Author: AFP

The Syrian opposition leader whose group led the offensive that toppled Bashar al-Assad met on Sunday with UN envoy Geir Pedersen, who was visiting Damascus, a statement on the Telegram channel said. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, now using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, discussed with Pedersen “the changes that have occurred on the political scene which make it necessary to update” a 2015 UN Security Council resolution that set out a roadmap for a political settlement in Syria, “to suit the new reality”, the statement said.

Qatar’s embassy to Syria is to resume operations on Tuesday, the Gulf emirate announced on Sunday as its diplomats visited the country and met with its transitional government following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad. “Qatar announces the resumption of the work of its embassy in the sisterly Syrian Arab Republic starting the day after tomorrow, Tuesday,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. It also name a new head of mission to Syria, Khalifa Abdullah Al Mahmoud Al-Sharif. Doha closed its embassy in Damascus and recalled its ambassador in July 2011, early in the uprising against the Assad government that…

Isak Andic, the founder of Spanish clothing retailer Mango, one of Europe’s largest fashion groups, with nearly 2,800 stores worldwide, died Saturday in an accident, the company said. “It is with deep regret that we announce the unexpected death of Isak Andic, our non-executive chairman and founder of Mango,” the Barcelona-based company’s CEO, Toni Ruiz, said in a statement. “Isak has been an example for all of us. He dedicated his life to Mango, leaving an indelible mark thanks to his strategic vision, his inspiring leadership and his unwavering commitment to values that he himself imbued in our company,” he…

The UN special envoy for Syria called Tuesday on Israel to halt its military movements and bombardments in Syria, after a war monitor reported 300 air strikes since the fall of regime leader Bashar al-Assad. Assad fled Syria as the Syrian opposition forces swept into the capital Damascus, ending five decades of brutal rule by his clan on Sunday. Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the HTS leader who headed the offensive that forced Assad out, has begun talks on a transfer of power and vowed to pursue former senior officials responsible for torture and war crimes. The fall of Assad, who maintained…

The armed groups which forced Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to flee must transform their “good messages” to Syrians into actions on the ground, the UN envoy for Syria said Tuesday. After more than 13 years of civil war, Assad’s downfall came in a lightning rebel offensive led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its chief Abu Mohammed al-Jolani. The fact that HTS’s precursor Al-Nusra Front, which was linked to Al-Qaeda, was nine years ago listed by the UN Security Council as a terrorist organisation “is obviously a complicating factor” in efforts to find a way forward, UN special envoy for…

The Syrian opposition now in power in Damascus has appointed Mohammed al-Bashir as head of a transitional government that will be in place until March 1, state media said Tuesday. “The general command has tasked us with running the transitional government until March 1,” said a statement attributed to Bashir on state television’s Telegram account, referring to him as “the new Syrian prime minister”.

NATO chief Mark Rutte on Monday said Russia and Iran were complicit in the crimes of ousted Syrian regime leader Bashar al-Assad, and his fall showed they were “unreliable partners”. “Russia and Iran were the main backers of the Assad regime, and they share the responsibility for the crimes committed against the Syrian people. They also proved to be unreliable partners, abandoning Assad when he ceased to be of use to them,” Rutte said.

Japan’s atomic bomb survivors’ group Nihon Hidankyo said Monday it did not believe Russian President Vladimir Putin, who recently updated Russia’s nuclear doctrine, understood the threat posed by nuclear weapons. “President Putin, I don’t think he truly understands what nuclear weapons are for human beings,” Terumi Tanaka, the 92-year old secretary general of Nihon Hidankyo and a survivor of the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki, told a press conference in Oslo a day before receiving the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize at a formal ceremony in Oslo. “Nuclear weapons are things which must never be used.”

Turkish foreign minister said Sunday Ankara has been in contact with the opposition in Syria to ensure the Daesh [ISIS] group and PKK cannot expand there after anti-government forces took Damascus. “We have to be watchful during this transition period,” Hakan Fidan said at the Doha Forum in Qatar. “We have communication with the anti-regime groups to make sure that terrorist organisations, especially Daesh and PKK, is not taking advantage of the situation.” “New Syria administration must not ‘pose threat’ to neighbours” Fidan said on Sunday that any new government in Syria must not threaten neighbouring nations, after the Syrian…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed fighting Russia in almost three years of war, and that some 370,000 have been wounded. “Since the start of the full-scale war, Ukraine has lost 43,000 soldiers killed in action on the battlefield,” Zelensky said on social media. “There have been 370,000 cases of medical assistance for the wounded,” but he added that “half” of wounded troops return to the battlefield.