Category: Syria

US Bans Entry to Syria Security Agent Over Killings on Video

BEIRUT—The U.S. State Department on Monday banned entry into the U.S. of a Syrian intelligence member who appeared in a video leaked last year showing him fatally shooting people during the country’s 12-year conflict. The ban against Amjad Yousef, a member of Syria’s notorious Military Intelligence Branch 227, includes his wife and immediate members of…


World Bank: Quake Caused Damage Worth $5.1 Billion in Syria

BEIRUT—The World Bank said Friday that Syria sustained an estimated $5.1 billion in damages in last month’s massive earthquake that struck southeast Turkey and northern parts of the war-torn country. The quake killed at least 50,000 people, including about 6,000 in Syria, according to the United Nations. Tens of thousands are still missing and hundreds…


Syria Mission Worth the Risk, Top US General Says After Rare Visit

NORTHEAST SYRIA—The nearly eight-year-old U.S. deployment to Syria to combat the ISIS terrorist group is still worth the risk, the top U.S. military officer said on Saturday, after a rare, unannounced visit to a dusty base in the country’s northeast to meet U.S. troops. Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,…


Turkey’s Implosion and Isolation From the West

Commentary Turkey’s strategic collapse had, by early 2023, become unavoidable; it had already begun. And rather than attempt any remedial action, the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan merely worsened the crisis, hoping to achieve short-term popularity. However, his apparent paranoia over possible threats to his survival in office meant that he delayed by 48…


After Years of Isolation, Quake-Hit Syria Set to Return to Regional Fold

After being largely shunned in the region for the past 12 years, Syria appears set to return to the fold after two devastating earthquakes left thousands dead in the country’s northwest early this month. On Feb. 27, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry visited Damascus, where he held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It was…


ISIS Attacks on Syria Truffle Hunters Are Deadliest in a Year

BEIRUT—The ISIS terrorist group has carried out its deadliest attacks in more than a year, killing dozens of civilians and security officers in the deserts of central Syria, even as people of northern Syria have been digging out of the wreckage from the region’s devastating earthquake. The bloodshed was a reminder of the persistent threat…


Drone Strike in Syria Kills 2 al-Qaeda-Linked Operatives

BEIRUT—A drone strike believed to have been carried out by the U.S.-led coalition in northwestern Syria on Friday killed two operatives with an al-Qaeda-linked group, Syrian opposition activists said. The two terrorists were killed while riding a motorcycle near the northern village of Qah, close to the Turkish border, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory…


Death Toll From Turkey, Syria Earthquake Tops 47,000

ANKARA, Turkey—The death toll from the massive earthquake that hit parts of Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6 continues to rise as more bodies are retrieved from the rubble of demolished buildings. A magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck the already battered Province of Hatay this week damaged or demolished more buildings, compounding the devastation. Here’s…


Shamima Begum Bid to Restore British Citizenship Rejected

Shamima Begum failed in a last-ditch legal bid to have her British citizenship restored. On Wednesday, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) fully dismissed the 23-year-old’s legal challenge against a Home Office decision to revoke her status as a UK citizen. It means Begum—who travelled from her London home to join the ISIS terrorist group in Syria…


Death Toll Rises to 8 From New Turkey-Syria Earthquake

ISTANBUL—The death toll in Turkey and Syria rose to eight in a new and powerful earthquake that struck two weeks after a devastating temblor killed nearly 45,000 people, authorities and media said Tuesday. Turkey’s disaster management authority said six people were killed and 294 others were injured with 18 in critical condition after Monday’s 6.4-magnitude…