Low expectations in Idlib ahead of Syria peace talks

The Syrian province of Idlib, one of the last remaining rebel strongholds in the country's north, is experiencing a new wave of Covid-19 infections, driven by the more contagious Delta variant. This comes as the regime intensifies bombings in the region, putting local hospitals under even greater pressure. We take a closer look.

The upsurge in violence in Syria combined with its plummeting economy are making life increasingly bleak for civilians, United Nations investigators say.

A new Syrian-Jordanian deal on energy for Lebanon is being seen by some as another step towards the international rehabilitation of the brutal Assad regime.

In its first report on the Syrian war death toll since 2014, the UN said at least 350,209 people have died in the decade-long conflict. But admitted the real toll is likely to be much higher.

Rifaat al-Assad, dubbed the butcher of Hama, was exiled by the Syrian president's late father. He was facing four years behind bars in France for laundering embezzled funds.

"I didn't know what a marathon was until today", says one of a group of Syrian orphans taking part in a race in the rebel-held northwestern city of Idlib. The event has been organised by an NGO in a bid to introduce children who have lost their parents in Syria's ongoing conflict to different kinds of sports. Nearly 500,000 people have died in the conflict since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of peaceful demonstrations.

At least 10 civilians were killed and another 35 injured on Wednesday by an Assad regime attack in Idlib, northwestern Syria, according to medical sources. Artillery of regime forces and Iranian-backed foreign terrorist groups targeted a marketplace in the center of the town of Ariha in rural southern Idlib, an area under opposition control.

A Syrian war monitor said the Israeli attack allegedly had targeted sites housing arms depots linked to the Lebanese Hezbollah movement and pro-Iran militias.

A Syrian war monitor said the Israeli attack allegedly had targeted sites housing arms depots linked to the Lebanese Hezbollah movement and pro-Iran militias.

In an interview with FRANCE 24, Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, said it was time to reassess Western policy vis-à-vis Syria and that the approach followed in recent years had failed. “The only end to the crisis is a political solution,” he added. The Jordanian minister also hinted that his country was favourable to bringing Syria back into the Arab League.

German jihadist Nils D. has been found guilty of torturing a man to death while serving as guard at an "Islamic State" prison.

'We don't think Syria is in any way a safe place,' says UNHCR spokesman After a Syrian journalist was arrested in Jordan this month some media freedom advocates linked the case to a recent thaw in Jordan-Syria relations, suggesting Syria had asked Jordan to silence opposition voices.