Syria

DAMASCUS, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said here on Wednesday that the U.S.-led Western sanctions on Syria shouldn't block humanitarian assistance.

Stressing 90 percent of Syrians live in poverty, Pedersen told reporters that he had repeated his demand to the United Nations Security Council a day earlier that the sanctions imposed on Syria should not affect humanitarian assistance.

08 Dec 2022; MEMO: The Syrian football and basketball federations, which are run by the Bashar Al-Assad regime,  yesterday announced the suspension of all their sporting activities due to the fuel crisis that the regime-controlled areas are suffering.

The official Syrian news agency SANA reported that the football and basketball federations announced the postponement of the general league for all age groups.

05 Dec 2022; MEMO: American Forces have resumed joint operations and patrols with the Kurdish militias in northern Syria, after a short period in which they were halted due to an air bombardment campaign by Turkiye.

05 Dec 2022; MEMO: Dozens of people have taken part in a protest in the southern Syrian city of As-Suwayda against the deteriorating living conditions including frequent power outages, water supply cuts and rising fuel and food prices, the Syrian Observatory for Human rights (SOHR) said.

04 Dec 2022; MEMO: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has rejected efforts by his Russian allies to arrange a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, refusing to give him leverage in next year's upcoming elections in Turkiye.

According to an anonymous source with knowledge of the Syrian regime's thinking, cited by the Reuters news agency, Assad fears that accepting a meeting with Erdogan would only hand the Turkish leader another achievement in time for the country's elections in June next year.

QAMISHLI, Syria Dec 2 (Reuters) - The Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed group that helped defeat Islamic State jihadists in Syria, said on Friday it had stopped all joint counter-terrorism operations with the United States and other allies as a result of Turkish bombardment on its area of control.

Turkey has ramped up its shelling and air strikes on northern Syria in recent weeks and is preparing a ground invasion against Syrian Kurdish fighters that it dubs terrorists but which make up the bulk of the U.S.-supported SDF.

30 Nov 2022; MEMO: The Turkish army has sent military reinforcements to the border area with Syria, amid rising threats to launch a ground military operation against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria.

Pictures and videos, published by the Turkish Sabah newspaper, showed Turkish military vehicles and tanks on their way to "point zero" on the Syrian border.

19 Nov 2022; MEMO: Haq Association for Turkish Humanitarian Aid has completed the fifth stage of the Life Homes project for Syrian refugees in Idlib as it handed over 359 homes to Syrian refugees in Idlib, Anadolu Agency reported on Friday.

In a statement, the charity said that its project supported the campaign launched by the Turkish Interior Ministry in cooperation with the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) to build homes for Syrian refugees in Idlib.

15 Nov 2022; MEMO: Turkiye has inaugurated a village built for displaced Syrians, as Ankara continues to attempt to resolve their settlement and the return of Syrian refugees to the country.

During a visit to northern Syria yesterday, Turkish Interior Minister, Suleyman Soylu spoke at a ceremony in the newly-built settlement of 'Musiad', consisting of 600 brick bungalows at Mashhad Ruhin near the Turkish border in Idlib province.

9 Nov 2022; MEMO: At least two fuel trucks were destroyed in an air strike by an unidentified drone on the Syrian side of the border with Iraq late on Tuesday, Iraqi security and border officials told Reuters.

The strike was carried out by a drone and targeted a tanker truck convoy carrying Iranian fuel that had entered Qaim border crossing into Syria, the officials said, Reuters reports.

"No Iraqi casualties have been reported," said an Iraqi border police officer.