Rebel factions have advanced to within 20 kilometers of the capital Damascus after taking control of the southern province of Deraa, according to statements made Saturday by a rebel commander and a monitoring group.
The fence of the border between Israel and Syria as seen from a hill on the Golan Heights © Mena Today
Rebel factions have advanced to within 20 kilometers of the capital Damascus after taking control of the southern province of Deraa, according to statements made Saturday by a rebel commander and a monitoring group.
In related developments, seven civilians were reportedly killed near Homs in airstrikes carried out by Russian and Syrian forces, according to human rights organizations monitoring the conflict. These strikes underline the ongoing toll on civilians caught in the crossfire of the decade-long war.
Meanwhile, government forces are reported to be withdrawing from Quneitra province, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, marking another strategic shift in the conflict. This withdrawal comes as pressure mounts on the Syrian regime from various fronts.
Syria’s new administration is reportedly preparing to file a memorandum with international courts seeking hundreds of billions of dollars in compensation from Iran for its role in the country’s devastating 13-year war.
Fourteen members of the Syrian police were killed in an "ambush" by forces loyal to the ousted government in the Tartous countryside, the transitional administration said early on Thursday, as demonstrations and an overnight curfew elsewhere marked the most widespread unrest since Bashar al-Assad's removal more than two weeks ago.
Syrian Christians attended Christmas Eve services on Tuesday for the first time since the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad in early December, in an early test of the new Islamist rulers' pledges to protect the rights of the country's religious minorities.
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