An Israeli airstrike hits an area in central Beirut near the Lebanese government headquarters and several embassies

Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — An Israeli airstrike hits an area in central Beirut near the Lebanese government headquarters and several embassies.

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  • The fall of Bashar Assad after 14 years of war in Syria brings to an end a decades-long dynasty

    BEIRUT (AP) — The fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government Sunday brought to a dramatic close his nearly 14-year struggle to hold onto power as his country fragmented amid a brutal civil war that became a proxy battlefield for regional and international powers.

  • Syria’s Assad Is Under Siege and Is Making Overtures to US

    (Bloomberg) -- With Syrian rebels edging ever-closer to the capital, President Bashar Al-Assad is making a last-ditch attempt to remain in power, including indirect diplomatic overtures to the US and President-elect Donald Trump, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation.Most Read from BloombergA Chicago Skyscraper Cements the Legacy of a Visionary Postmodern ArchitectNYC’s Run-Down Bus Terminal Gets Approval for $10 Billion RevampKansas City Looks Back on its Long, Costly Ride

  • Syrian government falls in stunning end to 50-year rule of Assad family

    BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government fell early Sunday in a stunning end to the 50-year rule of the Assad family after a sudden rebel offensive sprinted across government-held territory and entered the capital in 10 days.

  • In Syria, a ruthless dictator is under siege. Will anyone step up to save him?

    Across northern and central Syria this week, families who've been torn apart by more than a decade of civil war have been holding joyous reunions."I didn't believe it, it was very emotional," said Ismail Alabullah, a volunteer with the Syrian NGO the White Helmets, as he described returning to the city of Aleppo for the first time since 2013 and reuniting with his sister."I couldn't believe I was seeing her again," he told CBC News from northern Syria. "I lost my brother, my mother and father ov

  • Opposition fighters reportedly drive Syrian leader from the country. Who are they and what now?

    Syria’s government appears to have fallen after opposition fighters said they entered Damascus following a stunning advance.

  • Rebels enter Syrian third-largest city Homs, says war monitor

    Syrian rebels entered Syria's third city Homs late Saturday, taking control of some districts, according to rebels and a Britain-based observation group. Syria's defence ministry denied the claim. Further south, opposition fighters reached the suburbs of the capital Damascus, extending this week's dramatic lightning offensive. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. This live blog is no longer being updated. For more coverage on the war in the Middle East, click here. Yesterday's key

  • Syria in maps: Where have anti-Assad rebels taken control?

    A visual guide to the latest developments as advancing Syrian fighters set their sights on Damascus.

  • Ukraine says Syrian collapse shows Russia can't fight on two fronts

    The collapse of Russia's ally Syria in the face of an assault from rebel groups shows Moscow cannot fight on two fronts, Ukraine's foreign ministry said on Thursday while reiterating denials that Kyiv was involved in the fighting there. "We can see that Russia cannot fight on two fronts -- this is clear from the events in Syria," ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told reporters at a weekly news conference. After years locked behind frozen frontlines, Syrian rebels have burst forth to mount the swiftest battlefield advance by either side since a rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad descended into civil war 13 years ago.

  • Thousands flee as Syrian insurgents advance to the doorstep of the country's third-largest city

    BEIRUT (AP) — Thousands of people fled the central Syrian city of Homs, the country’s third largest, as insurgents seized two towns on the outskirts Friday, positioning themselves for an assault on a potentially major prize in their march against President Bashar Assad.

  • Israeli military kills four doctors in raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, eyewitnesses say

    Four doctors were killed at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in besieged northern Gaza on Friday, after Israeli forces stormed the compound, killing and injuring dozens of people in areas surrounding the facility, eyewitnesses told CNN.

  • Rebel forces 'reach Damascus suburbs' as protesters topple statue on outskirts

    Syrian rebels have reportedly taken the key city of Homs and reached the suburbs of the capital Damascus as their lightning offensive threatens to end Bashar al Assad's 24-year rule. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said insurgents are now active in three Damascus suburbs, including Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya - making it the first time they have reached the outskirts of the city since 2018, when government forces recaptured the area after a years-long siege. Meanwhile, Syrian rebel commander Hassan Abdul-Ghani said insurgent forces had now "fully liberated" Syria's central city of Homs - in a strategically important move the cuts off Damascus from coastal military bases.

  • Israeli strikes on southern Lebanese villages kill six, Lebanese health ministry says

    The Israeli military has yet to comment on the incidents. Tensions have persisted despite the ceasefire, with Israel and the Lebanese armed faction Hezbollah trading accusations of violations. Earlier this week, Israel threatened to return to war if its truce with Hezbollah collapsed.

  • Syrian insurgents seize Damascus suburbs while state media deny Assad has fled

    Syrian insurgents have reached Damascus suburbs, their first advance near the capital since 2018, while Syrian state media deny rumours of Assad fleeing.View on euronews

  • Russian embassy advises its citizens to leave Syria as rebels advance on strategic city of Homs

    The Russian embassy in Syria advised its citizens to leave the country "in the light of the difficult military and political situation" there.

  • Situation in Syria creating new weakness for Hezbollah, Iran, says US envoy Hochstein

    U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein said the situation in Syria, where rebels are pressing a rapid advance that is threatening President Bashar al-Assad's grip on power, was creating a new weakness for militant Lebanese group Hezbollah and for Iran. The U.S. envoy, who negotiated a U.S-brokered ceasefire agreement in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect on Nov. 27, said he believed Hezbollah was not yet eliminated but it was rather weakened. Iran has been a backer of Assad in Syria's long civil war, sending allied forces including Hezbollah and Iraqi militias to bolster the Syrian military.

  • Middle East latest: Lebanon closes all its land border crossings with Syria except one

    Lebanon is closing all its land border crossings with Syria except for a main one that links Beirut with the Syrian capital Damascus, the General Security Directorate said Friday. The decision came hours after an Israeli airstrike damaged a border crossing in northern Lebanon just days after it was reopened.

  • Assad's fall followed years of bloodshed and division

    * 2011 - The first protests against Assad quickly spread across the country, and are met by security forces with a wave of arrests and shootings. Some protesters take up guns and military units defect as the uprising becomes an armed revolt that will gain support from Western and Arab countries and Turkey. * 2012 - A bombing in Damascus is the first by al Qaeda's new Syrian affiliate, the Nusra Front, which gains in power and starts crushing groups with a nationalist ideology.

  • AP PHOTOS: After 15 months of abandonment, hostage homes are empty memorials

    After 15 months of war, the homes of Israeli hostages are like time capsules of a war zone. Nearby, the walls of Oded Lifshitz’s home are singed, the ceilings have partially collapsed, scars of the initial Hamas attack Oct. 7, 2023, in which the elderly man and his wife, Yocheved, were abducted. One hundred hostages remain in Gaza, at least third of whom Israeli officials say are dead.

  • Syrian rebels moving quickly south towards Damascus

    The rebel offensive is being waged by HTS and a collection of Turkish-backed Syrian militias known as the Syrian National Army.

  • Israelis Wary of Lebanon Truce Trickle Back to Damaged Homes

    (Bloomberg) -- The school is out of commission — hit by heavy shrapnel in July. Some homes are boarded up from direct hits. The avocado orchards have lost many hectares from fires sparked by missiles.Most Read from BloombergA Chicago Skyscraper Cements the Legacy of a Visionary Postmodern ArchitectNYC’s Run-Down Bus Terminal Gets Approval for $10 Billion RevampKansas City Looks Back on its Long, Costly Ride With MicrotransitBut Kibbutz Dafna, an Israeli farming community two kilometers (1 mile)