Tag Archives: Syrias

It’s been six months since longtime Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was toppled following a stunning rebel offensive that saw opposition fighters seize the country in just 11 days. The months since have been hopeful and challenging in equal measure. The new Syrian government, under the leadership of jihadist-turned-president Ahmed al-Sharaa, …

Hundreds of people were killed in Syria over four days after violent clashes between the army and loyalists of the deposed president Bashar al-Assad swept its western coastal region. What began as an ambush on Syrian security patrol by Assad loyalists brought havoc to several cities and towns on the coast. The attack sparked …

Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa scrambled on Sunday to contain some of the deadliest violence in 13 years of civil war, pitting loyalists of deposed president Bashar al-Assad against the country’s new Islamist rulers. The clashes, which a war monitoring group said have already killed 1,000 people, mostly civilians, continued for …

The leader of Syria’s rebels who toppled president Bashar al-Assad last month was named the country’s interim president on Wednesday as former insurgents cancelled the existing constitution, saying a new charter would be drafted soon. The appointment of Ahmad al-Sharaa, a rebel once aligned with al-Qaeda, as Syria’s president “in the …

Omar Alshogre watches in awe as political detainees at one of Syria’s most notorious prisons are released from an institution that was made to torture and kill anyone accused of speaking out against the Syrian government.  “The moment we are living today, freedom of the Assad regime, it’s worth all …

Opposition forces seeking to overthrow Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad launched their biggest offensive in years last week, retaking the northern city of Aleppo and driving government forces out of the region. It was the first significant development in years in Syria’s grinding civil war, which after almost 14 years had largely …

A family business owned by Canadians, MHD Nazier Houranieh & Sons Co. calls itself a pioneer in the global metals trade. European governments describe it more ominously: a supplier for Syria’s chemical weapons program. Working from Damascus and Beirut, the company is accused of importing materials used to produce “chemical …

Early on Aug. 21, 2013, Syrian government forces fired rockets loaded with the nerve agent sarin into the rebel-held Ghouta district of Damascus. As the chemical clouds spread, residents began to froth at the mouth. Fluid oozed from their eyes and noses as they convulsed and suffocated. The Ghouta gas …