Syria

DAMASCUS, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- The forces of the U.S.-led coalition bombarded the Islamic State (IS)-held farms in Syria's eastern Euphrates region, killing 42 people, including 13 civilians, a war monitor reported on Saturday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the overnight shelling from the U.S.-run base in al-Omal oil field targeted farms controlled by the IS group in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour province.

The death toll could likely rise due to the number of critically wounded people.

BEIRUT (AP) — An Islamic State suicide bomber targeted a joint convoy of U.S. and allied Kurdish forces in northern Syria on Monday, marking the second attack against U.S. troops in less than a week and further highlighting the dangers surrounding U.S. plans to withdraw forces after a declaration that the extremist group had been defeated.

The attack happened on a checkpoint on the edge of the town of Shaddadeh in the Hassakeh province, on a road used by local Kurdish fighters and the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS militants near the Iraqi border.

MOSCOW; 21 Jan 2019; AA: Four Syrian regime troops were killed and six others wounded when Israeli missiles hit targets in the Syrian capital Damascus, Russian Defense Ministry said Monday.

Israel carried out three airstrikes Sunday night on what the Israeli Defense Force said were positions of Iran's elite Quds force around the Damascus International Airport.

DAMASCUS, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian air defenses intercepted a fresh Israeli missile strike targeting the areas in southern Syria on Sunday, state news agency SANA reported.

The Israeli strike targeted areas in the surroundings of the capital Damascus in southern Syria, said the report.

It added that all Israeli missiles were destroyed before reaching their targets.

It is the latest in a string of Israeli missile strikes targeting military bases in Syria.

Last week, Israel carried out missile strikes on military bases around the capital Damascus.

ANKARA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The bomb attack in Syria's northern city of Manbij killed 20 people, including five U.S. soldiers, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.

The Islamic State (IS) militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the incident is trying to influence U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to pull out from Syria, Erdogan said in a joint press conference with the visiting Croatian president.

15 Jan 2019; AFP: The new special UN envoy to Syria began his first trip to Damascus on Tuesday, facing the daunting task of rekindling moribund peace talks and succeeding where his three predecessors failed.

Norway's Geir Pedersen, who replaces Staffan de Mistura, is the fourth negotiator to have been appointed UN special envoy to Syria since the civil war broke out in 2011.

DAMASCUS, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian air defenses intercepted most of the missiles launched by Israeli warplanes on areas near the capital Damascus on Friday night, the Syrian army said.

The Israeli warplanes flew from the Galilee Panhandle and fired several missiles on the vicinity of the capital Damascus, said an army statement.

The Syrian air defenses intercepted most of the Israeli missiles, it added.

Only a warehouse in the Damascus International Airport was damaged, according to the statement.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Some U.S. military ground equipment has been withdrawn from Syria in recent days, U.S. media reported on Thursday.

"Some cargo has already moved," CNN quoted an administration official with direct knowledge of the operation as saying.

The official did not reveal detailed information as to what the cargo was or whether it had been moved out by aircraft or ground vehicles.

The recent cargo withdrawal is reportedly intended to show the progress of the Syria withdrawal plan to U.S. President Donald Trump by the Pentagon.

10 Jan 2019; AFP: The main jihadist alliance in Syria's Idlib region reached a deal on Thursday ending days of deadly fighting with rival rebels and extending its influence over the whole rebel enclave.

The agreement brings an immediate end to the fighting between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by Al-Qaeda's former Syria affiliate, and the rival Turkish-backed National Liberation Front (NLF), according to the jihadists' propaganda website Ebaa.

WASHINGTON (AP) — What to do with hundreds of foreign Islamic State fighters captured in Syria has become a critical and growing problem for the Trump administration as it prepares to pull troops out of the country.