Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Mohammed Haji Abed drives his yellow taxi through the busy streets of the Syrian capital for about 12 hours a day, toiling in the sweltering summer heat but earning barely enough for his family of five to get by.

It was easier for him to make ends meet at the height of his country’s civil war, when rebels regularly lobbed mortars into Damascus from their strongholds on the outskirts of the city.

1 Aug 2019; MEMO: Syrian regime and opposition on Wednesday mutually released prisoners in line with the provisions agreed in the Astana peace process, Anadolu reports.

Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement said that several persons detained by the regime and opposition were simultaneously released.

24 July 2019; MEMO: Syrian state television said on Wednesday that Israel struck a strategic area in southern Syria overlooking the Golan Heights where Western intelligence sources previously said Iranian-backed militias are known to be based, reports Reuters.

DAMASCUS, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Syria's state media reported on Wednesday an Israeli attack on the country's southern province of Daraa, saying it did not cause any casualties.

State TV said that the strike was directed at the al-Harrah hill, which is home to Syrian army posts and a mountain south of the capital Damascus overlooking wide parts of southern Syria.

Over the years, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes against Iranian targets in Syria, which are entrenched in the south and the Golan Heights near the border with Israel.

22 July 2019; MEMO: Russia is working to reform the Syrian army and end Iran’s influence over it by appointing and promoting pro-regime officers and excluding Iranian allies, the American Middle East Policy Institute has revealed.

In a study published this week, the organisation said that the war has destroyed most of the capabilities of the Syrian army through splits, military attacks, assassinations and desertions, leading to a significant decline in armoured mechanical capabilities.

12 July 2019; DW: Three German children along with their German "IS" mother must be brought back from a Syrian refugee camp, a Berlin court has told the Foreign Ministry. The judiciary cited state obligation to protect citizens abroad.

Germany's Foreign Ministry said late Thursday it was "examining" the Berlin Administrative Court's ruling that three children and their mother, originally from Germany's northern state of Lower Saxony, be located and returned to Germany from a Syrian refugee camp.

8 July 2019; MEMO: At least 544 civilians have been killed and over 2,000 people injured since a Russian-led assault on the last rebel bastion in northwestern Syria began two months ago, rights groups and rescuers said on Saturday, reported Reuters.

3 July 2019; MEMO: Deputy Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad warned yesterday that the response to Israeli attacks on Syria might change in the future, Sputnik reported.

Mekdad’s remarks came one day after Israel struck alleged Iranian targets in Syria.

TASS, July 1: At least four people have been killed and 21 others wounded in an Israeli missile strike in a rural area near Syria’s capital Damascus, the SANA news agency reported on Monday.

It noted that a child was among the victims.

Syria’s air defenses repelled a missile attack targeting the cities of Damascus and Homs overnight to Monday. According to SANA, the missiles were fired by Israeli warplanes from Lebanon’s airspace.

LATAKIA /Syria/, June 17. /TASS/: The temporary accommodation centers in the Syrian province of Latakia have received refugees from the Idlib de-escalation zone where military activities are ongoing, Spokesman for the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Sides in Syria Sergei Smolinsky told reporters, adding that the Russian military had provided humanitarian aid to the refugees.

"They need help for they are not only facing welfare issues but psychological problems as well," he said.