Syria

I am saddened by the news of so many displaced people, so many men, women and children who are discarded by war – Pope Francis

Pope Francis on Sunday expressed his sorrow for the plight of refugees and migrants fleeing war and asked the faithful to pray for them. “I am saddened by the news…

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Photo Story – War Children in Aleppo

A group of displaced Syrians stand around the entrance to an underground shelter in the Taltouna village, 17kms northwest of the city of Idlib, Syria, 22 February 2020. According to…

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Tensions escalate in Syria as Turkish military target Aleppo military airport

Turkey said Sunday it was continuing a military operation against the Russian-backed Syrian regime in Syria's northwestern Idlib region but insisted it did not wish to clash with Moscow. Turkish…

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4000 migrants try crossing Turkish – Greek border

Riot police and the Greek army on Saturday deployed tear gas along the country’s land border with Turkey to try to stop migrants from entering the country. A government spokesman said thousands of…

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Clashes between refugees and police along the Turkish-Greek land border

Refugees and Greek border officials face each other on opposite sides of the border at the closed-off Turkish-Greek border, Edirne, Turkey, 29 February 2020. Greek police fired teargas towards…

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Russia and Turkey Agree to Reduce Tensions in Syria’s Idlib

Russia and Turkey have agreed to reduce tensions on the ground in Syria’s Idlib province while continuing military action there, the Russian foreign ministry said on Saturday following several days…

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Turkey lets refugees exit towards Europe

Groups of refugees and migrants are heading towards the EU after Turkey said it would not abide by a deal to stop them reaching Europe. Turkey's communications chief said the…

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NATO calls on Russia, Syria to halt Idlib offensive

NATO head Jens Stoltenberg urged Russia and Syria on Friday to halt their Idlib offensive and said the military alliance stood in solidarity with member state Turkey, which lost 33…

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Russia Sends Warships to Syria

Russia on Friday said it was sending two warships armed with cruise missiles to waters off the Syrian coast and blamed Ankara for the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers in…

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NATO to hold extraordinary meeting after attack on Turkish soldiers

Following Turkey's request, NATO will hold an extraordinary meeting Friday over attacks to Turkish soldiers in Idlib, north-western Syria. Late Thursday, at least 33 Turkish soldiers were martyred and tens…

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Turkey says it will not stop Syrian refugees reaching Europe

Turkey, faced with a possible new wave of Syrian migrants and dozens more dead Turkish soldiers in Idlib, will no longer stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe, a senior Turkish…

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Escalation between Turkey and Syria after Turkish soldiers killed

Dozens of Turkish soldiers have been killed in an airstrike in Syria’s Idlib province, in a dramatic escalation in the battle for control of the country’s last opposition stronghold. Turkish…

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City of Nairab, in Idlib province seized by Turkish backed anti-Syrian government forces

Syrian rebels backed by the Turkish military have seized the town of Nairab in northwest Syria's Idlib province, Turkish and rebel officials said on Tuesday, the first area to be…

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Israeli jets strike targets in Syria and Gaza

Israeli fighter jets launched air strikes on suspected Islamic Jihad positions in Syria, the Israeli military said on Monday, after the militant group and Israel exchanged rockets and air strikes…

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Erdogan to meet Putin, Merkel and Macron to discuss Syria

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Saturday that he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron on March 5 to discuss the…

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Angelina Jolie – “We’re watching the brutal endgame of the war in Syria as if it has little to do with us. But it does.”

These are excerpts from an op-ed written by Angelina Jolie which will be published on Time Magazine. "I’ve been to the Syrian region some 10 times since the conflict began. At…

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Merkel and Macron seek talks with Putin and Erdogan on Syria

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron told Russia's Vladimir Putin on Thursday they want to meet him and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan to defuse the crisis in…

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Sharp escalation in clashes in Syria

Turkish forces and Syrian rebels fought government troops in northwest Syria on Thursday and Russian warplanes struck back in a sharp escalation of an intense battle over the last rebel…

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Syria facing ‘massacre’ on a scale never seen before, UN warns

The UN is warning an unprecedented bloodbath is looming in northwest Syria without international action to restrain the Assad regime. Regime forces backed by Russia are advancing into Idlib and…

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Syria: Turkish Foreign Minister tells Russian counterpart on need of permanent ceasefire in Idlib

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Sunday he told his Russian counterpart that attacks in Syria's northwestern Idlib region must stop immediately and that a lasting ceasefire had to…

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Over 800,000 Syrians, mostly women and children, flee Russian-backed offensive in Syria

More than 800,000 Syrians, mostly women and children, have fled their homes during a Russian-backed Syrian military campaign to clear the opposition in northwest Syria since Dec. 1, a senior…

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Israel strikes Iranian targets near Damascus

Seven people were killed in an airstrike reportedly launched by the Israeli military in the Damascus area on Thursday night, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Syrian air…

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Turkey sending growing number of Syrian mercenaries to Libya

At least 2,000 Syrian militiamen have been recruited by Ankara to fight in Libya for a monthly wage of $2,000 (€1,830) and the promise of Turkish citizenship — an attractive offer for those in Syrian opposition-held areas…

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Turkish soldiers killed in Syria

Syrian government forces killed five Turkish soldiers in northwestern Syria on Monday, Turkey's defence ministry said, after Turkey deployed thousands of troops there to stem a Syrian government offensive. Anadolu…

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Syrian air defence nearly hit passenger plane after Israeli attack

The Russian Defence Ministry in Moscow claimed that the Israeli attack on Syria, which killed at least 23 pro-Iranian gunmen in the middle of Wednesday night, put a civilian flight…

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Erdogan vows that Turkey will not allow Syrian forces gain ground in Idlib

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey will not allow Syrian forces to gain ground in the last opposition stronghold of Idlib, in comments published Tuesday, a day after eight Turks…

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Deadly confrontation between Turkey and Syria

At least six Syrian government soldiers were reportedly killed by Turkish shelling in Idlib region, Syria, on Monday, in an attack that came in "retaliation" for an earlier strike by Syrian troops…

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Syrians hold secret peace summit in Berlin

Some of Syria's leading figures met in secret this week in Berlin to overcome the sectarian divides that are tearing their country apart. This is shadow diplomacy, away from the…

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Air strikes in Syria kill 18 in Idlib city despite truce

At least 18 civilians are reported to have died in air strikes that hit a market and an industrial zone in the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib. A monitoring group…

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2,000 Syrian fighters deployed to Libya

In an exclusive report The Guardian reports that a total of 2,000 Syrian fighters have travelled from Turkey or will arrive imminently to fight on the battlefields of Libya, Syrian…

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Reports of unidentified planes strike in eastern Syria

Unidentified planes struck targets in Syria near the border with Israel on Friday, reports said, triggering “a huge explosion” amid soaring tensions in the region between the U.S. and Iran.…

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Putin meets Assad in Syria

Putin met Assad in a rare visit in Syria. Mr Putin met with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in a Russian military base in the capital, where the two leaders discussed…

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Erdogan warns up to 250,000 people fleeing from Syria’s Idlib towards Turkey

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that up to 250,000 migrants were fleeing from the northwestern Syrian region of Idlib towards Turkey, adding that Ankara was trying to prevent them…

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U.S. strikes on Iraq and Syria ‘successful,’ warning of potential further action

U.S. officials said that air strikes on Sunday in Iraq and Syria against an Iran-backed militia group were successful but warned that “additional actions” may still be taken in the…

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Reports of Turkey deploying Syrian fighters in Libya

Reports are emerging that Turkey started deploying Syrian rebels to support its allies in Tripoli. According to The National, videos posted on social media showed Syrian fighters claiming to…

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‘Damascus is the capital of Christmas’ event in the Syrian capital

A scene of the entry of Mary and Jesus to a cave in al-Abassyeen square in Damascus, Syria. This was part of an event held by the Syriac Church in…

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Syria’s army air defence system intercepts missiles from the direction of Israel

The Syrian army's air defense system intercepted missiles coming from the direction of Israel that were aimed at targets on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, state media said on…

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25,000 civilians flee Syria’s region of Idlib to Turkey

At least 25,000 civilians have fled Syria's northwestern region of Idlib to Turkey over the past two days, Turkish state media said on Sunday, as Syrian and Russian forces intensified…

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Erdogan says 50,000 people migrating from Syria’s Idlib to Turkey

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that 50,000 people were migrating from Syria’s north western region of Idlib to Turkey and slammed Muslim nations for not supporting his plans…

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Photo Story: Christmas celebrations in Damascus

Scenes of a Christmas carnival in the mostly Christian-populated Bab Touma neighborhood in the old city of Damascus, Syria, on the evening of Saturday14 December 2019, as part of…

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UK Two arrested in Dover over suspicion of terror related offences

A man and a woman have been arrested in Dover on suspicion of terror offences relating to Syria, police have said. Sky News reports that West Midlands Police said the pair were…

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20 die in Air Strikes in Idlib, Syria

Air strikes by Syrian government and Russian forces killed at least 20 people in rebel-held northwestern Syria on Saturday, activists and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The attacks…

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Explosion at Iranian weapons depot in Syria

Large explosions were reported at an Iranian base in Al-Bukamal in eastern Syria after unidentified aircraft targeted a weapons depot at the site, according to the Step news agency. A…

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No agreement on first day of Syria constitution committee talks

Damascus government delegates to a Syrian Constitutional Committee left the second U.N.-sponsored round before it began on Monday, in what opposition members said was a stalling tactic, and it was…

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Israel attacks military targets in Syria

Israeli aircraft struck dozens of Iranian and Syrian targets in Syria on Wednesday, the Israeli military said, in what it described as a retaliatory attack. “In response to the rockets…

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Israel’s defence system shot down rockets from Syria

Israel's military said its missile defence system shot down four rockets fired from Syria towards Israel early on Tuesday. In a statement, the IDF said it had “identified four launches…

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12 hurt in car bomb in Syrian town controlled by Turkey-backed fighters

Syrian opposition activists say a car bomb has killed at least 12 people in a northern town controlled by Turkey-backed opposition fighters. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported…

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Erdogan to tell Trump that USA didn’t implement agreed parts in Syria’s deal

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today he would tell US counterpart Donald Trump that Washington must do more to implement a ceasefire deal they agreed in order to halt…

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Founder of ‘White Helmets’ found dead in Istanbul

The British founder of an organisation that trained the “White Helmets” emergency response group has been found dead in Istanbul, five years after the group was set up to perform…

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Russian helicopters patrolling Syrian-Turkish border

Russia has deployed military helicopters to patrol an area near Syria’s border with Turkey in order to help protect Russia military police working on the ground, the Interfax news agency…

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Turkey detains dead ISIS leader’s wife

Turkey has captured a wife of former ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced. On Tuesday Turkey said it had detained Baghdadi's sister in Syria. Speaking in…

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Photo Story: The US forces in Syria

A handout photo made available by the US Department of Defense shows a US Marine attached to the Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force - Crisis Response - Central Command…

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Blast in Syrian town held by Turkey-backed gunmen kills 13

A car bomb exploded in a northern Syrian town along the border with Turkey on Saturday killing 13 people, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said. The ministry said about 20 others were…

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Turkey, Russia start joint patrols in northern Syria

Turkish and Russian troops are jointly patrolling a Syrian region under a deal that halted a Turkish incursion against Kurdish fighters. The patrols aim to check that all fighters have…

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ISIS names its new leader as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi, confirms al-Baghdadi’s death

ISIS has for the first time confirmed the death of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and named his successor. An ISIS outlet announced on the messaging service Telegram that Abu…

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ISIS spy who betrayed al-Baghdadi was motivated by revenge

NBC reports that ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was betrayed by a member of his inner circle who helped lead American troops to his compound in Northern Syria. The commander…

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US releases first video of raid on al Baghdadi compound

Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie briefed Pentagon reporters on the Oct. 26 raid in northwestern Syria that resulted in Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's death. Pentagon officials also released videos of…

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