Government of Syria

Türkiye and Qatar are set to dispatch two electricity-generating ships to Syria in a bid to alleviate the country's severe energy crisis, exacerbated by widespread infrastructure damage during toppled President Bashar al-Assad's rule, Syrian state news agency SANA reported on Jan. 7.

The recent killing of 14 members of the new Syrian government's security force, and subsequent crackdowns, marks the end of its brief honeymoon period and the start of a new phase of greater uncertainty and instability reflecting the realities of Syria's sectarian and political divisions. For skeptics, this clearly opens a new, and more bloody, chapter in Syria's ongoing 14-year civil war.

The United States on June 17 imposed sanctions on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's wife and dozens of others as it vowed a vast pressure campaign under a new law that has already rattled the war-torn nation's economy.

On April 22, a prisoner swap between the Assad regime and Syria's armed opposition took place as part of the Astana process, according to Turkey's Foreign Ministry.     

Syrian air defences engaged an "enemy target" near the border with Lebanon west of Damascus overnight, state news agency SANA reported on Saturday.

This handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on July 29, 2018, shows displaced Syirans returning to their villages in the province of Daraa. AFP PHOTO / SANA

To get a fake Syrian passport isn’t all that difficult in Istanbul, Turkey – a place where there are many Syrian and Iraqi refugees. There are forums on Facebook and Twitter full of posts and ads offering refugees of any nationality a fake passport, birth certificate, international driving license, even a college degree.

A total of eight people entered the European Union in recent months using the same passport as the one found on the Paris bomber that had entered Europe through Leros, Greece, on October 3. The bomber in question, Ahmad Almohammad, had blown himself up outside the Stade de France after a killing spree in Paris on November 13.

Turkish Ambassador to Paris Hakk? Akil has denied claims put forward by CNN International's Christiane Amanpour that two Turkish passports were found on two of the Paris bombers. 

"No, not even a crumb of official intelligence about that has come to us," Akil said during a televised program on Turkish private station CNNTürk that was broadcasting from Paris on Nov. 15. 

A “cottage industry” has reportedly been set up on the opposite Turkish coast to manufacture bogus Syrian passports, given that holders of such documents are finding the prospect of political asylum in Europe easier.