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  • Israeli warplanes pound Syria as troops reportedly advance deeper into the country

    DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Israel carried out a wave of heavy airstrikes across Syria as its troops advanced deeper into the country, a Syrian opposition war monitor said Tuesday, and the Israeli defense minister announced that his forces had destroyed Syria’s navy.

  • Israel targets Syrian military bases and arsenals before new leaders can take them over

    The Israeli military said it targeted Syrian antiaircraft batteries, missile depots, manufacturing facilities, drones, helicopters, fighter jets, tanks, hangars, radars and 15 naval vessels.

  • Analysis-The Israeli Jews who spied for Iran in biggest infiltration in decades

    Israel's arrest of almost 30 mostly Jewish citizens who allegedly spied for Iran in nine covert cells has caused alarm in the country and points to Tehran's biggest effort in decades to infiltrate its arch foe, four Israeli security sources said. Among the unfulfilled goals of the alleged cells was the assassination of an Israeli nuclear scientist and former military officials, while one group gathered information on military bases and air defences, security service Shin Bet has said. Last week, the agency and Israel's police said a father and son team had passed on details of Israeli force movements including in the Golan Heights where they lived.

  • Israeli strike targets air defence installation near Syria's Mediterranean Latakia port

    An Israeli strike targeted an air defence installation near Syria's Mediterranean Latakia port, Syrian security sources said on Monday. Israel conducted three airstrikes in the Syrian capital a day earlier, against a security complex and a government research centre which it has said in the past was used by Iran to develop missiles, two regional security sources told Reuters on Sunday.

  • Iran's power undiminished after Assad's fall in Syria, Revolutionary Guards commander says

    "We have not been weakened and Iran's power has not diminished," Hossein Salami was quoted as telling members of parliament in a closed session. Iran and Russia had propped up Assad's rule since Syria's civil war erupted in 2011 with military support, men and airpower.

  • The west is already at war with Russia. And large-scale conflict may not be far off

    Russia went to war with the west, but it didn’t really notice until recently.

  • As Israel advances on a Syrian buffer zone, it sees peril and opportunity

    TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The dramatic downfall of Syrian President Bashar Assad presents possible danger, and an opening, for neighboring Israel.

  • Rebels take Syrian city from U.S.-backed group after U.S.-Turkey deal, source says

    ANKARA (Reuters) -The United States and Turkey reached an agreement to ensure the safe withdrawal of U.S.-backed Kurdish Syrian forces (SDF) from the northern city of Manbij after an advance by Turkey-backed rebels, a Syrian opposition source said on Monday. The Turkey-backed Syrian opposition groups had earlier taken control of Manbij from the SDF, a Turkish security source said, a day after rebels in the southern capital of Damascus declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's ouster.

  • Syrians scour infamous Assad prison for signs of loved ones

    STORY: Syrians on Monday, freed of the Assad family dictatorship for the first time in fifty years, raced toward one of the most infamous symbols of the regime's rule: the prison complex in Sednaya. They searched for loved ones who disappeared inside years ago, some without a trace.Among them were Intsar al-Jabir, whose brother and cousin were imprisoned in Sednaya.She said she used to visit her brother here until 2014, when authorities said her brother had died.Asked why she was there today, she said she hoped to find her brother alive. She'd been there since yesterday.On Sunday, as news broke that President Bashar al-Assad had fled as rebel forces advanced and his own army collapsed, the prison was opened and detainees streamed to freedom. Rumors spread that thousands more inmates were still imprisoned in underground cells that could not be reached.But by Monday afternoon there was no sign of more prisoners.Instead, many here poured through prison files, looking for some closure.Radwan Eid had a relative held here."Assad's gangs and the prison's gangs are the ones who intentionally destroyed those documents. They set them on fire, they disabled the available devices and removed the cameras to prevent the discovery of their massacres and the locations of the prisoners still inside."Rights groups reported the prison population here swelled amid Syria's civil war as Assad cracked down on anyone suspected of rebel loyalties."The regime holds as many as 70 prisoners in Sednaya in cells that have a 5 person capacity."The U.S. State Department in 2017 said Sednaya was the site of mass executions, and said it had identified a new crematorium at Sednaya for the bodies of hanged prisoners."Although the regime's many atrocities are well-documented, we believe that the building of a crematorium is an effort to cover up the extent of mass murders taking place in Sednaya prison."Torture was widely documented.At a mosque on the road to the prison, people were registering names and phone numbers in case imprisoned relatives were found.

  • World Central Kitchen fires dozens of workers in Gaza after Israel accuses them of militant links

    A U.S.-based charity, the World Central Kitchen, fired dozens of Palestinians working for the charity in the Gaza Strip, at least three workers told Reuters, after Israel said at least 62 staff were linked to militant groups. In a message to staff, WCK confirmed that it had "made changes" after Israel demanded an investigation into its hiring practices in Gaza. "This should not be taken as a conclusion by WCK that the individuals are affiliated with any terror organization," it said, adding that Israel had not shared its intelligence and "we do not know the basis for Israel’s decision to flag these individuals."

  • What is the significance of the Golan Heights?

    After his flight on Sunday ended 54 years of Assad family rule, Israeli troops moved into a demilitarised zone inside Syria set up after the 1973 Middle East war. Israel calls the incursion a temporary measure to ensure border security.

  • Ukraine produces leaflets, videos to encourage North Korean soldiers to surrender

    The Ukrainian “I Want To Live” project aims to persuade North Korean soldiers in Russia to surrender, having already facilitated the process for some 350 Russian troops.View on euronews

  • Russian troops are likely still at their key bases in Syria, and it will be 'obvious' if they try to leave: senior analyst

    While satellite images show that Russian warships have left Tartus naval base, aircraft and gear at the Khmeimim air base remained on-site on Tuesday.

  • On 1st day in witness box, Netanyahu switches from divisive wartime leader to defiant accused criminal

    From the moment he stepped back into the prime minister's job over two years ago, Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to do whatever he could to stop, defer or otherwise avoid this day.On Tuesday, the 75-year-old became the first sitting Israeli leader to appear as a defendant in a criminal case when he took the witness stand and began testifying in his own defence.Netanyahu was charged in 2019 with fraud, bribery and breach of trust but his trial was repeatedly delayed — first for the COVID-19

  • Hundreds of arrests and mysterious beatings as Georgia cracks down on pro-EU protests

    Seventy-five-year-old Marina Terishvili's teenage son Mamuka was shot dead at a nationalist rally in Georgia in 1992. Now her other son, Giorgi, has been arrested for his role in protests against perceived Russian influence in their homeland. Seven police cars pulled up at her house in the capital Tbilisi on Friday and took Giorgi, a 52-year-old taxi driver, into custody, she said.

  • Why is Israel bombing Syrian airbases?

    As the shockwaves from the fall of Bashar al Assad's regime continue to be felt in Syria, Israel has been striking military bases in the country. Israeli planes have bombed at least three major Syrian army airbases that housed dozens of helicopters and jets, according to Syrian security sources. It's still a confusing picture, so what is Israel doing - and why?

  • US says it will support new Syrian leaders who protect women and renounce terrorism

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Tuesday it will recognize and support a new Syrian government that renounces terrorism, destroys chemical weapons stocks and protects the rights of minorities and women.

  • Syrian rebels appoint caretaker prime minister for transition as life returns to normal

    Syrian rebels, who toppled President Bashar Assad over the weekend, named Mohamed al-Bashir as caretaker prime minister of the transitional government Tuesday as Damascus gradually returns to normal life.

  • Rebels to form interim government after al-Assad flees

    Rebel forces took control of Damascus on Sunday, marking the end of Bashar al-Assad's decades-long autocratic rule.View on euronews

  • Afghan Taliban's refugees minister killed in Kabul blast, his nephew says

    The Afghan Taliban's acting minister for refugees, Khalil Rahman Haqqani, and six other people were killed in an explosion in the capital Kabul on Wednesday, his nephew Anas Haqqani said. Khalil Haqqani became a minister in the Taliban's interim government after foreign forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021.