Category Archives: Syria

Australian teenager Yusuf Zahab ‘alive’ in Syrian prison months after reports he was killed in IS strike

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Family ‘overwhelmed with joy’ after video emerges of teenager, believed to be Zahab, looking healthy and speaking into a camera

An Australian teenager believed killed in an Islamic State airstrike in Syria more than a year ago is believed to have been found alive. His family say they are “overwhelmed with joy”.

Yusuf Zahab was just 11 when he was taken into Syria by his family nearly a decade ago: his older brothers were IS fighters and recruiters.

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‘Like a blowtorch’: Mediterranean gripped by wildfires as blazes spread in Croatia and Portugal

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‘There is no magical defence mechanism,’ says Greek prime minister as fires burn in northern Africa and southern Europe

Wildfires were burning in at least nine countries across the Mediterranean as blazes spread in Croatia and Portugal, with thousands of firefighters in Europe and north Africa working in extreme heat to contain flames stoked by high temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds.

High temperatures and parched ground sparked wildfires in countries on both sides of the Mediterranean, with at least 34 people killed in Algeria, where 8,000 firefighters on Tuesday battled blazes across the tinder-dry north. Fires burned in a total of 15 provinces, leading to the evacuation of more than 1,500 people.

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Russian fighter jet fires flares at US drone in Syria

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Latest aggressive intercept by Russia in region sees drone damaged, a week after jet flew dangerously close to US aircraft

A Russian fighter jet flew within a few meters of a US drone over Syria and fired flares at it, striking the American aircraft and damaging it, the latest in a string of aggressive intercepts by Russia in the region.

A senior air force commander said the Russians attempted on Sunday to knock the MQ-9 Reaper drone out of the sky. It came just a week after a Russian fighter jet flew dangerously close to a US surveillance aircraft carrying a crew in the region, jeopardizing the lives of the four Americans on board.

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UK must repatriate more nationals in Syria, says terrorism policy adviser

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Britain has been urged by UN to help young children in Syrian detention camps

The UK government must allow greater repatriation of British nationals held in Syria, recognising that circumstances have changed since 2017, according to Jonathan Hall, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation.

He also predicted little security risk in allowing the return of Shamima Begum, who fled her east London home when she was 15 years old to join the Islamic State in Syria, because her notoriety is such that she is likely to apply for a lifelong anonymity order requiring daily contact with authorities. Begum was stripped of her British citizenship in 2019, a decision upheld by the supreme court.

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Russian veto on aid lifeline to Syria could bring ‘catastrophe’ for millions

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Fears rise that UN could be forced into compromise with Damascus to keep vital corridor open from Turkey to rebel-held Idlib

Aid groups and their backers at the United Nations are pushing to revive an aid corridor into rebel-held Syria after Russia vetoed the renewal of the cross-border lifeline that has been getting food and medicines into Syria for almost a decade.

Moscow has repeatedly attempted to stymie deliveries through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing from Turkey into Idlib, a strip of land controlled by the de facto opposition known as the National Salvation government, which is linked to the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham militant group. At least nine people were killed in a Russian airstrike on a vegetable market in rural Idlib last month.

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Syria reopens key aid corridor after Russian veto of UN deal

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British UN security council chair fears lack of monitoring will ‘hand control’ of aid to Assad

Syria will let humanitarian aid flow through its main border crossing into rebel-held areas, reopening a conduit that had closed after a stalemate on the United Nations security council, the country’s UN ambassador has said.

Damascus had made a “sovereign decision” to let aid move overland from Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa crossing in north-west Syria for six months starting on Thursday, ambassador Bassam Sabbagh told reporters.

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Cross-border aid to Syria blocked in ‘act of utter cruelty’ by Russia at UN vote

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Use of veto threatens operations on route from Turkey that supports millions of people in north-west

Russia has been accused of “an act of utter cruelty” after it used its veto at the UN security council to block a nine-month renewal of cross-border aid designed to help 4 million people living in rebel-held north-west Syria.

The vote throws into doubt the continued existence of the key aid route into Syria from Turkey, and represents another hammer blow to a population still reeling from the devastating earthquake that struck the region in February.

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US says it killed Islamic State leader Usamah al-Muhajir in Syria

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Statement says that strike was carried out by the same drones that were earlier harassed by Russian aircraft

The US military said on Sunday it conducted a strike that killed Usamah al-Muhajir, an Islamic State leader in eastern Syria.

“The strike on Friday was conducted by the same MQ-9s that had, earlier in the day, been harassed by Russian aircraft in an encounter that had lasted almost two hours,” a statement from US Central Command said.

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Syria cancels accreditation of two BBC journalists

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British broadcaster says it will continue to provide impartial news after being accused by Bashar al-Assad’s government of politicised coverage

Syria’s information ministry says it has cancelled the accreditation of two local journalists working for the BBC, accusing the British broadcaster of “false” and “politicised” coverage.

The accreditations of an unidentified correspondent and a camera operator had been revoked following “subjective and false information and reports” on Syria, the ministry said on its website on Saturday. It described other BBC reports as “politicised”.

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US releases footage of Russian fighter jets ‘harassing’ US drones over Syria

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US defence official accuses Russian military of ‘reckless behaviour’ by flying dangerously close and releasing flares during US mission against Islamic State

The US Air Force has released video footage it says shows Russian fighter jets flying dangerously close to several US drones over Syria on Wednesday, setting off flares and forcing the MQ-9 Reapers to take evasive manoeuvres.

US Air Forces Central said in a statement describing the scenes: “These events represent a new level of unprofessional and unsafe action by Russian air forces operating in Syria.”

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Spanish police arrest 15 after long investigation into alleged people-smuggling gang

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Operation allegedly involved moving people from Syria to Spain on a circuitous route via Sudan and north Africa

Spanish police have broken up what they say is an organised criminal gang involved in a highly unusual people-smuggling operation involving the moving of migrants from Syria to Spain on an 8,000km trip via Sudan.

A year-long investigation, which was coordinated by Europol and involved dozens of police officers from France, Norway and Germany, uncovered a network of alleged people-smuggling cells across north Africa and northern Europe as well as the main nerve centre of the gang in southern Spain.

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France brings back women and children held in camps in Syria

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Twenty-five children and 10 adults sent to camps for suspected jihadists repatriated to France

France has repatriated 25 children and 10 women who were held in prison camps for suspected jihadists in north-east Syria, the fourth such operation in a year, the foreign ministry has said.

The minors would be handed over to childcare services while the adults would be handed over to the relevant judicial authorities, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

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‘The people don’t want us’: inside a camp for Iraqis returned from Syrian detention

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Exclusive: As Iraq steps up transfers from al-Hawl, speaking to returnees raises questions over a process mired in complexities

The Iraqi government plans to accelerate the repatriation of its nationals with confirmed or suspected ties to Islamic State (IS) from north-east Syria, in a politically charged process that has ignited a struggle for power and money while highlighting the challenges of reintegrating a partly radicalised population.

After months of deadlock, about 650 civilians, mostly women and children, were transferred last week from Syria’s notorious al-Hawl camp to a closed facility in northern Iraq called Jeddah-1, where they will spend several months before they are allowed to leave. Though they have not committed crimes, many have relatives who joined the terrorist group and have for years been exposed to extremist ideology.

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Twenty-two troops injured in helicopter ‘mishap’ in Syria, US military says

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Ten evacuated to care facilities outside region after incident on Sunday that is being investigated

Twenty-two US service members were injured in a helicopter “mishap” in north-east Syria on Sunday, the US military said late on Monday, without disclosing the cause of the incident or detailing the severity of the injuries.

The military’s Central Command said 10 service members had been evacuated to higher-level care facilities outside the region.

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Gillian Anderson and Stanley Tucci back calls to rescue British families in Syria

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Estimated 60 children among those trapped in detention camps since Islamic State collapse

A group of celebrities including Olivia Colman, Stephen Fry and Gillian Anderson have called on ministers to rescue and bring home British families trapped in detention camps in north-east Syria.

The stars, along with various NGOs including War Child UK and Human Rights Watch, the Tory peer Sayeeda Warsi and several national security experts, have signed an open letter to the UK government appealing for the rescue of approximately 25 British families, including an estimated 60 children most of whom are under 10 years old, who are languishing in the camps.

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Hope for Syrian cancer patients as cross-border treatment resumes in Turkey

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North-west Syria regains access to radiotherapy for first time since Earthquake devastated the region but backlog means many remain in limbo

Cross-border treatment for cancer patients from north-west Syria resumed this week after February’s earthquake had left people without access to radiotherapy.

But medical organisations in the area are warning that the backlog means many cancer patients remain in limbo and some could die as a result.

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‘Last resort’: government faces legal action to force repatriation of Australians from Syrian refugee camps

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Seventeen women and nine children will take the government to court, arguing that Australia has ‘effective control’ of their detention and the power to set them free

Australian mothers and children held in a Syrian detention camp will take the Australian government to court in an attempt to compel the government to bring them home.

Seventeen Australian women and nine children – the wives, widows, and children of slain or jailed Islamic State fighters – held in the Roj camp in north-east Syria, will file a writ of habeas corpus in the federal court on Monday morning, arguing that Australia has “effective control” of their detention and the power to set them free.

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Australian child pleads with prime minister to be rescued from Syrian detention camp

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Exclusive: ‘I have spent half my life in a tent closed off by gates like a prison,’ says the child, who is under 10, in a voice message to Anthony Albanese

An Australian child trapped in a Syrian detention camp has pleaded directly with prime minister Anthony Albanese to be rescued and brought home.

“I am one of the children left behind in Roj camp and I have spent half my life in a tent closed off by gates like a prison,” a voice message sent to the prime minister’s office says. “I have never been to school, laid in grass or climbed a tree.”

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Millions of Syrian refugees face fight to reclaim homes, says human rights group

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Report by Syrian Network for Human Rights details laws giving Assad’s government powers to seize land

As many as 14 million Syrians face a near insurmountable barrier to returning to their homes after the government passed laws giving the state power to seize their land and property, according to a report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights.

The report, shared with the Guardian, urged the UN high commissioner for refugees to highlight the laws as one of the main obstacles to refugees returning home.

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UK special forces have operated secretly in 19 countries since 2011

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Exclusive: Extensive deployments ‘raise serious concerns about transparency’, says research group Action on Armed Violence

SAS and other British special forces have been involved in covert operations in 19 countries in the past dozen years, including in Nigeria, the Philippines and Russia, as well as in Syria, Ukraine and most recently Sudan, a study reveals.

The elite military units operate in secret, without ministers publicly confirming their activities. But a research group, Action on Armed Violence, has compiled a list of their activities since 2011 based on media leaks.

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