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☆ Assad says he didn’t plan to flee Syria, according to presidency Telegram account
▼ + stars: | 2024-12-16 | by ( Nadeen Ebrahim | Lauren Kent | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s departure from the country was unplanned, according to a statement posted Monday on the Syrian Presidency Telegram account, purporting to be from Assad. It’s unclear if Assad still controls the Telegram account. If the statement is authentic, it would mark the first time he has publicly commented on events since his regime fell this month. “My departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles, as some have claimed. On the contrary, I remained in Damascus, carrying out my duties until the early hours of Sunday 8th December 2024,” the statement from the Syrian Presidency account on Telegram said.

Persons: CNN —, Bashar al, Assad, “, ”, ” Assad Organizations: CNN, Syrian, Telegram Locations: Syria, Damascus, Syria’s Hmeimim, Russia, Moscow

☆ Analysis: Assad exhibited little of the tackiness of Iraq’s Saddam. But his rule was just as brutal
▼ + stars: | 2024-12-12 | by ( Ivan Watson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, a fellow secular Baathist like Assad, had been executed just six months earlier. But Syria’s then leader, who had succeeded his father Hafez seven years before, represented a stable contrast to the chaos engulfing neighboring Iraq. Assad met us without a large entourage, folding his long body into a chair at the head of the room. An armed man walks through the Presidential Palace in Damascus, Syria, on December 10, 2024. People inspect documents they found in the infamous Saydnaya military prison, just north of Damascus, Syria, on December 9, 2024.

Persons: Bashar al, Assad, Saddam Hussein, Syria’s, Hafez, Little, Ali Haj Suleiman, Assad wasn’t, Saddam, Bentley, Basat al, “, ”, Tariq, Hussein Malla, Basat al reeh, Falaqa, Ghaith, Asma, Bashar Assad, Zein, Karim Organizations: CNN, National Public, Lamborghini, Royce, Brotherhood, Syrian, Syrian Presidency Locations: Iraq, Damascus, Syria, Lebanon, Latakia, Turkey, Idlib, Iran, Russia, Saydnaya, Syrian, Hama, British, Gaza, Aleppo, Old City

☆ France issues arrest warrant against Syria's President Assad - source
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS, Nov 15 (Reuters) - French judges have issued arrest warrants for Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher al-Assad, and two other senior officials over the use of banned chemical weapons against civilians in Syria, a judicial source said on Wednesday. It is the first international arrest warrant that has been issued for the Syrian head of state, whose forces responded to protests that began in 2011 with a brutal crackdown that U.N. experts have said amount to war crimes. It is the first time international arrest warrants have been issued over the chemical weapons attack in Ghouta in 2013, says Mazen Darwish, lawyer and founder of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), which filed the case in France. In October, French judges issued warrants for two former defence ministers over a 2017 bomb that killed a French-Syrian man at his home in Daraa. Reporting by Layli Foroudi and Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Richard LoughOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Bashar al, Assad, Maher al, Mazen Darwish, Darwish, Layli Foroudi, Dominique Vidalon, Benoit Van Overstraeten, Richard Lough Organizations: Eastern Ghouta, Syrian Center for Media, United Nations, Organisation, Chemical Weapons, Thomson Locations: Syria, Douma, Eastern, Syrian, Ghouta, France, Daraa

☆ Reactions to strike on Gaza hospital killing hundreds
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] An Injured child is taken into a hospital after Israeli air strike hit a hospital, according to Gaza Health Ministry in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, in this screen grab obtained from video, October 17, 2023. Following are reactions to the bombing:WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION"WHO strongly condemns the attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip. "The hospital was one of 20 in the north of the Gaza Strip facing evacuation orders from the Israeli military. International humanitarian law must be abided by, which means health care must be actively protected and never targeted. ISRAEL PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU"The entire world should know: It was barbaric terrorists in Gaza that attacked the hospital in Gaza, and not the IDF.

Persons: ISMAIL HANIYEHI, BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, Al, TAYYIP ERDOGAN, Dan Whitcomb, Cynthia Osterman, Sandra Maler Organizations: Gaza Health Ministry, REUTERS, Reuters, Jihad, WHO, Al Ahli Arab Hospital, Intelligence, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Gaza City, Israel, Al Ahli, ISRAEL, Syria, United States of America

[1/5] Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma are welcomed upon their arrival at Hangzhou airport, China in this handout picture obtained by Reuters on September 21, 2023. Assad will meet Xi on Friday, a day before the Syrian president attends the opening of the games, said a source from the Syrian delegation, which is scheduled to hold other meetings in Beijing on Sunday and Monday. It was the first visit by a Syrian head of state since diplomatic ties were established in 1956. China, like Syria's main allies, Russia and Iran, maintained those ties even as other countries isolated Assad over his brutal crackdown on anti-government demonstrations that erupted in 2011. While Syria is a relatively small oil producer, its revenue is pivotal to the Assad regime.

Persons: Bashar al, Assad, Asma, Xi Jinping, Xi, Hu Jintao, CNPC, Sinochem, Joe Cash, Ryan Woo, Makieh, Aizhu Chen, Clarence Fernandez, Lincoln Organizations: Reuters, Reuters Acquire, Rights, Asian, Syrian, Sunday, Initiative, Arab League, United Nations Security Council, League, Sinopec Corp, Investments, Tanganyika Oil, Emerald Energy, Gulfsands Petroleum, State, Thomson Locations: Hangzhou, China, Syrian, Rights BEIJING, China's, Air China, Beijing, Russia, Iran, Syria, Australia, Canada, Europe, Switzerland, United States, Damascus, Iraq, Turkey, Asia, Jordan, Tanganyika, London, Colombia, Singapore

☆ Syrians rally in south against Assad, economic decline
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

shouted a large crowd in the southern Druze city of Sweida. Home province of most of Syria's Druze community, Sweida remained in government hands throughout the war and was largely spared the violence seen elsewhere. Open criticism of the government remained rare in the areas it controls but as the economic situation grew worse, the discontent has gone public. Some Druze sheikhs have criticized protesters' calls for Assad to step down and say that any improvement to the socioeconomic situation must come through dialogue. They carried the three-star flag emblematic of Syria's uprising, as well as signs criticising the role of Iran, a key Assad ally.

Persons: Bashar al, Assad, Bashar, Sweida, Maya Gebeily, Nick Macfie Organizations: Sky News Arabia, REUTERS, Rights, Ba'ath, Thomson Locations: Damascus, Syria, Syrian, Rights BEIRUT, Sweida, Home, Daraa, Iran, Tartus

☆ Iraqi PM Sudani, Syria's Assad hold talks on security, water in Damascus
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( Timour Azhari | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani review an honor guard in Damascus, Syria July 16, 2023. Syrian Presidency/Handout via REUTERSBAGHDAD, July 16 (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Sunday in the first such visit by an Iraqi premier since the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011. Assad and Sudani discussed securing their shared 600km border from security threats, including Islamic State militants, and agreed to enhance cooperation to reduce drug smuggling, they said during a joint news conference. Sudani said Iraq supported the lifting of sanctions on Syria, put in place and expanded by the U.S. and European countries since 2011. Sudani's visit comes as other countries, including Saudi Arabia, rebuild relations with Damascus after years of tensions.

Persons: Bashar al, Assad, Mohammed Shia Al, Sudani, Farhad Alaaldin, Timour Azhari, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: REUTERS, Iraqi, Islamic State militants, U.S, Islamic, Arab League, Top, European Union, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: Iraqi, Damascus, Syria, Syrian, REUTERS BAGHDAD, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Baghdad, Islamic State, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Jordan, United States, United Kingdom, European

☆ Syria's Assad arrives in United Arab Emirates in official visit
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Syria's President Bashar al-Assad meets with President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates March 19, 2023. Hamad Al Kaabi/UAE Presidential Court/Handout via REUTERSDUBAI, March 19 (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al Assad arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday for an official visit, accompanied by his wife Asma al Assad, at a time when more Arab states have signalled openness to easing the isolation of Damascus. "We held constructive talks aimed at developing relations between our two countries," Sheikh Mohammed later said in a Twitter post. The Syrian presidency said Asma al Assad, on her first known official visit abroad with Assad since 2011, would meet with Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak who is the Emirati president's mother and regarded in the UAE as the "Mother of the Nation". Saudi Arabia, Qatar and, to a lesser extent the UAE, once backed rebels against Assad.

The senior source familiar with Syrian government thinking said that the UAE role in persuading Assad should not be underestimated. A Syrian source close to the Gulf said the UAE had used its "soft power" on Assad and a Turkish official also said the UAE had played a part in persuading him. Moscow has tussled with Western states repeatedly at the Security Council over cross-border aid into Syria, arguing it violates Syria's sovereignty. Other Arab states, including U.S. allies, have also moved to normalise ties with Assad. The UAE official said there was an "urgent need to strengthen the Arab role in Syria".

Shunned by the West, Assad has been basking in an outpouring of support from Arab states that have normalised ties with him in recent years, notably the United Arab Emirates (UAE). On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia sent its first reported plane of aid to Assad-controlled Aleppo, a notable gesture from a Gulf state still at odds with Syria's president. 'BREAK THE SIEGE'The UAE has pledged $50 million in aid to Syria, without saying in which part of Syria it will be spent. Once a backer of Assad's foes, the UAE has been pressing other Arab states to re-engage with Damascus, according to two Gulf sources, despite opposition from its strategic ally the United States. Tunisia, which cut off ties with Syria a decade ago, has said it will strengthen relations with Damascus since the quake.

☆ Syrian rescue group criticises UN over Assad say on aid deliveries
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Suleiman Al-Khalidi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Syrian Presidency/Handout via REUTERSAMMAN, Feb 14 (Reuters) - The head of a Syrian opposition-run rescue group on Tuesday denounced a U.N. decision to give Syrian President Bashar al Assad authorisation over aid deliveries through border crossings with Turkey, saying it gave him "free political gain". U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday Assad had agreed to allow U.N. aid deliveries to opposition-held northwest Syria through two crossings on the border with Turkey for three months. Rescuers and aid groups have complained about the slow delivery of aid after the earthquake. U.N. officials have acknowledged aid was slow initially but said they were stepping up deliveries, including getting supplies from Turkey. Large deliveries of aid from Saudi Arabia and Qatar have begun arriving in the rebel-held enclave ahead of U.N. deliveries, Saleh said.

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