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BAB AL-HAWA, Syria (AFP) — A first batch of Covid-19 vaccine doses was expected to arrive Wednesday in war-torn northwestern Syria, where millions of people live in dire humanitarian conditions, a UN official said. The 53,800 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were dispatched to the rebel-dominated region as part of the Covax facility, which ensures the world’s poorest economies get access to jabs for free. “Once the vaccines arrive, we are prepared to start vaccination […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — A Turkish fighter jet downed a Syrian regime warplane over the northwestern Idlib province Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said, in the third such downing in three days. Turkey on Sunday confirmed it had launched a military operation against Russia-backed regime forces in the border region, where Ankara supports some rebel groups. Syrian state news agency SANA said one of its planes was “targeted” after two others […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Thousands of children risk missing out on their education in northwestern Syria after a months-long regime assault on the jihadist-run bastion that has closed dozens of schools, a charity said. A fragile ceasefire has held in the Idlib region since Saturday, following four months of air strikes that have killed hundreds of civilians and caused mass displacement. “Thousands of children due to start the school year in northwest Syria may […]
DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Friday called for progress on a stalled buffer zone deal around jihadist-dominated Idlib region ahead of fresh talks aimed at ending his country’s eight-year war. Assad met envoy Alexander Lavrentiev from key ally Russia in Damascus to discuss the negotiations due April 25-26 in Kazakhstan. Iran and Russia are the major supporters of the Syrian regime, and along with rebel backer Turkey have sponsored repeated rounds […]
JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser warned Wednesday that the United States will respond “very strongly” if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad uses chemical weapons in an offensive to retake Idlib province. Speaking at a press conference during a visit to Jerusalem, John Bolton also said that the Trump administration was not seeking to oust Iran’s leadership with its reimposition of sanctions on Tehran. “Regime change in Iran is not American […]
IDLIB, Syria (AFP) — An antiquities museum in Syria’s rebel-held province of Idlib said to house one of the world’s oldest dictionaries reopened on Monday after five years, an AFP correspondent said. Dozens of visitors trickled into the museum in Idlib city to see what an official said represented just a fraction of the building’s collection. Ayman al-Nabu, head of antiquities for the city controlled by an alliance of rebels and jihadists, said the museum […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — An explosion at a weapons depot in a rebel-held town in northwest Syria killed at least 39 civilians including a dozen children on Sunday, a monitor said. An AFP correspondent at the site in Sarmada in Idlib province near the Turkish border said the explosion of unknown origin caused two buildings to collapse. Rescue workers used bulldozers to remove rubble and extract trapped people from the flattened buildings, the correspondent […]
by Omar Haj Kadour with Maya Gebeily in Beirut Agence France Presse SARAQIB, Syria — A Russian pilot was killed Saturday in fighting with Islamists after his warplane was downed over northwest Syria, Russia’s defence ministry and a monitor said. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a powerful jihadist-dominated alliance said, on an affiliated media channel it had shot down the plane but made no mention of the pilot. “We were able to bring down the […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Nearly 100,000 people have been displaced since early December by fighting in northwestern Syria, where the regime is waging an offensive against jihadists, the United Nations said on Wednesday. Russian-backed regime forces launched an offensive at the end of 2017 on the edge of Idlib province, the last in the country still fully outside the government’s control. Idlib province is almost entirely controlled by a jihadist outfit known as Hayat Tahrir […]
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) – Turkey on Wednesday called on Russia and Iran, the two chief allies of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, to halt an air offensive on the rebel-held Idlib province near the Turkish border. Ankara has been working closely with Russia and Iran to end the Syrian conflict over the last months but has stepped up pressure on Moscow and Tehran as the bombardments on Idlib intensified. “Iran and Russia should fulfil their responsibility. […]
IDLIB, Syria (Reuters) — A man and a child were pulled from under the rubble in Idlib on Sunday (October 8) following an air strike said to be carried out by the Syrian regime targeting the city of Maarat al Numan, amateur videos posted online purported to show. The Syrian Civil Defence, better known as the White Helmets rescue workers, said on its Twitter account that jets it believed to be from the Syrian military […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — At least 28 civilians were killed in air strikes on northwestern Syria where a planned safe zone has been overshadowed by a bombing campaign against jihadists, a monitor said Saturday. Four children were among the dead in the overnight strikes on the town of Amanaz, in Idlib province near the Turkish border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Britain-based watchdog had earlier reported 12 dead in the strikes on […]
