Syria

DAMASCUS, April 30 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army has started sending reinforcements to the northwestern province of Idlib as part of the preparation for a possible operation against the rebels, the pro-government al-Watan newspaper reported Tuesday.

The report said the new development comes as Turkey has failed to live up to its pledges regarding the rebels' situation in Idlib, as de-escalation zones' deal reached between Turkey and Russia last September is falling apart.

27 Apr 2019; DW: Jihadi militants killed 22 Syrian government soldiers and allied Iranian militiamen on Saturday in two synchronized attacks in northern Syria, a British-based war monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said al-Qaeda's former Syria branch, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and its ally, Hurras al-Deen, also wounded 30 soldiers and militiamen in the assaults in the northern province of Aleppo.

MOSCOW, April 24. /TASS/. The critical situation in Syria’s refugee camp Rukban creates prerequisites for the emergence of a quasi-state beyond the control of the country’s legitimate authorities, the deputy chief of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operational Directorate, Lieutenant-General Stanislav Gadzhimagomedov said on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, April 24. /TASS/. The withdrawal of British, US, Turkish and French troops, which are in Syria illegally, guarantees the end of war crimes in the country, Syrian Deputy Defense Minister Mahmoud al-Shawa said at the Moscow Conference on International Security on Wednesday.

"We demand that the illegal presence of foreign troops of the US, France, Britain and Turkey on our soil should be stopped and the international alliance disbanded. That guarantees the end of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by them," he stressed.

DAMASCUS, April 20. /TASS/. Syria may soon lease out to Russia its seaport of Tartus for a term of 49 years for economic uses, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said on Saturday after his meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

In 2017, Moscow and Damascus signed an agreement on the deployment of a Russian navy logistics support center in Tartus for the term of 49 years.

MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/. More than 1,300 refugees have left the Syrian refugee camp Rukban, located within the US-controlled area, via the safe exit, Major General Viktor Kupchishin, chief of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria, said.

"During the day, as many as 1,358 refugees managed to leave the Rukban camp via the humanitarian corridor. In all, a total of 3,642 people have left the Rukban camp for the territory controlled by the Syrian authorities since February 19, 2019," he said.

DAMASCUS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The UN envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen discussed the formation of the constitutional committee with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem in Damascus on Sunday, state news agency SANA reported.

They discussed the exerted efforts in the political track for resolving the Syrian crisis, including the formation of the constitutional committee, SANA said.

Pedersen briefed al-Moallem on his activities since his last visit to Syria's capital Damascus in March.

No more details were given about the meeting.

Displaced Syrians reach the Jlaighem crossing in the eastern countryside of Homs Province in central Syria, on April 13, 2019.

Tens of civilians reached a crossing point in the Syrian desert on Saturday from the rebel-held Rukban refugee camp in southeastern Syria.

The Rukban camp is home to 50,000 displaced Syrians, who are suffering from the harsh humanitarian situation because of the cold weather and lack of supplies. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

DAMASCUS, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Israeli warplanes conducted airstrikes against a military site in central Syria before dawn Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.

The warplanes carried out the attack from inside the Lebanese airspace and targeted the military site in the central city of Masyaf.

The Syrian air defenses intercepted several missiles before reaching their targets.

The attack destroyed some facilities and wounded three soldiers, according to the report.

MOSCOW, April 11. /TASS/. Between 10 and 20 people, many of them children, die each day in Syria’s Al-Hawl refugee camp on the US-controlled territory, the head of the Russian reconciliation center in Syria, Maj. Gen. Viktor Kupchishin, said on Wednesday.