where thousands of people were trying to leave […]
Celebrations…and concerns: After Assad’s ouster, Syrian rebel leader tightens his grip on the state
TIMOUR AZHARI, MAYA GEBEILY, and TOM PERRY, of Reuters, report on moves taking place in Syria following the fall of the Assad regime…
At site of suspected mass killings, Syrians recall horrors, hope for answers
Damascus, Syria Reuters A hip bone in a blown-out building, part of a spine amid some debris, a few foot bones in a worn-out sock. The Tadamon district of Damascus is littered with bones, after what residents and rights groups described as years of killings there under the rule of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. Tadamon became […]
Syria’s new authorities say they’ve secured the release of an American pilgrim imprisoned by Assad
Updated: 11:15am (AEDT) Damascus, Syria AP An American citizen who disappeared seven months ago into former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s notorious prison system was suddenly discovered Thursday outside Damascus after being released and handed over to rebel forces, Syria’s new authorities said. The political affairs office of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebel group that […]
Syrian refugees in Europe fear being forced home after Assad’s fall
Athens, Greece/Berlin, Germany Reuters Najem al-Moussa was delighted when news of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow first beamed from the television in his tiny Athens apartment. Then came a dreaded thought: what if Assad’s fall meant he and his family would be forced to return to the devastated country they had fled nine years before? […]
Sudan again tops International Rescue Committee crises watchlist
United Nations Reuters Sudan – for the second year in a row – topped a 2025 watchlist of global humanitarian crises released by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) aid organisation on Wednesday, followed by Gaza and the West Bank, Myanmar, Syria and South Sudan. The New York-based IRC began the watchlist more than 15 years […]