Syria

16 Feb 2022; MEMO: The Russian Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu has arrived in Syria to oversee naval drills involving 15 warships and 30 aircraft in the eastern Mediterranean, the Russian Ministry of Defence said in a statement yesterday.

16 Feb 2022; MEMO: Russia has deployed MiG-31K fighter jets with hypersonic Kinzhal missiles and long-range Tupolev Tu-22M strategic bombers to its air base in Syria for naval exercises, Interfax news agency reported yesterday, citing the defence ministry.

11 Feb 2022; MEMO: Tens of Syrian protesters gathered on Thursday in the mainly Druze city of Sweida to protest against worsening economic conditions and subsidy cuts that came into force last week, residents, activists and local officials said on Thursday, and Reuters reports.

10 Feb 2022; MEMO: Continuous Israeli raids on Syria are violating international law and complicating the situation in the region, a Russian official warned yesterday.

Russian Ambassador to Syria, Alexander Efimov, told Novosti that Russia was "strongly condemning the Israeli raids on Syria."

"Moscow is constantly informing Israel of its stance against these violations," he added.

HASSAKEH, Syria (AP) — Weeks after the long, furious battle with militants from the Islamic State group over a prison in northwestern Syria, the mangled wreckage of a car used by suicide bombers still sat outside its perimeter. Cranes put in place new cement blast walls to close off the entrance.

Gaping holes remained in the prison’s outer wall, an ominous reminder of the IS inmates who escaped during the fighting.

ATMEH, Syria (AP) — The leader of the violent Islamic State group was killed during an overnight raid carried out by U.S. special forces in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, President Joe Biden said Thursday.

ATMEH, Syria (AP) — The leader of the violent Islamic State group was killed during an overnight raid carried out by U.S. special forces in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, President Joe Biden said Thursday.

31 Jan 2022; MEMO: Some 320 people have been killed since Daesh militants attacked Al-Sina'a Prison in northeast Syria on 20 January, a war monitor said yesterday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which relies on a network of sources inside the war-torn country, said that 246 Daesh militants, 79 Kurdish fighters and seven civilians have been killed so far in the assault.

29 Jan 2022; MEMO: The Syrian Bashar Al-Assad regime called on the US to withdraw its forces from Syrian territories, threatening that it would prosecute officials in the administration and US forces.

In a statement on Thursday evening, the Military Prosecution of the Assad regime declared that it would: "Prosecute officials in the administration and the US forces for the presence of evidence of violations committed by the US forces in Syria."

28 Jan 2022; MEMO: The possibility of a military solution in Syria is "an illusion," the UN's Special Envoy to Syria told the Security Council on Thursday, UN News reports.