Syrian

Syrian government security personnel entered the northeastern city of Hasakeh under an integration deal with Kurdish forces, extending Damascus’ authority into a longtime Kurdish stronghold after months of tension and sporadic clashes, according to an AFP team on the ground. The phased agreement, struck Friday after Kurdish forces ceded territory to advancing government units in recent weeks, calls for gradually folding Kurdish military and civilian institutions into state structures. The move marks a significant rollback of…

Syria’s government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have reached a sweeping agreement to fold Kurdish security units and their autonomous administration into the central state, capping weeks of clashes that culminated in a cease-fire, according to statements released today by both sides and broadcast on Syrian state television. The accord follows a period of fighting in which Kurdish forces lost control of swathes of territory to pro-government units, leaving them confined largely to Kurdish-majority pockets in…

Syria’s government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have extended their truce by 15 days to support a U.S.-led effort to transfer Islamic State group detainees from northeastern Syria to Iraq, both sides said Saturday. “The extension of the cease-fire comes in support of the American operation to transfer Islamic State detainees from SDF prisons to Iraq,” the Syrian defense ministry said in a statement. The SDF confirmed the extension, saying it was reached through international mediation and that dialogue with…

Syria’s army advanced across swathes of the country’s north, dislodging Kurdish-led forces from pockets of territory where they had exercised de facto autonomy for more than a decade, in a campaign unfolding a day after President Ahmed al-Sharaa declared Kurdish a national language and granted the minority official recognition. The push appeared aimed at consolidating state control after a March accord to integrate Kurdish-led units into government structures stalled. Kurdish authorities welcomed the decree as a “first step”…

According to the Syrian state news agency SANA, Israel has launched assaults on the Mazzeh neighborhood in Damascus. This reported activity comes just one day after a barrage of airstrikes targeting what Israel claimed were militant locations in the Syrian capital. This morning, explosions were noted in areas surrounding Damascus. SANA reported, "Israeli aggression targets the Mazzeh district in Damascus," although no additional information was provided. Israel has yet to respond publicly to these accusations. The Mazzeh…

In Libya, thousands of Africans have been imprisoned for years in abuses where they have been abused. Among them are many Syrian migrants, who had chosen to become mercenaries in order to cross into Europe. The migrants who are in these centers are intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard during the crossing of the Mediterranean…

Lights in a tunnel: Syrian refugees find solace in Somalia MOGADISHU, Somalia - When war broke out in and around Damascus, many people might have expected Syrians to take refuge in Europe, America, or neighboring countries like Jordan, but this may not be not quite true. Although a number of them were able to travel to the aforementioned areas, a number chose Somalia, another country plagued by…

Is it time for the departure of the Syrian mercenaries sent by Turkey in Libya? In any case, it seems that Ankara transferred almost a thousand of these mercenaries to Azerbaijan to fight Armenia in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Several planes left Libya on 28 and 29 September with mercenaries on board. On September 29, a Libyan civilian plane from the company al Borak took off from Maitigua airport in Tripoli with more than 260 Syrian mercenaries on board. He made a direct Tripoli-Baku flight, an unprecedented…