Syria

04 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Displaced Syrian children have resorted to sifting through rubbish to look for food in the liberated territories of north-west Syria due to a shortage of humanitarian aid.

In a video posted on Tuesday by the Syrian Network for Human Rights, children can be seen running behind a rubbish truck transporting waste to a local landfill area in the opposition-held province of Idlib. The drone footage then shows the children gathering around the household waste and searching for food.

DAMASCUS, Nov 25 (NNN-SANA) – An Israeli missile attack hit military sites in the southern countryside of Damascus last night, causing damage only.

Just before midnight, the Israeli missile strike was launched from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, a military source was quoted as saying.

The exact targets of the strike have not been revealed.

The strike is the latest one among a series of attacks targeting military sites in Syria, including those of the militias.

Damascus, Nov 25 (AP-PTI) Syria's military said suspected Israeli warplanes struck locations south of the capital Damascus late Tuesday, causing only material damage, state-run media reported.

The report, which quotes an unidentified military official, said the warplanes struck shortly before midnight south of Damascus, from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The statement didn't elaborate on the target or the damage.

23 Nov 2020; MEMO: Syria named veteran diplomat Faisal Mekdad as foreign minister on Sunday to replace Walid Moalem, who died last week, state media reported, Reuters reports.

Mekdad, 66, had been deputy foreign minister since 2006. He has also held a string of diplomatic posts, including envoy to the United Nations.

DAMASCUS, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday appointed Faisal Mekdad, the deputy foreign minister, as the new foreign minister, following the death of late Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem last Monday.

Assad also named Bashar al-Jaafari, the Syrian representative to the UN, as the new deputy foreign minister.

Mekdad, born in southern Syria in 1954, served as the permanent representative of Syria to the UN from 2003 to 2006. He was appointed as deputy foreign minister in 2006.

IDLIB, Syria (AP) — Nurses hover over a patient to insert a breathing tube as his condition suddenly deteriorates. ICU beds fill up almost overnight. As one patient dies of the coronavirus and is wheeled out, another is whisked in to take his place. An exhausted doctor leans against a wheelchair for a breather.

14 Nov 2020; MEMO: Outgoing US Envoy to Syria James Jeffrey has praised Donald Trump's approach in the country and has admitted to lying about the number of US troops in Syria.

In an interview with Defense One, Jeffrey confessed: "We were always playing shell games to not make clear to our leadership how many troops we had there."

12 Nov 2020; MEMO: Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad yesterday blamed US sanctions and pressure on the United Nations and the country's neighbours for the reluctance of more than five million refugees to return to Syria.

DAMASCUS, November 11. /TASS/: The US refusal to participate in an international conference on assistance in the return of Syrian refugees and internally displaced persons demonstrates double standards regarding Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in his greetings to the conference participants read out on Wednesday by Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev.

DAMASCUS, Nov 9 (NNN-SANA) – Four U.S. soldiers were killed yesterday, by an explosive device in the countryside of Syria’s north-eastern province of Hasakah.

The explosive device tore through a U.S. military vehicle, in the village of Markadeh, on the Hasakah-Deir al-Zour road, said the report.

It added that a translator was among the slain soldiers.

Following the explosion, the U.S. forces cordoned off the area, amid the flight of U.S. warplanes in the area.

The slain soldiers were taken to a U.S. base in the Shaddadi area, in the Hasakah countryside.