Islamism

Syria’s new leadership appointed a foreign minister, as reported today by the official Syrian news agency SANA, as part of their efforts to develop international relations two weeks after ousting Bashar al-Assad.

The United States has withdrawn a USD 10 million reward for the capture of Ahmed al-Sharaa (Abu Mohammad al-Julani), Syria's newly appointed leader and head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group. This decision follows significant talks held in Damascus earlier this month, marking the first visit by US officials to Syria since President Bashar al-Assad's ousting.

American envoys have arrived in Syria to talk directly to the new Islamist leaders, the State Department says, in the most official U.S. diplomatic mission to the country since the start of the long-running civil war.

TOPSHOT - The leader of Syria's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that headed a lightning rebel offensive snatching Damascus from government control, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, addresses a crowd at the capital's landmark Umayyad Mosque on Dec. 8, 2024.

A 27-year-old singer has been arrested by authorities in Iran after Parastou Ahmadi appeared at an online concert via YouTube without wearing a hijab.

U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen met Sunday with the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Ahmed al-Sharaa, to discuss recent developments in Syria.

Pedersen visited Damascus for the first time since the fall of the Bashar Assad regime to meet with al-Sharaa, according to information from Syrian government sources.

Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin has visited Damascus, for what the Syrian information ministry said would be talks involving its new rebel leadership.

The ministry said that Kalin and Qatar's head of state security, Khalfan al-Kaabi, arrived in the capital to meet with Syrian rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa and caretaker prime minister Mohammad al-Bashir.

The speed of the Assad regime's fall took everyone by surprise. The only people who might have suspected how hollow it was must have been the Russians and Iranians who had been propping it up. But they, too, were caught out by the advance of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which took Aleppo a week before reaching the center of Damascus on Sunday, as Bashar al-Assad sought asylum in Moscow.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Bulgaria has announced ongoing efforts to secure safe departure options for Bulgarian citizens currently residing in Syria and wishing to leave. This initiative comes amid a deteriorating security environment characterized by mass riots and widespread unrest.

The leader of Syria's Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that headed a lightning rebel offensive snatching Damascus from government control, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, address a crowd at the capital's landmark Umayyad Mosque on Dec.8, 2024.