Tag: syria

Syria cholera outbreak at risk of spreading: WHO

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) – The World Health Organization warned Tuesday of a “very high” risk of cholera spreading across Syria after the country recorded its first cases since 2009. “The risk of cholera spreading to other governorates is very high,” the WHO said, after cases were recorded in at least five of the country’s 14 provinces. “The source of infection could be linked to people drinking water from untreated sources,” or “food contamination due to […]

Trudeau to probe allegation Canada spy helped smuggle UK teens

OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged Wednesday to “follow up” on allegations that a spy working for Canadian intelligence trafficked British schoolgirls into Syria where at least one married an Islamic State fighter. According to a Times report in Britain, in 2015 then-15-year-old Shamima Begun and two friends received help from a people-smuggler recruited by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to get to war-ravaged Syria from their Bethnal Green Academy in […]

Syria’s last traditional boat-makers keep ancient craft afloat

by Maher Al Mounes Agence France-Presse ARWAD ISLAND, Syria (AFP) — Khaled Bahlawan hammers nails into a traditional wooden boat he built by hand, toiling under the scorching sun on Syria’s Mediterranean coast to preserve a disappearing ancient skill. “We are the last family that makes wooden ships and boats in Syria,” said the 39-year-old on the shores of Arwad island, near the city of Tartus. “This is the legacy of our ancestors… We are […]

Israeli strike kills three soldiers near Damascus: Syrian ministry

DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — An Israeli strike killed three Syrian soldiers and wounded seven others near Damascus early Friday, the Syrian defense ministry said. “The Israeli enemy carried out an air strike… from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan… The aggression killed three soldiers and wounded seven others,” the ministry said in a statement. Syrian air defense intercepted some of the missiles, the statement said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said […]

Iran hosts Putin, Erdogan for talks overshadowed by Ukraine war

TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran’s president will host his Russian and Turkish counterparts on Tuesday for talks on the Syrian war in a three-way summit overshadowed by fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The summit is the first hosted by Iran’s ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi since he took office last year, and the second trip abroad by Russia’s Vladimir Putin since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February. It comes days after US […]

Iran, Russia, Turkey presidents to talk Syria war in Tehran

by Karim Abou Merhi with AFP bureaus Agence France-Presse TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — With the war in Ukraine still raging, Russian President Vladimir Putin travels Tuesday to Tehran for talks with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts on the Syria conflict. Russia, Turkey and Iran have in recent years met to discuss Syria as part of the so-called “Astana peace process” to end more than 11 years of conflict in the Arab country. All three are […]

Syria intercepts Israeli missiles: state media

DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — Syrian air defense intercepted Israeli missiles south of Damascus on Monday, with no casualties reported, a military source told Syria’s official news agency SANA. “The Israeli enemy carried out an airstrike from the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting points south of Damascus,” with Syria’s air defense intercepting most of the missiles, SANA quoted the military source as saying. “The losses were limited to material damage.” An AFP correspondent in the capital Damascus […]

US warns Turkey against new Syria offensive

  Washington, UNITED STATES (AFP) — The United States on Tuesday warned Turkey against launching a new military operation in northern Syria, saying the uneasy NATO ally would be putting US troops at risk. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that Turkey would soon launch a new military operation into northern Syria to create a 30-kilometer (19-mile) “security zone” along the border. “We are deeply concerned about reports and discussions of potential increased military […]

Don’t lose focus on Syria, UN envoy tells Security Council

© UNICEF/Johnny Shahan Children walk through a neighbourhood in Zabadani, rural Damascus, in Syria. Peace and Security Although the war in Syria may not be making headlines lately, the international community must remain focused on achieving a comprehensive political solution to the conflict, UN Envoy for the country, Geir Pedersen, said on Tuesday in his latest briefing to the Security Council in New York. Recalling that Syria is “a hot conflict, not a frozen one”, […]

Damascus art installation turns ceramic doves into war symbol

by Maher Al Mounes © Agence France-Presse DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — Hundreds of ceramic doves are suspended over the streets of the Old City of Damascus, part of an art installation that had been set to debut before the start of Syria’s war. The lifelike figurines crafted by Buthaina al-Ali, a professor at Damascus University’s faculty of arts, had been gathering dust in a basement since the outbreak of Syria’s conflict in 2011. Eleven years […]

US could have done more to limit civilian toll in Raqqa battle: study

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US military could have done more to limit civilian casualties and damage during the battle for the Syrian city of Raqqa that marked the Islamic State’s fall in 2017, according to a report commissioned by the Pentagon. At the end of the nearly five-month battle to free the city from IS, “60 to 80 percent” of it was “uninhabitable” and resentment of the population was directed at the liberators, […]

UN Security Council to meet Friday on biological weapons at Moscow’s request

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) – The UN Security Council will hold an urgent meeting Friday at the request of Russia over the alleged development of biological weapons in Ukraine. Russia on Thursday accused the United States of funding research into the development of biological weapons in Ukraine, which has faced an assault by tens of thousands of Russian troops since February 24. Both Washington and Kyiv have denied the existence of laboratories intended to […]