Syria

World News

Russia showed its playbook in Syria. Here's what it may mean for civilians in Ukraine

6:50pm March 01, 2022

by Jason Breslow

The lessons of Moscow's involvement in Syria's civil war stand as a specter of the heavy-handed playbook experts fear could be used on an even larger and more deadly scale in Ukraine.

In this image provided by the White House, President Biden and Vice President Harris and members of the president's national security team observe from the White House Situation Room on Wednesday the counterterrorism operation responsible for removing fro

Biden says ISIS leader is dead after U.S. operation

5:14pm February 03, 2022

by Peter Granitz

A senior administration official said that during the raid, Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi "detonated a blast ... killing himself and several others, including his wife and children."

Defendant Anwar Raslan (right) and others involved in his trial stand in the Higher Regional Court in Koblenz, Germany, at the start of a trial session last month. Raslan was put on trial in April 2020 in a landmark case in Germany.

World News

In a landmark case, a German court convicts an ex-Syrian officer of torture

10:19am January 13, 2022

by Deborah Amos

The world's first criminal trial on torture in Syria's prisons ended Thursday in Koblenz, Germany — the first time a high-ranking ex-Syrian official faced Syrians in open court in a war crimes case.

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In his 20s, with the hopes of becoming a foreign correspondent, Kevin Dawes - now 39, at the Marin Civic Center in San Rafael, Calif. - traveled to Libya and then Syria where he was arrested, imprisoned and tortured.

An American was locked up in Syria. A pact with a British inmate may have saved him

4:09pm December 29, 2021

by Deborah Amos

Kevin Dawes describes how a fellow prisoner in Syria kept a promise that called attention to Dawes' detention. Now, five years after his release, Dawes is suing the Syrian regime.

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Migrants aiming to cross into Poland camp near the Bruzgi-Kuznica border crossing on the Belarusian-Polish border on Nov. 17.

World News

Syrians say Belarus deported them even though they're wanted by Assad's regime

4:41pm December 24, 2021

After luring asylum-seekers to the EU as a political stunt, Belarus has now sent people back to the dangerous place they were escaping, rights groups and migrants tell NPR.

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A child walks inside a flooded tent at a camp for the displaced people near Bab al-Hawa by the border with Turkey, in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, on Monday.

World News

More than 3,700 people were killed in Syria's civil war this year

4:29pm December 24, 2021

by James Doubek

The count, by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, comes after more than a decade of a war that's killed at least 350,000 people and displaced millions.

World News

New waves of Syrian migrants are fleeing postwar misery

9:19am December 21, 2021

by The Associated Press

While the numbers are far below the levels during the height of the civil war, the number of Syrians applying for asylum in the EU increased 70% over last year.

Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, speaks as a picture of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is displayed during a news briefing on Oct. 30, 2019, at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. McKenzie spoke to reporters to provide an upda

NPR sues the Pentagon for info on possible civilian deaths during the Baghdadi raid

7:39am December 11, 2021

by Daniel Estrin

NPR has sued the Defense Department to get it to release files regarding possible civilian casualties during the 2019 raid in Syria that resulted in the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Hassan Mahmoud, 53, is one of the Syrians who testified in a landmark trial in Germany in which a former Syrian security official is charged with crimes against humanity and other crimes for overseeing torture at a prison.

World News

Syrians Have Stared Down Threats To Testify Against Assad's Regime In A Landmark Trial

8:30am September 28, 2021

by Deborah Amos

Witnesses have detailed Syrian prison abuse in a crimes against humanity trial in Germany for over a year. Some withdrew over threats, while many have persevered to bring to justice an ex-official.

A March 21 attack by the Assad regime forces and Iran-backed terrorist groups targeted a hospital in Aleppo, killing six civilians and injuring 15. Above: A view of the damaged site.

Syria Bombs Hospitals. Now It Will Help Lead The World Health Organization

7:04am June 12, 2021

by Ruth Sherlock

It was a decision that appalled and angered Syrian opposition groups and international medical organizations. On May 28 Syria was appointed to the World Health Organization's Executive Board.