DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Syria's Assad to steal spotlight at Arab summit after years in the cold
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Aziz El Yaakoubi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and others for years supported anti-Assad rebels. While Arab countries appear to have brought Assad in from the cold, they are still demanding that he curbs Syria's flourishing drugs trade and that war refugees can return. His return to the Arab League is likely to revive questions over his human rights record. Government forces have used chemical weapons more than two dozen times during Syria’s civil war, U.N. war crimes investigators said. The Syrian crisis and other regional conflicts including Yemen and Libya, pose further challenges for the Arab League, which is often undermined by internal divisions.

☆ For Syrian refugees, Assad’s rehabilitation prompts fear of forced return
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Cnn Staff | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

According to a 2022 UNHCR poll of Syrian refugees living in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, only 1.7% said they would return to Syria in the next 12 months. Even before Arab normalization with the Assad regime began, human rights organizations had repeatedly warned that Syrian refugees risked facing forced returns home amid concerns for their safety. Earlier this year, Denmark – which hosts more than 35,000 Syrian refugees – deemed more areas controlled by the Assad regime to be safe for return. “The further normalization goes, the deeper the pressure will be.”Alshogre worries for himself as well as other Syrian refugees. “If I am sent back to Syria, I will be cut into small pieces by the Syrian regime; I won’t make it out of the airport in Damascus.”

CNN —Saudi Arabia and Syria have resumed the work of diplomatic missions in both countries, according to state media, more than a decade after Riyadh cut ties over the Syrian government’s brutal handling of its civil war. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia decided to resume the work of its diplomatic mission in the Syrian Arab Republic,” the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported Tuesday. Damascus also announced the decision to resume work of its diplomatic mission in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, according to Syrian state media SANA, citing a statement from an official source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Based on the deep bonds and common affiliation of the peoples of the Syrian Arab Republic and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and in confirmation of both communities’ wills, and based on the Syrian Arab Republic believe in the importance of strengthening bilateral relations between Arab countries to serve joint Arab action, The Syrian Arab Republic decided to resume the work of its diplomatic mission in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the statement reads. Officials and analysts have said that Syria’s re-admission into the Arab League, while symbolic, comes with the hope that it could pave the way for President Bashar Al Assad’s rehabilitation internationally, and potentially the removal of crippling sanctions against his regime.

CNN —The Arab League has re-admitted Syria after an 11-year absence, the organization said Sunday, following an extraordinary meeting at the Arab League’s headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. The Arab League is an organization of Middle Eastern and African countries and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Member states agreed during Sunday’s meeting to “resume the participation of the delegations of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic in the meetings of the Council of the League of Arab States,” according to an Arab League statement. The Arab League also stressed the need to take “practical and effective steps” to resolve the Syrian crisis, the statement added. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could participate in the upcoming Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia if he is invited and if he wants to attend, Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit told journalists Sunday.

☆ Arab League Votes to Readmit Syria, Ending a Nearly 12-Year Suspension
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Vivian Yee | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Arab nations agreed on Sunday to allow Syria to rejoin the Arab League, taking a crucial step toward ending the country’s international ostracism more than a decade after it was suspended from the group over its use of ruthless force against its own people. Now, the region is normalizing relations, increasingly convinced that Arab countries are gaining little from isolating Syria, as the United States has urged them to. Refusing to deal with Syria means ignoring the reality that its government has all but won the war, proponents of engagement argue. That leaves Syria poised for a triumphant return this month in Saudi Arabia at the Arab League’s next summit — perhaps represented by President Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian leader accused of committing war crimes against his own people over the past decade. Syria’s rehabilitation could unlock billions of dollars in reconstruction projects and other investments for its tottering economy, further propping up Mr. al-Assad.

☆ Arab nations set to rehabilitate Syria’s pariah president in defiance of US
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Nadeen Ebrahim | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Officials and analysts have said that Syria’s re-admission into the Arab League, while symbolic, comes with the hope that it could pave the way for President Bashar Al Assad’s rehabilitation internationally, and potentially the removal of crippling sanctions against his regime. Arab states have argued that the status quo in Syria is untenable and has caused them a headache at home. Syria has over the past decade turned into a narco-state, exporting highly addictive amphetamines across the border to Jordan and to Saudi Arabia. It’s unclear if the US will stand in the way of Arab states’ efforts to bring Syria back into the regional fold. “The US will not impose a veto on their allies when it comes to normalization with Assad,” said Hellyer.

CNN —Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi believes there are enough votes among Arab League members for Syria to return to the organization, adding that it is “only the beginning” of bringing a political end to the Syrian crisis. If Syria’s membership is approved, the Syrian delegation at the high-level Arab League summit on May 19 is “very likely” to be presided by President Bashar Al Assad, the official told CNN. Safadi said that “everybody” in the Arab League is on board to end the Syrian crisis, but there are differences on what the best approach is. The foreign ministers of Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Jordan met in the Jordanian capital Amman on Monday to discuss how to normalize ties with Syria. According to a statement issued after the meeting, Syria has agreed to help end drug trafficking across its borders with Iraq and Jordan.

☆ Saudi Arabia wants to be a bigger player in the Middle East — this time with diplomacy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Nadeen Ebrahim | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

“And that can only reflect well on the Kingdom.”This new diplomacy comes as Saudi Arabia prioritizes economic growth at home, which requires regional stability to succeed. Saudi efforts at revamping its image as a peace-broker may face credibility challenges, however, given its near decade-long combative foreign policy and the bad press it attracted. That group is party to the Sudan conflict that Saudi Arabia is trying to help end. Despite its controversial past, Saudi Arabia may still carry enough influence to bring quarreling parties to the negotiating table, analysts say. “Saudi (Arabia) does not pretend to be an impartial mediator but its voice carries weight with many parties in the region,” Shihabi said, adding that where it can, Saudi Arabia wants to use that influence to reduce tensions.

CNN —Three civilians were injured and a gas station set on fire early Saturday near the Syrian city of Homs in an attack that Syria blamed on Israeli rockets, Syria’s state news agency SANA reported, citing a military official. At around 12:50 a.m. early on Saturday, Israel launched a “number of rockets” from the direction of Lebanon, “targeting several points around the city of Homs,” the military official told SANA. “Our air defense intercepted the rockets and downed some of them,” the official said. CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces. The Israeli military has yet to issue a statement on the incident.

☆ Opinion: How Putin’s ‘cat’s paw’ sunk into Sudan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Opinion Frida Ghitis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

International sanctions complicated Russia’s finances, so the Kremlin used the Wagner Group to get its hands on Sudan’s gold mines. It wasn’t the first time Wagner, Putin’s cat’s paw, had moved deep into mineral-rich Africa. It wanted one on the Mediterranean, which was one of the reasons it intervened – with a strong Wagner Group presence – in the Syrian civil war. But his credibility is in tatters (asked about Wagner’s massacres in Mali a few years ago, he answered “the Wagner Group does not exist”). And all for the sake of two men’s quest for power, aided by the machinations of the Kremlin and the maneuvers of its Wagner Group.

Summary Sources: Military equipment disguised as relief suppliesSyria is a conflict zone for Israel and IranIsrael mounts swift campaign against IraniansAMMAN, April 12 (Reuters) - Iran has used earthquake relief flights to bring weapons and military equipment into its strategic ally Syria, nine Syrian, Iranian, Israeli and Western sources said. The sources told Reuters that the goal was to buttress Iran's defences against Israel in Syria and to strengthen Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The supplies included advanced communications equipment and radar batteries and spare parts required for a planned upgrade of Syria's Iran-provided air defence system in its civil war, said the sources, two regional sources and a Western intelligence source said. Regional sources told Reuters that Israel quickly became aware of the flow of weapons into Syria and mounted an aggressive campaign to counter it. A radar station used for drones was also hit on April 3, the regional source added, corroborating what two Western intelligence sources had told Reuters.

☆ Syria condemns US strikes on Deir Al-Zor
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

CAIRO, March 26 (Reuters) - Syria’s foreign ministry on Sunday condemned U.S. strikes on its territory, saying Washington had lied about what was targeted and pledging to “end the American occupation” of its territory. The U.S. said it carried out strikes on facilities affiliated to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria after a drone attack killed an American contractor in Syria. Reporting By Maya Gebeily;Editing by Elaine HardcastleOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Syria Says Israeli Missile Strikes Kill at Least Five in Damascus
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Benoit Faucon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The site of a rocket attack in central Damascus, Syria. Syria accused Israel of carrying out a deadly missile strike on Sunday, the first such attack to target the key Iran ally since earthquakes devastated swaths of the country earlier this month. Five people were killed and 15 people were injured in the missile attack on the Kafar Sousah neighborhood of Damascus, said Syria’s state-run news agency, or SANA. The neighborhood is known to house members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

☆ First Saudi aid plane lands in Syria’s govt-held areas - state media
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] A Saudi aid plane is seen, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, at Aleppo airport, Syria February 14, 2023. REUTERS/Firas MakdesiBEIRUT, Feb 14 (Reuters) - A Saudi aid plane landed at a Syrian airport held by the government of President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday in the first such shipment from the kingdom that has backed the armed opposition to Assad during the country's 11-year civil war. It said the operation was carried out on the orders of Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The person, who was not identified, said that Tuesday's plane was the first of several set to arrive over the next days. Reporting by Timour Azhari, Kinda Makieh and Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Tom Hogue and Ed OsmondOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Assad Regime Carried Out 2018 Chlorine Attack in Syria, Investigators Say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Jared Malsin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Government forces dropped chlorine cylinders from a helicopter on apartment buildings in Douma city during Syria’s civil war, investigators concluded. ISTANBUL—An international chemical-weapons watchdog on Friday blamed the Syrian air force for a 2018 chlorine attack that killed at least 43 people, adding more evidence of war crimes committed by President Bashar Al Assad ‘s government during the country’s decadelong civil war. A report from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said investigators concluded that Mr. Assad’s forces were behind the April 2018 attack, basing their findings on 70 chemical samples, 66 witness statements, satellite data and other forensic evidence.

☆ Israeli Missile Strikes Briefly Shut Damascus Airport, Syria Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( Jared Malsin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A plane is seen at Syria’s Aleppo airport after an Israeli strike on Damascus airport caused flights to be diverted this summer. Syria said Monday that Israel launched missile strikes on Damascus’s international airport, killing two military personnel and briefly shutting down the facility, the latest attack targeting a key Iran ally in the region. The strikes took place at 2 a.m. local time and caused material damage to the airport in the country’s capital, according to Syria’s state-run news agency SANA. The airport reopened at 9 a.m. after a series of missiles hit the facility overnight, Syria’s Transportation Ministry said. Two soldiers were also wounded in the attack, the ministry said.

☆ Syrian rebels say anti-ISIS operations with the U.S. have stopped and ISIS fighters may escape from prisons and a refugee camp
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Courtney-Kube-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Courtney Kube | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

If security forces abandon the prisons and refugee camps, thousands of ISIS fighters could be released into Syria and threaten the region and the West, say U.S. military officials. Syrian Kurdish Asayish security forces inspect tents at the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp on Aug. 28, during a security campaign by the Syrian Democratic Forces against ISIS "sleeper cells" in the camp. Three U.S. military officials say, however, that patrols with the SDF continued at a reduced rate and without aggressive counter-ISIS missions. So far, the Syrian rebels and the U.S. military say they have not seen signs of de-escalation from the Turks. But if Turkish military operations escalate, say U.S. officials, more SDF fighters will move toward the border, leaving detention facilities and refugee camps with inadequate security, say U.S. officials.

☆ Israeli journalists experience chilly reception at Qatar World Cup
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Hadas Gold | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Former Israeli football star, and now a commentator Eil Ohana posted a video showing a Qatari police officer driving him in a golf cart. Videos have gone viral in Israel and the Arab world showing football fans yelling at Israeli reporters, refusing to speak to them because of where they are from. Canadian pop star Justin Bieber launched clean water company Generosity at Qatar’s World Cup, to provide premium alkaline water in refillable fountains across the globe. The pitch invader who waved a rainbow flag on the field during Portugal’s World Cup match with Uruguay on Monday said FIFA president Gianni Infantino came to the Qatari police station to free him in order to “avoid more controversy.”Thursday’s Group E FIFA World Cup match between Costa Rica and Germany saw an all-women refereeing team for the first time in men’s World Cup history. Stephanie Frappart, from France, led the refereeing team, making her the first woman to referee a men’s World Cup match.

☆ ISIS acknowledges the death of its leader, announces his successor
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Eyad Kourdi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —ISIS acknowledged the death of its leader Abu al-Hasan al-Hashmi al-Qurayshi on Wednesday and confirmed his successor. US Central Command confirmed his death on Wednesday, saying the ISIS leader was killed in mid-October by the Free Syrian Army. The deceased leader was appointed by ISIS after US President Joe Biden announced the death of Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi in a military operation in the northwest of Syria. Abu al-Hasan’s predecessor, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, died in February during a US counterterrorism raid in northwest Syria. The raid was the biggest US raid in the country since the 2019 operation that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and came amid a resurgence of the group in Syria and Iraq.

As Russia bombs its neighbor, what has become the biggest European war since 1945 has had an outsized impact far south, in the Middle East. Here are four ways the Ukraine war has affected the Middle East over the last six months:Energy exporters are cashing inThe war has seen oil prices rise to as much as a 14-year high. Despite vowing to turn Saudi Arabia into a pariah, US President Joe Biden visited Saudi Arabia in a landmark trip last month. Saudi Arabia: #How_many_wives_would_you_takeSaudi men took to Twitter to ask each other how many wives they’d like to take. According to the 2019 report by the Doha International Forum called State of Marriage in the Arab World, information on polygamy in Saudi Arabia is not readily available.

Washington CNN —ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was killed Wednesday during a US counterterrorism raid in northwest Syria, President Joe Biden announced Thursday morning. It was the biggest US raid in the country since the 2019 operation that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. “Thanks to the bravery of our troops, this horrible terrorist leader is no more,” Biden said from the Roosevelt Room. US says suicide bomb killed ISIS leaderThe Pentagon will conduct a more thorough after-action review of the raid. But Wednesday’s operation was the largest in scale since a two-hour raid killed ISIS leader Baghdadi in northwest Syria in October 2019.

☆ Syria's lost generation: Education and dreams deferred
▼ + stars: | 2015-03-30 | by ( Hiba As Told To Mary Kate Macisaac | As Told To Mary Kate Macisaac | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

That’s how long it takes to complete a college degree, and that’s how long Syria has been at war. Many Syrian students would be graduating from university this year, but instead they have been forced to abandon, or at least put on indefinite hold, their dreams of an education. We hope to meet our needs today, not so much to fulfill our dreams tomorrow. It’s not like sitting at home, feeling powerless, losing confidence, wondering what I can do to help my family, to help my people. Each person has the right to pursue an education, to meet their most basic needs, to express themselves.

☆ Aid workers in ISIS bull's-eye: 'If not us, then who?'
▼ + stars: | 2015-03-14 | by ( Katie Walmsley | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Story highlights Numerous aid workers remain in Syria despite dangers With a lack of government, more than 8 million refugees rely on aid agencies for food, shelter and medical care Many aid agencies have no means of armed defense against attackNew York CNN —Kayla Mueller, Peter Kassig, Alan Henning, David Haines – just a few of the aid workers who have been abducted and killed by ISIS in the past year. The exact number of aid workers currently being held is unknown; a level of secrecy tends to surround details of those currently captive. Abductions and killings of aid workers are, unfortunately, nothing new, but the numbers are. According to Aidworkersecurity.org, at least 155 aid workers were killed in 2013, a 121% increase on 70 recorded killings the year before. ISIS doesn’t just target aid workers.

Search resuls for: "Syria’s"

23 mentions found