Syria

WASHINGTON (AP) — What to do with hundreds of foreign Islamic State fighters captured in Syria has become a critical and growing problem for the Trump administration as it prepares to pull troops out of the country.

TASS, January 5. The Syrian Foreign Ministry sent a message seeking to condemn airstrikes of the western coalition in the Deir ez-Zor province to the UN Security Council on Saturday, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on Saturday. The message noted that over 20 civilians living in the settlements of Al-Kashkia and Al-Shafaa including four children were killed over the past two days of airstrikes.

TASS, January 3. At least eleven people have been killed as a result of the international coalition’s strike on a settlement in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor, the SANA news agency reported on Thursday.

It is reported that all the people killed were members of one family.

The international coalition against the IS terrorist group (outlawed in Russia) was formed on the initiative of the United States during the NATO summit that took place on September 4-5, 2014 in Wales, UK.

DAMASCUS, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Cautious calm prevails Syria's northern city of Manbij amid consecutive withdrawal of hundreds of Turkey-backed rebels from its surrounding, a war monitor reported on Thursday.

Aside from the hundreds of Turkey-backed rebels, tens of Kurdish-led fighters have also withdrawn from inside Manbij, a contested city that was about to be a flashpoint battlefield between the Turkey-backed rebels and the Kurdish-led ones.

01 Jan 2019; DW: The Syrian Observatory on Human Rights has said 20,000 people were killed this year in Syria's civil war. It's a record low in a conflict that has already claimed half a million lives — and that could flare up again.

Moscow, Dec 30, IRNA - The head of the Russian-Arab States Friendship Association and senior Russian diplomat believes that the Syrian Kurds' U-turn to the Syrian government and the control of the Syrian army over Manbij is sign of the US ruined plan in this country.

ANKARA, December 29. /TASS/. The first group of American military servicemen has left Syria in the aftermath of US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from that country, Anadolu Agency reported on Saturday.

According to the news agency, on December 28, at least 50 troops left a warehouse with weapons and ammunition in Syria’s Al-Hasakah Governorate, heading towards Iraq in armored cars.

28 Dec 2018; AFP: Syrian troops deployed in support of Kurdish forces around a strategic northern city on Friday, in a shift of alliances hastened by last week's announcement of a US military withdrawal.

Nearly eight years into Syria's deadly conflict, the move marked another key step in President Bashar al-Assad's Russian-backed drive to reassert control over the country.

Moscow, Dec 27 (AP) The Russian military on Wednesday criticized an alleged Israeli airstrike near the Syrian capital, saying it has endangered civilian flights.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that six Israeli F-16 jets launched a "provocative" raid at the moment when two civilian airliners were preparing to land in Damascus and Beirut, creating a "direct threat" to the aircraft.

MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/. Israel again carried out airstrikes on Syria using civilian jets as a cover, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

"It is noteworthy that the airstrikes were again carried out by the Israeli aviation using ‘as a cover’ civilian jets, which were about to land at the airport of Damascus and Beirut," the ministry said.