Tag: Damascus
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Israel ‘trying to drag’ Syria into a conflict, senior regime official claims
“We will not be a launching pad for threatening neighboring countries, but we will spare no means to confront and deter Israeli aggression,” Syria’s information minister reportedly said.
Israel is attempting to “drag” Damascus into a confrontation through multiple provocations, a senior Syrian intelligence official, Hamza al-Mustafa, claimed on Saturday, Al Jazeera reported.
“Israel is miscalculating when it thinks it can impose facts on the ground,” he claimed. “We are not ashamed to say that we are not in a position of strength, especially after liberation, and we want to focus on rebuilding the country.
“We will not be a launching pad for threatening neighboring countries, but we will spare no means to confront and deter Israeli aggression.”
Syrian officials condemn Israeli operations
Speaking on the incident inBeit Jen, in which a number of IDF soldiers were wounded while arresting two terror suspects earlier this week, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani claimed Israel “threatened regional peace and security.”
Calling the incident a violation of Syrian sovereignty and international law, he demanded that the United Nations and Arab League put an end to the situation.
The comments came as the minister met with his Danish counterpart.
Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ibrahim Alabi, condemned Israel’s operation earlier.
This is a developing story.
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In Damascus, business is down but hopes are high one year after Hurricane Helene
Part of the Virginia Creeper Trail that remains closed a year after Hurricane Helene. (Photo by Shannon Heckt/Virginia Mercury)
As the first fall leaves drifted to the ground in Damascus Town Park on a recent warm September day, Mayor Katie Lamb spoke to an audience just off the Virginia Creeper Trail trailhead. One year ago, Laurel Creek began to rise and quickly flooded downtown — washing away homes and battering businesses.
“Helene came in with a vengeance, and she may have damaged and destroyed our structures, but she did not shatter our Appalachian mountain virtues or our love for our town,” Lamb said.
Picture of Damascus, VA during flooding from Hurricane Helene. (Photo courtesy the City of Damascus)
Reportedly, 140 structures in Damascus were damaged or destroyed – bringing an estimated $12 million in damages to residential properties, businesses and public facilities. The state endured an estimated $4 billion in damage and hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of debris were strewn across the region. Three people in Virginia died as a result of the storm, as well as over 250 people in other states.
In Damascus, home to 747 residents, the floodwaters washed out bridges and trestles, sending debris slamming into each bridge until it gave way and the surging currents flowed down to the next. The Laurel Creek water gauge read 18 feet before it was washed away.
As the mayor spoke 12 months after the devastating storm, crews could be heard jackhammering away the former bridge on Orchard Hill Road. The washed out bridge still rests on the banks, evidence of the sheer force of the flood waters that came through.
Portion of the Virginia Creeper Trail that remains closed due to damage one year after Hurricane Helene. (Photo by Shannon Heckt/Virginia Mercury)
While people were rushing to save their homes and lives, the livelihood of many in the region was being washed away farther east.
Multiple popular hiking and biking trails, such as the Appalachian Trail, converge near Damascus. Many of the town businesses are catered to visitors who wish to bike the 34-mile gravel trail that stretches from Abingdon to White Top along old train routes. The most popular portion is from White Top to Damascus, as it is mostly downhill and shaded in trees. Helene’s flooding almost wiped that portion off the map completely.
Virginia Creeper Trail sign leading into Damascus on the portion that was not destroyed by Hurricane Helene. (Photo by Shannon Heckt/Virginia Mercury)
“We lost so much the day that the trail flooded. October’s always the busiest month, and that’s how we get through the winter by having a huge October,” said Michael Wright, owner of Adventure Damascus Bicycles and another business.
Developers are currently bidding on rebuilding the 17-mile portion of the trail that was most frequented by bikers of all ages. There is a tentative timeline of it reopening by October 2026. The project is estimated to cost $200-300 million.
Seated in the office of one of his stores, Wright said business is down about 75% for his bicycle rental and shuttle storefront. His employees took calls in the background, explaining to customers that the popular part of the trail is going to be closed for at least another year. Hundreds of bikes are lined up in the back of the building, waiting to be taken out.
Wright’s other business, which outfits Appalachian Trail hikers, is down about 30% this year despite the trail being fully open. About 400 miles of the trail was closed across multiple states immediately after the storm.
Bikes lined up in Adventure Damascus Bicycles. (Photo by Shannon Heckt/Virginia Mercury)
He had never seen flooding like that in all his years living in the area. In all his years living in the area, Wright said he’s never seen flooding like Helene’s. His bicycle rental store along Laurel Creek had multiple inches of water in it. He had to lay off most of his employees in the wake of the storm, but has been able to hire back some of them, mostly part-time workers.
“So, you know, everything’s just gone, in an instant. We didn’t know what to do, where to go, but we just started cleaning up,” Wright said.
Two homes just across the trail that runs alongside his store were washed away in the flood and have already been replaced. When Wright posted on Facebook that the bike shop doors were open again months after the flood, a couple that had been coming to Damascus for years drove all the way from Alabama to give them business and support them through tough times.
“I’ve been doing this for almost 30 years, but over the years, people come to town and they love coming to town. I love the place so much,” Wright said. “I didn’t realize as many people had the same feeling that I did. But it makes perfect sense. That’s why they keep coming back.”
The town has been working hard to leverage other activities and the second half of the Creeper Trail to show visitors that they are still open for business.
“We’re nervous about this winter for sure. We have a lot of hope now that the trail will be open next year,” Wright said.
Down the main drag of town, Blue Blaze is another bike rental shop that has had to adjust to operating with only a portion of the Creeper Trail open. Owner Rich DeArmond, at his front desk that still bears the water marks of Helene’s flooding, explained that he has invested in more e-bikes to help people bike the Damascus to Abingdon portion of the trail, which is not as downhill and more of a challenge for some riders. He describes this shift as a new beginning.
Rick DeArmond, owner of Blue Blaze, in Damascus, Va., talks about Hurricane Helene impacts with a visible water line on his front desk. (Photo by Shannon Heckt/Virginia Mercury)
The town parks and recreation department has been emphasizing other draws to town such as trout fishing, hiking trails, and the overall peacefulness of the small community nestled in the middle of the mountains. Most of the businesses that were flooded are back open and looking for visitors to come in the door.
“We could either sit around and be sad, or we could do something about it, and so we decided to do everything we could to bring Damascus back,” Julie Kroll, the town recreation director, said.
Right next to where the bridge over Laurel Creek was washed out, Jennifer Walker had owned a rental home for six years. At the time of the storm she had tenants staying there who, fortunately, evacuated in time as the water quickly rose and eventually destroyed the house.
Walker and her family live just across the North Carolina border, a state that was lashed most severely by Helene. Their home was hit with a powerful mudslide that knocked part of the house off the foundation and ripped portions off to be carried away. They did not live in a floodplain and did not have flood insurance so they’ve had to rely on a small award from FEMA and slowly put what they can back into its reconstruction.
“In the back of our heads, we’re like, this is horrible, but we have our Damascus house. So we have a place to go … we went up to the top of our mountain, tried 81 times to make a phone call, and I got one call through to my mom. And at the same time, a video came through from the renters, and they said, ‘we’re sorry, it’s bad’,” Walker said.
While the home that held many memories of wintering in Damascus for them, Walker is eager for her new venture to come to life. In the spirit of the Creeper Trail, she has purchased two train cabooses that will be made into a hotel. She hopes it will be a fun experience for people who come through to ride the trail that passes right next to the property.
“You know, it’s just one of those things where you’re like, I’m glad that this town has bounced back. It’s cool. I mean, it’s just, and I’m not saying that because I have a place here, but it is a really special little town,” Walker said.
Washington County residents were awarded $2.4 million in individual assistance from FEMA; $2.1 million of that was distributed in Damascus. The nonprofit Trails to Recovery has raised $1.7 million in private donations and aided in repairing 83 homes and doing complete rebuilds of eight houses for county residents since the storm.
In April, Gov. Glenn Youngkin accelerated unlocking funds from the $46,670,000 allocated to Virginia by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through disaster recovery grants. A number of disaster loans were made available to southwest Virginians who were in need of assistance to build back their homes and businesses.
With the construction of the trail set to begin in the coming months, there are efforts to have workers stay in town and utilize local businesses for transportation to work sites. Wright said there is a possibility of his shuttle being used – which would help them survive the winter financially. The Old Mill Inn operators said they hope to have some workers stay there.
The shoreline outside the Old Mill Inn in Damascus, VA shows heavy erosion from Hurricane Helene flooding. (Photo by Shannon Heckt/Virginia Mercury)
Lamb became emotional during a tour of local businesses, explaining how hard they’ve worked to bounce back. She said they’ll never know the names of all the volunteers who flocked to the town to help people muck out their homes and rebuild structures. Damascus is hosting an event on Sept. 27, the day the waters rose, to show appreciation for those who helped them.
The town of Damascus has a population of less than 1,000. But during certain events that all revolve around the trails in the area, thousands of people gather there. When walking downtown now, it could be hard for out of towners to know what devastation was wrought there only a year ago. There are signs of it in the water lines on wood, the erosion of the water fronts, and the ongoing construction. But the spirit of Damascus has not diminished and residents are still welcoming visitors, whom they say are a lifeline of their community’s economy.
“We’re going to be better than we’ve ever been because we have each other, and we are damn strong,” Lamb said.
Damascus, VA leaders cut the ribbon for the new Creeper Trail trailhead a year after Hurricane Helene. (Photo by Shannon Heckt/Virginia Mercury)
Another report on the rebuilding of Southwest Virginia post-Helene will be published Tuesday, Sept. 23.
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Israel conducts landing on former air defense base in southwest Damascus
Generate Key TakeawaysIsrael conducts an airborne landing on a former Iranian-controlled air defense base near Damascus, preceded by strikes according to Syrian army sources and state-run TV.
IDF soldiers parachuted from four helicopters to a military post near Kiswa, south of Damascus, a Syrian military source told Al Jazeera on Wednesday.
Dozens of soldiers carrying search equipment carried out the operation, which lasted over two hours.
There were no reports of clashes between the IDF and the Syrian military during the operation.
This comes after reports broadcast by state-run Al Ekhbariya TV cited two Syrian army sources claiming that Israel launched a series of strikes on a former army barracks in Kiswa.
Iran had used the air defense base during the rule of ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. Locations of earlier strikes – in the Kiswa region and the strategic Jabal Manea hilltop – were also among the most significant military outposts used by pro-Iranian terror groups during the Assad era.
Operations of IDF troops in southern Syria, August 20, 2025. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)
Asked for comment on the strikes, an Israeli military spokesperson said: “We do not comment on foreign reports.”
A non-final estimate from Syria’s Shams TV claimed that nine soldiers were killed and others wounded in Israeli airstrikes on the Kiswa area in the Damascus countryside.
Israel has stepped up incursions into southern Syria, and the latest strikes coincided with security talks between Damascus and its long-time adversary aimed at reducing tensions.
Assad’s army may have left equipment behind, possibly from Iran
Another military source said Syria believes equipment was left behind in the area, perhaps by Iranian-backed terror groups that were entrenched there. The new Syrian army has since established a token presence there.
The source added that there were initial reports of several casualties.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa was attending the opening of a business expo nearly 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the targeted area, one of the Syrian sources added.
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Israel begins to respond to Iran’s drone attack
Israel begins to respond to Iran’s drone attack – CBS News
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Israel’s allies react to Iran’s drone attack
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Syrian Civil War Fast Facts | CNN
CNN
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Here’s a look at ongoing civil war in Syria.
Bashar al-Assad has ruled Syria as president since July 2000. His father, Hafez al-Assad, ruled Syria from 1970-2000.
The ongoing violence against civilians has been condemned by the Arab League, the European Union, the United States and other countries.
Roughly 5 million Syrians have fled to neighboring countries, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and more than 6.8 million people are displaced internally.
According to UNICEF’s Representative in Syria, Bo Viktor Nylund, “Since 2011, nearly 12,000 children were verified as killed or injured in Syria, that’s one child every eight hours over the past ten years.” Nylund said that the actual figures are likely much higher.
When the civil war began in 2011, there were four main factions of fighting groups throughout the country: Kurdish forces, ISIS, other opposition (such as Jaish al Fateh, an alliance between the Nusra Front and Ahrar-al-Sham) and the Assad regime.
March 2011 – Violence flares in Daraa after a group of teens and children are arrested for writing political graffiti. Dozens of people are killed when security forces crack down on demonstrations.
March 24, 2011 – In response to continuing protests, the Syrian government announces several plans to appease citizens. State employees will receive an immediate salary increase. The government also plans to study lifting Syria’s long standing emergency law and the licensing of new political parties.
March 30, 2011 – Assad addresses the nation in a 45-minute televised speech. He acknowledges that the government has not met the people’s needs, but he does not offer any concrete changes. The state of emergency remains in effect.
April 21, 2011 – Assad lifts the country’s 48-year-old state of emergency. He also abolishes the Higher State Security Court and issues a decree “regulating the right to peaceful protest, as one of the basic human rights guaranteed by the Syrian Constitution.”
May 18, 2011 – The United States imposes sanctions against Assad and six other senior Syrian officials. The Treasury Department details the sanctions by saying, “As a result of this action, any property in the United States or in the possession or control of US persons in which the individuals listed in the Annex have an interest is blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.”
August 18, 2011 – The US imposes new economic sanctions on Syria, freezing Syrian government assets in the US, barring Americans from making new investments in the country and prohibiting any US transactions relating to Syrian petroleum products, among other things.
September 2, 2011 – The European Union bans the import of Syrian oil.
September 23, 2011 – The EU imposes additional sanctions against Syria, due to “the continuing brutal campaign” by the government against its own people.
October 2, 2011 – A new alignment of Syrian opposition groups establishes the Syrian National Council, a framework through which to end Assad’s government and establish a democratic system.
October 4, 2011 – Russia and China veto a UN Security Council resolution that would call for an immediate halt to the crackdown in Syria against opponents of Assad. Nine of the 15-member council countries, including the United States, voted in favor of adopting the resolution.
November 12, 2011 – The Arab League suspends Syria’s membership, effective November 16, 2011.
November 27, 2011 – Foreign ministers from 19 Arab League countries vote to impose economic sanctions against the Syrian regime for its part in a bloody crackdown on civilian demonstrators.
November 30, 2011 – Turkey announces a series of measures, including financial sanctions, against Syria.
December 19, 2011 – Syria signs an Arab League proposal aimed at ending violence between government forces and protesters.
January 28, 2012 – The Arab League suspends its mission in Syria as violence there continues.
February 2, 2012 – A UN Security Council meeting ends with no agreement on a draft resolution intended to pressure Syria to end its crackdown on anti-government demonstrators.
February 4, 2012 – A UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria is not adopted after Russia and China vote against it.
February 6, 2012 – The United States closes its embassy in Damascus and recalls its diplomats.
February 7, 2012 – The Gulf Cooperation Council announces its member states are pulling their ambassadors from Damascus and expelling the Syrian ambassadors in their countries.
February 16, 2012 – The United Nations General Assembly passes a nonbinding resolution endorsing the Arab League plan for Assad to step down. The vote was 137 in favor and 12 against, with 17 abstentions.
February 26, 2012 – Syrians vote on a constitutional referendum in polling centers across the country. Almost 90% of voters approve the changes to the constitution, which include the possibility of a multi-party system.
March 13, 2012 – Kofi Annan, the UN special envoy to Syria, meets in Turkey with government officials and Syrian opposition members. In a visit to Syria over the weekend, he calls for a ceasefire, the release of detainees and allowing unfettered access to relief agencies to deliver much-needed aid.
March 15, 2012 – The Gulf Cooperation Council announces that the six member countries will close their Syrian embassies and calls on the international community “to stop what is going on in Syria.”
March 27, 2012 – The Syrian government accepts Annan’s plan to end violence. The proposal seeks to stop the violence, give access to humanitarian agencies, release detainees and start a political dialogue to address the concerns of the Syrian people.
April 1, 2012 – At a conference in Istanbul, the international group Friends of the Syrian People formally recognizes the Syrian National Council as a legitimate representative of the Syrian people.
July 30, 2012 – The Syrian Charge d’Affaires in London, Khaled al-Ayoubi, resigns, stating he is “no longer willing to represent a regime that has committed such violent and oppressive acts against its own people.”
August 2, 2012 – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announces that Annan will not renew his mandate when it expires at the end of August.
August 6, 2012 – Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab’s resignation from office and defection from Assad’s regime is read on Al Jazeera by his spokesman Muhammad el-Etri. Hijab and his family are said to have left Syria overnight, arriving in Jordan. Hijab is the highest-profile official to defect.
August 9, 2012 – Syrian television reports that Assad has appointed Health Minister Wael al-Halki as the new prime minister.
October 3, 2012 – Five people are killed by Syrian shelling in the Turkish border town of Akcakale. In response, Turkey fires on Syrian targets and its parliament authorizes a resolution giving the government permission to deploy its soldiers to foreign countries.
November 11, 2012 – Israel fires warning shots toward Syria after a mortar shell hits an Israeli military post. It is the first time Israel has fired on Syria across the Golan Heights since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
November 11, 2012 – Syrian opposition factions formally agree to unite as the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces.
November 13, 2012 – Sheikh Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib is elected leader of the Syrian opposition collective, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces.
January 6, 2013 – Assad announces he will not step down and that his vision of Syria’s future includes a new constitution and an end to support for the opposition. The opposition refuses to work with Assad’s government.
March 19, 2013 – The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces elects Ghassan Hitto as its prime minister. Though born in Damascus, Hitto has spent much of his life in the United States, and holds dual US and Syrian citizenship.
April 25, 2013 – US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announces the United States has evidence that the chemical weapon sarin has been used in Syria on a small scale.
May 27, 2013 – EU nations end the arms embargo against the Syrian rebels.
June 13, 2013 – US President Barack Obama says that Syria has crossed a “red line” with its use of chemical weapons against rebels. His administration indicates that it will be stepping up its support of the rebels, who have been calling for the US and others to provide arms needed to battle Assad’s forces.
July 6, 2013 – Ahmad Assi Jarba is elected the new leader of the Syrian National Coalition.
August 18, 2013 – A team of UN weapons inspectors arrives in Syria to begin an investigation into whether chemical weapons have been used during the civil war.
August 22, 2013 – The UN and the US call for an immediate investigation of Syrian activists’ claims that the Assad government used chemical weapons in an attack on civilians on August 21. Anti-regime activist groups in Syria say more than 1,300 people were killed in the attack outside Damascus, many of them women and children.
August 24, 2013 – Medical charity Doctors Without Borders announces that three hospitals near Damascus treated more than 3,000 patients suffering “neurotoxic symptoms” on August 21. Reportedly, 355 of the patients died.
August 26, 2013 – UN inspectors reach the site of a reported chemical attack in Moadamiyet al-Sham, near Damascus. En route to the site, the team’s convoy is hit by sniper fire. No one is injured.
August 29, 2013 – The UK’s Parliament votes against any military action in Syria.
August 30, 2013 – US Secretary of State John Kerry says that US intelligence information has found that 1,429 people were killed in last week’s chemical weapons attack in Syria, including at least 426 children.
September 9, 2013 – Syria agrees to a Russian proposal to give up control of its chemical weapons.
September 10, 2013 – In a speech, Obama says he will not “put American boots on the ground in Syria,” but does not rule out other military options.
September 14, 2013 – The United States and Russia agree to a plan to eliminate chemical weapons in Syria.
September 16, 2013 – The United Nations releases a report from chemical weapons inspectors who investigated the August 21 incident. Inspectors say there is “clear and convincing evidence” that sarin was used.
September 20, 2013 – Syria releases an initial report on its chemical weapons program.
September 27, 2013 – The UN Security Council passes a resolution requiring Syria to eliminate its arsenal of chemical weapons. Assad says he will abide by the resolution.
September 30, 2013 – At the UN General Assembly in New York, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem says that Syria is not engaged in a civil war, but a war on terror.
October 6, 2013 – Syria begins dismantling its chemical weapons program, including the destruction of missile warheads and aerial bombs.
October 31, 2013 – The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announces that Syria has destroyed all its declared chemical weapons production facilities.
November 25, 2013 – The United Nations announces that starting January 22 in Geneva, Switzerland, the Syrian government and an unknown number of opposition groups will meet at a “Geneva II” conference meant to broker an end to the Syrian civil war.
December 2, 2013 – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says that a UN fact-finding team has found “massive evidence” that the highest levels of the Syrian government are responsible for war crimes.
January 20, 2014 – The Syria National Coalition announces it won’t participate in the Geneva II talks unless the United Nations rescinds its surprise invitation to Iran or Iran agrees to certain conditions. The United Nations later rescinds Iran’s invitation.
February 13, 2014 – The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons tells CNN that Syria has shipped out 11% of its chemical weapons stockpile, falling far short of the February 5 deadline to have all such arms removed from the country.
February 15, 2014 – A second round of peace talks ends in Geneva, Switzerland, with little progress in ending Syria’s civil war.
February 23, 2014 – The UN Security Council unanimously passes a resolution boosting access to humanitarian aid in Syria.
June 3, 2014 – Assad is reelected, reportedly receiving 88.7% of the vote in the country’s first election since civil war broke out in 2011.
September 22-23, 2014 – The United States and allies launch airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria, focusing on the city of Raqqa.
September 14-15, 2015 – A Pentagon spokesperson says the Russian military appears to be attempting to set up a forward operating base in western Syria, in the area around the port city of Latakia. Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Russia is supporting the Syrian government in its fight against ISIS.
October 30, 2015 – White House spokesman Josh Earnest says that the US will be deploying “less than 50” Special Operations forces, who will be sent to Kurdish-controlled territory in northern Syria. The American troops will help local Kurdish and Arab forces fighting ISIS with logistics and are planning to bolster their efforts.
February 26, 2016 – A temporary cessation of hostilities goes into effect. The truce calls for the Syrian regime and rebels to give relief organizations access to disputed territories so they can assist civilians.
March 15, 2016 – Russia starts withdrawing its forces from Syria. A spokeswoman for Assad tells CNN that the Russian campaign is winding down after achieving its goal of helping Syrian troops take back territory claimed by terrorists.
September 15, 2016 – At least 23 people, including nine children, are killed during airstrikes in Syria, with the United States and Russia accusing each other of violating the ceasefire in effect since September 12.
September 17, 2016 – US-led coalition airstrikes near Deir Ezzor Airport intended to target ISIS instead kill 62 Syrian soldiers.
September 20, 2016 – An aid convoy and warehouse of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent are bombed; no one claims responsibility. The strike prompts the UN to halt aid operations in Syria.
September 23-25, 2016 – About 200 airstrikes hit Aleppo during the weekend, with one activist telling CNN it is a level of bombing they have not seen before.
December 13, 2016 – As government forces take control of most of Aleppo from rebel groups, Turkey and Russia broker a ceasefire for eastern Aleppo so that civilians can be evacuated. The UN Security Council holds an emergency session amid reports of mounting civilian deaths and extrajudicial killings. The ceasefire collapses less than a day after it is implemented.
December 22, 2016 – Syria’s state-run media announces government forces have taken full control of Aleppo, ending more than four years of rebel rule there.
April 4, 2017 – Dozens of civilians are reportedly killed in a suspected chemical attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun. The Russian Defense Ministry claims that gas was released when Syrian forces bombed a chemical munitions depot operated by terrorists. Activists, however, say that Syrians carried out a targeted chemical attack.
April 6, 2017 – The United States launches a military strike on a Syrian government airbase in response to the chemical weapon attack on civilians. On US President Donald Trump’s orders, US warships launch 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the airbase which was home to the warplanes that carried out the chemical attacks.
July 7, 2017 – Trump and Putin reach an agreement on curbing violence in southwest Syria during their meeting at the G20 in Hamburg, Germany. The ceasefire will take effect in the de-escalation zone beginning at noon Damascus time on July 9.
October 17, 2017 – ISIS loses control of its self-declared capital, Raqqa. US-backed forces fighting in Raqqa say “major military operations” have ended, though there are still pockets of resistance in the city.
October 26, 2017 – A joint report from the United Nations and international chemical weapons inspectors finds that the Assad regime was responsible for the April 2017 sarin attack that killed more than 80 people. Syria has repeatedly denied it had anything to do with the attack and also denies it has any chemical weapons.
February 24, 2018 – The UN Security Council unanimously approves a 30-day ceasefire resolution in Syria, though it is unclear when the ceasefire is meant to start, or how it will be enforced.
February 27, 2018 – Within minutes of when a five-hour “humanitarian pause” ordered by Putin – from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. – is meant to start, activists on the ground report shelling and artillery fire from pro-regime positions, killing at least one person in the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta.
April 7, 2018 – Helicopters drop barrel bombs filled with toxic gas on the last rebel-held town in Eastern Ghouta, activist groups say. The World Health Organization later says that as many as 500 people may have been affected by the attack.
April 14, 2018 – The United States, France and the United Kingdom launch airstrikes on Syria in response to the chemical weapons attack in Eastern Ghouta a week earlier.
September 17, 2018 – Russia and Turkey announce they have agreed to create a demilitarized zone in Syria’s Idlib province, potentially thwarting a large-scale military operation and impending humanitarian disaster in the country’s last rebel stronghold. The zone, which will be patrolled by Turkish and Russian military units, will become operational from October 15.
December 19, 2018 – Trump tweets, “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.” A US defense official and an administration official tell CNN that planning for the “full” and “rapid” withdrawal of US military from Syria is already underway.
March 23, 2019 – Kurdish forces announce they have captured the eastern Syrian pocket of Baghouz, the last populated area under ISIS rule.
October 9, 2019 – Turkey launches a military offensive into northeastern Syria, just days after the Trump administration announced that US troops would leave the border area. Erdogan’s “Operation Peace Spring” is an effort to drive away Kurdish forces from the border, and use the area to resettle around two million Syrian refugees.
March 5, 2020 – Turkey and Russia announce a ceasefire in Idlib, Syria’s last opposition enclave, agreeing to establish a security corridor with joint patrols.
April 8, 2020 – The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) releases a report concluding that Syrian government forces were responsible for a series of chemical attacks on a Syrian town in late March 2017.
May 26, 2021 – Assad is reelected.
In photos: Syria’s civil war
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Israeli missile strikes put Damascus airport out of service
BEIRUT — Israel’s military fired missiles toward the international airport of the capital Damascus early Monday, putting it out of service and killing two soldiers and wounding two others, the Syrian army said.
The attack, the first this year, also caused material damage in nearby area, the army said without giving further details.
It was the second time the Damascus International Airport was put out of service in less than a year.
There was no comment from Israel.
On June 10, Israeli airstrikes that struck Damascus International Airport caused significant damage to infrastructure and runways. It reopened two weeks later after repairs.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.
Israel has acknowledged, however, that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.
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Syria reports two soldiers injured in Israeli airstrikes
Two soldiers were injured by Israeli airstrikes in the vicinity of the Syrian capital of Damascus early Tuesday, the first such attack in more than a month, a Syrian military statement reported.
In addition to the injuries, the strikes caused some “material losses,” the statement said without elaboration, noting that Syrian air defenses had intercepted and shot down a number of missiles.
The last reported Israeli attack in Syria was on Nov. 13 and killed two Syrian soldiers and wounded three others when airstrikes hit an airbase in the province of Homs.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, but it rarely acknowledges or discusses specific operations.
Israeli leaders have in the past acknowledged striking targets in Syria and elsewhere in what it says is a campaign to thwart Iranian attempts to smuggle weapons to proxies such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group or to destroy weapons caches
Last week, Israel’s military chief of staff strongly suggested that Israel was behind a Nov. 8 strike on a truck convoy in Syria.
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Kurdish forces preparing to repel Turkish ground invasion
QAMISHLI, Syria — The commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in northeast Syria said his group is prepared to repel a ground invasion by Turkey.
SDF head Mazloum Abdi told the The Associated Press that his group has been preparing for another such attack since Turkey launched a ground offensive in area in 2019 and “we believe that we have reached a level where we can foil any new attack. At least the Turks will not be able to occupy more of our areas and there will be a great battle.”
He added, “If Turkey attacks any region, the war will spread to all regions…and everyone will be hurt by that.”
Turkey has carried out a barrage of airstrikes on suspected Kurdish militant targets in northern Syria and Iraq in recent days, in retaliation for a deadly Nov. 13 bombing in Istanbul that Ankara blames on the militant groups. The groups have denied involvement in the bombing.
On Wednesday, Turkey’s military struck infrastructure facilities in northeast Syria, including a telecommunication tower and oil and gas fields, according to SDF spokesman Farhad Shami. He added that one of the strikes hit near Jerkin prison near Qamishli where scores of members of the Islamic State group are held. Another strike destroyed a school in the village of Kuran near border town of Kobani, Shami said.
The strikes came a day after shelling the town of Azaz, which is controlled by Turkey-backed opposition fighters, killing five people and wounding five others. The shelling came from positions of the SDF and Syrian government forces, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor.
On Wednesday, the bodies of three people killed in Azaz were brought to the northwestern province of Idlib for burial. Local officials in the area said that the dead were displaced by Syria’s 11-year conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.
Following the weekend’s airstrikes from Turkey, Turkish officials said that suspected Kurdish militants in Syria fired rockets Monday across the border into Turkey, killing at least two people and wounding 10 others. Abdi denied that SDF had struck inside Turkish territory.
Turkey has threatened to escalate from airstrikes to a ground invasion. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday, “We have been on top of the terrorists for the past few days with our planes, artillery and drones. As soon as possible, we will root out all of them together with our tanks and soldiers.”
Erdogan added that the measures were for “the safety of our own country, our own citizens. It is our most legitimate right to go where this security is ensured.”
Turkey’s allies have attempted to dissuade such measures. Russian presidential envoy in Syria Alexander Lavrentyev said that Turkey should “show a certain restraint” in order to prevent an escalation in Syria and expressed hope that “it will be possible to convince our Turkish partners to refrain from excessive use of force on Syrian territory.”
Mazloum called on Moscow and Damascus, as well as on the U.S.-led coalition fighting against the Islamic State group in Syria, with which the SDF is allied, to take a stronger stance to prevent a Turkish ground invasion, warning that such an action could harm attempts to combat a resurgence of IS.
The Turkish airstrikes, which have killed a number of Syrian army soldiers operating in the same area as the SDF forces, have also threatened to upset a nascent rapprochement between Damascus and Ankara. The two have been on been on opposing sides in Syria’s civil war but in recent months have launched low-level talks.
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Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut and Ghaith Alsayed in Idlib, Syria contributed to this report.
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Some return to war-battered hub of Palestinian life in Syria
BEIRUT — Syria’s largest Palestinian camp was once bustling with activity: It was crowded with mini-buses and packed with shops hawking falafel, shawarma and knafeh nabulsieh — a sweet concoction of cheese and phyllo dough.
Kids played soccer and brandished plastic guns until men with real guns came in when Syria descended into civil war. Over the past decade, fighting devastated communities across the country, including the Yarmouk camp, on the outskirts of the capital of Damascus.
Today, Yarmouk’s streets are still piled with rubble. Scattered Palestinian flags fly from mostly abandoned houses, the only reminder that this was once a major political and cultural center of the Palestinian refugee diaspora.
Two years ago, Syrian authorities began allowing former Yarmouk residents who could prove home ownership and pass a security check to come back.
But so far, few have returned. Many others have been deterred by fear they could be arrested or conscripted by force. Others no longer have houses to come back to. Still, with the fighting having subsided in much of Syria, some want to see what’s left of their homes.
Earlier this month, the government opened up Yarmouk for a rare visit by journalists to highlight its push for returnees. The occasion: the launch of a new community center, built by a non-government organization.
One of those who have returned is Mohamed Youssef Jamil. Originally from the Palestinian village of Lubya, west of the city of Tiberias in present-day Israel, he had lived in Yarmouk since 1960. He raised three sons in the camp, before Syria’s war broke out.
The 80-year-old came back a year and a half ago, with government approval to repair his damaged house. Of the 30 or 40 families who used to live on his street, there are now four. Many buildings that were not leveled by bombs were looted, stripped of windows, electric wiring — even faucets.
“I’m staying here to guard it from thieves,” he said of his home.
Nearby, the right half of Mohamed Taher’s house has collapsed, while he is repairing the still-standing left half. “There is no electricity,” the 55-year-old said, though in some parts of the camp there is water and the sewer system works.
Yarmouk was built in 1957 as a Palestinian refugee camp but grew into a vibrant suburb that also attracted working-class Syrians. Before the 2011 uprising turned civil war, some 1.2 million people lived in Yarmouk, including 160,000 Palestinians, according to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA.
As of June, some 4,000 people returned to Yarmouk, UNRWA said, while another 8,000 families received permission to return over the summer.
The returnees struggle with a “lack of basic services, limited transportation, and largely destroyed public infrastructure,” UNRWA said. Some live in houses without doors or windows.
The U.N. agency said returns to Yarmouk increased, in part, because the camp offered free housing. At a recent press conference, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said an increasing number of Palestinian refugees in Syria are “basically going back into rubble just because they cannot afford anymore to live where they were.”
In the past, Palestinian factions in Syria sometimes had a complicated relationship with Syrian authorities. Former Syrian President Hafez Assad and Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat were bitter adversaries.
However, Palestinian refugees lived in relative comfort in Syria, with greater socioeconomic and civil rights than those in neighboring Lebanon.
Yarmouk’s Palestinian factions tried to remain neutral as Syria’s civil war broke out, but by late 2012, the camp was pulled into the conflict and different factions took opposing sides in the war.
The militant group Hamas backed the Syrian the opposition while others, like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine–General Command, fought on the Syrian government’s side.
In 2013, Yarmouk became the target of a devastating siege by government forces. In 2015, it was taken over by the extremist Islamic State group. A government offensive retook the camp in 2018, emptying it of remaining inhabitants.
Sari Hanafi, a professor of sociology at the American University of Beirut who grew up in Yarmouk, said those returning are doing so because of “absolute necessity.”
“The others who don’t return — it’s because it’s an unlivable place,” he said.
A young man from Yarmouk living in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon agrees. With Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government still firmly in place, he said that if he went back, he “would always be living in anxiety and without security.”
“Someone who returns to the camp, or to Syria in general, is no longer thinking, ‘How much freedom will I have?’ He is thinking, ‘I just want a house to live in,’” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity, fearing for the safety of his relatives back in Syria.
At the community center’s opening, the governor of Damascus, Mohamed Tarek Kreishati, promised to clear the rubble and restore utilities and public transportation.
But there’s a long way to go to convince people to go back, said Mahmoud Zaghmout from the London-based Action Group for Palestinians of Syria, aligned with the Syrian opposition.
Yarmouk lacks “hospitals, bakeries, gas distribution centers and basic consumer and food items,” Zaghmout said.
There are those who hope Yarmouk will be restored to its past glory, like Suheil Natour, a Lebanon-based researcher and member of the leftist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
He pointed to Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camp Ein el-Hilweh, which was razed by Israeli forces in 1982 and later rebuilt. Yarmouk can also be “one day a very flourishing symbol of revival of the Palestinian refugees,” he said.
Others are skeptical. Samih Mahmoud, 24, who grew up in Yarmouk but now lives in Lebanon, said not much remains of the place he remembered.
He said he’s not attached to the buildings and streets of Yarmouk. “I’m attached to the people, to the food, to the atmosphere of the camp,” he said. “And all of that is gone.”
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Associated Press writer Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, and Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.
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Syria reports Israeli airstrikes on targets in Damascus area
DAMASCUS, Syria — Israeli airstrikes targeted sites in the vicinity of Damascus early Thursday, marking the third such strikes in a week, Syrian state media reported.
The Syrian military said that Israeli missiles were fired at posts near Damascus around 12:30 a.m. and that its air defenses had “confronted the missile aggression and downed most of them.” There were no casualties reported.
The attack follows similar strikes Friday and Monday. Monday’s rare daytime airstrike wounded a soldier, according to the Syrian army.
The strike Friday was the first such attack since Sept. 17, when an attack on Damascus International Airport and nearby military posts south of the Syrian capital killed five soldiers.
The Israeli army did not release a statement on the airstrikes. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, but rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations.
Israel has acknowledged, however, that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.
The Israeli strikes come amid a wider shadow war between Israel and Iran. The attacks on airports in Damascus and Aleppo were over fears they were being used to funnel Iranian weaponry into the country.
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Syria reports Israeli airstrikes on suburbs of Damascus
DAMASCUS, Syria — Israel carried out an airstrike on the Syrian capital of Damascus and its southern suburbs late Friday, in the first such attack in more than a month, state media reported. There were no casualties in the strikes.
The Syrian military said later that several Israeli missiles were fired toward some military positions near Damascus. It saidt Syrian air defenses shot down most of the missiles, adding that there was only material losses.
Residents in the capital earlier said they heard at least three explosions.
Syrian state TV said Syrian air defenses responded to “an Israeli aggression in the airspace of Damascus and southern areas.”
The pro-government Sham FM radio station said the attacks were close to the Damascus International Airport south of the capital.
Friday’s strikes were the first since Sept. 17, when an Israeli attack on the Damascus International Airport and nearby military posts south of the Syrian capital killed five soldiers. That attack came days after an Israeli strike shit the main airport in the northern city of Aleppo.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.
Israel has acknowledged, however, that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.
The Israeli strikes comes amid a wider shadow war between the country and Iran. The attacks on the airports in Damascus and Aleppo are over fears it was being used to funnel Iranian weaponry into the country.
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Militant Hamas group back in Damascus after years of tension
DAMASCUS, Syria — Two senior officials from the Palestinian militant Hamas group visited Syria’s capital on Wednesday for the first time since they were forced to leave the war-torn country a decade ago over backing armed opposition fighters.
The visit appears to be a first step toward reconciliation between Hamas and the Syrian government and follows a monthslong mediation by Iran and Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group — both key backers of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Over the years, Tehran and the Iran-backed Hezbollah have maintained their relations with Hamas despite Assad’s rift with the Palestinian militants.
Before the rift, Hamas had long kept a political base in Syria, receiving Damascus’ support in its campaign against Israel. Hamas’ powerful leadership-in-exile remained in Syria — even after the group took power in the Gaza Strip in 2007.
But when Syria tipped into civil war, Hamas broke with Assad and sided with the rebels fighting to oust him. The rebels are largely Sunni Muslims, like Hamas, and scenes of Sunni civilian deaths raised an outcry across the region against Assad, who belongs to the Alawites, a minority Shiite sect in Syria.
On Wednesday, Khalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in Hamas’ political branch, and top Hamas official Osama Hamdan were among several officials representing different Palestinian factions who were received by Assad.
Al-Hayeh had regularly visited Beirut over the years, meeting with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah; their last meeting was in August.
After Wednesday’s meeting, al-Hayeh said Assad was “keen on Syria’s support to the Palestinian resistance” and called his visit a “glorious day.”
“God willing, we will turn the old page and look for the future,” al-Hayeh said, adding that Hamas is against any “Zionist or American aggression on Syria.”
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes around Syria over the past years, mainly targeting Iran-backed fighters.
Hamas’ re-establishing of a Damascus base would mark its rejoining the so-called Iran-led “axis of resistance” as Tehran works to gather allies at a time when talks with world powers over Iran’s nuclear program are stalled.
The move by Hamas also comes after Turkey restored relations with Israel and after some Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, normalized relations with Hamas’ archenemy Israel.
The pro-government Al-Watan daily says Damascus will be reconciling with the “resistance branch” of Hamas and not the Muslim Brotherhood faction — an apparent reference to Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal who was once based in Damascus but is now in Qatar.
