Syria

05 Nov 2020; MEMO: The head of the High Council for Syrian Tribes and Clans, Sheikh Salim Al-Muslat, yesterday announced that Syrian tribes have rejected all forms of cooperation or rapprochement with the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad.

05 Nov 2020; MEMO: Syrian President Bashar al Assad said billions of dollars of deposits held by his countrymen in Lebanon’s financial sector that was blocked after a major financial crisis were the main cause of Syria’s deepening economic crisis, Reuters reports.

28 Oct 2020; MEMO: About 30 fighters were killed in violent clashes between the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and Daesh, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported yesterday.

The two sides have been fighting continuously since the beginning of the month in separate axes in the Syrian desert.

27 Oct 2020; MEMO: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said as many as 56 pro-Turkey fighters were killed when Russian warplanes attacked their training camp in northwestern Syria.

The organisation reported that Russian planes targeted a training camp controlled by the Faylaq Al-Sham faction in the Jabal Duwayli area in Idlib province, killing at least 56 fighters and wounding more than a hundred others.

23 Oct 2020; MEMO: Sheikh Muhammad Adnan Al-Afiouni, the senior Sunni Muslim mufti of Damascus province was killed in a roadside bombing yesterday which is believed to have been a targeted assassination.

The explosion happened in the town of Qudsaya, west of the Syrian capital. The mufti was initially reported to have been wounded but was declared dead soon after.

21 Oct 2020; MEMO: On a dusty plain in the Israeli occupied Golan Heights, a golden-lettered sign with Israeli and American flags stands before a rusty wire fence as the gateway to “Trump Heights.”

The Trump Heights settlement, which was inaugurated as a celebration to mark US President Donald Trump’s recognition of the Golan as Israeli territory, has started to attract investors in the region.

17 Oct 2020; MEMO: Over 414,000 displaced Syrians have voluntarily returned to areas liberated by the Turkish military, Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu revealed on Friday.

Speaking at a workshop in the Ayvalık district in Turkey’s western Balıkesir province, Soylu stated: “Thanks to the security provided by our cross-border operations, 414,061 Syrians have voluntarily returned to their country so far.”

DAMASCUS, Oct 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Syrian government has set up a temporary hospital for Covid-19 patients at a Damascus sports complex in preparation for what an official said was a possible second wave.

The facility at Al-Faiha Stadium will operate 120 beds for people requiring oxygen, but has capacity for 100 more.

The health ministry has reported 4,774 cases of Covid-19 and 228 deaths in government-held areas since March.

However, experts believe the actual figures are significantly higher.

14 Oct 2020; MEMO: The United States has started construction of a new military base in Syrian oil rich Deir Ez-Zor governorate near the Syrian-Iraqi border.

Local sources said the new base will face sites controlled by Syrian regime forces on the western bank of the Euphrates River.

The sources explained that the American army has started setting up a helipad to provide logistical supplies for the base.

09 Oct 2020; MEMO: Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad claimed that US President Donald Trump’s plan to assassinate him is part of a rooted US policy that relies on assassination attempts, while stressing the need for an international balance to deter or punish the US administration for its “evil actions”.