Syria

DAMASCUS, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian air defenses intercepted an Israeli missile attack that targeted areas in the western countryside of the capital Damascus on Tuesday evening, the state TV reported.

Citing a military source, the state TV said the air defenses intercepted most of the Israeli missiles before reaching their targets, adding that only a weapon depot was damaged and three soldiers were wounded.

BEIRUT (AP) — A Syrian war monitor and Turkish media say Turkey is massing troops near a town in northern Syria held by a U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led force.

Turkey said it would delay a promised offensive in Syria following U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to dislodge the Kurdish fighters, who Turkey views as an extension of the insurgency within its borders. The U.S. had partnered with the Syrian Kurdish militia to drive out the Islamic State group.

DAMASCUS, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov has stressed his country's resolve to support Syria to surpass all of the troubles caused by the more than seven-year war, the pro-government al-Watan newspaper said Sunday.

"We are determined to stand by the side of Syria to overcome all the woes that it has been through over the past seven years," the Russian official told al-Watan in an interview.

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — North Korea’s foreign minister says his country and Syria face the same “enemy” and called for increased cooperation between them.

Syria’s President Bashar Assad received Ri Yong Ho on Tuesday. Assad responded by identifying the United States as a hostile country to Syria and North Korea. Syria state news agency SANA carried the comments.

Washington has an estimated 2,000 troops stationed in eastern Syria as part of its campaign against Islamic State group militants.

30 Nov 2018; AFP: Damascus Friday accused Israel of striking Syria, in what a monitor said were the such first missiles to hit the country since an air defence upgrade after the downing of a Russian plane in September.

The Syrian regime claimed its air defence systems shot down all "hostile targets" late Thursday. Israel did not confirm carrying out raids but denied any losses.

Damascus, Nov 30 (AFP) Israeli jets on Thursday bombed several areas near Damascus as well as in southern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

"Israeli forces bombarded for an hour positions in the southern and southwestern suburbs of Damascus as well as in the south of Syria at the border of Quneitra province," the Observatory's chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Earlier, Syrian state media said air defences downed a number of "hostile targets" close to the capital.

DAMASCUS, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday ordered a government reshuffle by changing nine ministers, state news agency SANA reported.

The nine ministers of water resources, internal trade, the interior ministry, tourism, education, high education, public works and housing, communication and industry were replaced in the cabinet reshuffle.

The most significant change is the replacement of Minister of the Interior Mohammad al-Shaar, who has been in this position since April 2011, the early days of the Syrian crisis.

TASS, November 25. At least 14 civilians were killed in an airstrike delivered by the US-led coalition in the settlement of Al-Shaafa in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor governorate, SANA news agency reported on Sunday.

According to SANA’s sources, all those killed were members of one family.

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Russian warplanes attacked rebel-held areas in northern Syria for the first time in weeks on Sunday, as Syrian officials said more than 100 people were treated at hospitals for a suspected poison gas attack in the northern city of Aleppo that Damascus and Moscow blamed on rebels.

MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/. The bodies of over 8,000 Syrians killed in bombing raids by the US-led coalition have been found in mass graves in Syria’s Raqqa after the rubble was partially cleared away, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.