Syria Financial News

Islamic State militants in Syria were meant in part as a message to the group and a move to ensure that it doesn't try to take advantage of the chaos following the overthrow of President Bashar Assad's government. The US and its partners want to make sure the Islamic State group, which still has a presence in Syria, can't step into the leadership void and once again exert control over wide swaths of the country, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Monday. The US on Sunday struck about 75 IS targets in the Syrian desert. The US has had troops in Syria for the last decade to battle IS. The tumult following a rebel offensive that toppled Assad has raised fears of an Islamic State resurgence. «ISIS will try to use this period to reestablish its capabilities, to create safe havens,» Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday, using another acronym for the group. «As our precision strikes over the weekend demonstrate, we are determined not to let that happen.»

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The fall of Assad regime in Syria has thrust India into a delicate balancing act. While the streets of Damascus are filled with jubilation, the corridors of power in New Delhi are marked by caution and concern.

Oil prices eased only slightly on Tuesday, holding on to most of their gains from the prior session as mounting geopolitical risk after the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and China's vow to ramp up policy stimulus kept a floor under prices. Brent crude futures were down 13 cents, or about 0.2%, at $72.01 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 14 cents, also 0.2% lower, at $68.23 at 0151 GMT. Both climbed more than 1% on Monday.

«The Council, I think, was more or less united on the need to preserve the territorial integrity and unity of Syria, to ensure the protection of civilians, to ensure that humanitarian aid is coming,» Russian UN ambassador Vassili Nebenzia told reporters after the emergency meeting requested by Moscow. Russia was a key ally of Assad, who was toppled by Islamist-led rebels over the weekend after a short and stunning offensive.

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hydraulic press allegedly used for torture in Syria's Sednaya Prison. Known as the «human slaughterhouse,» the prison has been linked to severe human rights abuses under Assad’s regime.

Syrian rebels have taken control of the Saydnaya military prison near Damascus, freeing inmates held under brutal conditions. This event marks a significant turn in Syria’s prolonged conflict as the Assad regime collapses.

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Bashar al-Assad had fled to Moscow, adding that it was «surprised» by the rebel takeover. «As for Mr Assad's whereabouts, I've got nothing to tell you,» Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. A Kremlin source told Russian news agencies on Sunday that Assad and his family were in Moscow, hours after he fled the country as Islamist-led rebels entered Damascus. Assad's son has been studying in the Russian capital.

Iran has opened a direct line of communication with rebels in Syria's new leadership since its ally Bashar al-Assad was ousted, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday, in an attempt to «prevent a hostile trajectory» between the countries. The lightning advance of a militia alliance spearheaded by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, marked one of the biggest turning points for the Middle East in generations. Assad's fall as president removed a bastion from which Iran and Russia exercised influence across the Arab world. Hours after Assad's fall, Iran said it expected relations with Damascus to continue based on the two countries' «far-sighted and wise approach» and called for the establishment of an inclusive government representing all segments of Syrian society.

India also called for an inclusive Syrian-led political process that represents aspirations of all sections of the Syrian society that includes Alwaites (Hafez Al-Assad is an Alawite), Kurds and other minorities. In a clear-eyed statement, the external affairs ministry noted, «We are monitoring the situation in Syria in the light of on-going developments. We underline the need for all parties to work towards preserving the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria. We advocate a peaceful and inclusive Syrian-led political process respecting the interests and aspirations of all sections of Syrian society. Our Embassy in Damascus is in contact with the Indian community, for their safety and security.»

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON—The unexpectedly rapid downfall of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria has turned the country’s future from a back-burner issue to a suddenly high stakes concern for the departing Biden administration—and almost certainly for Donald Trump. U.S.

Turkish drone strike in a Kurdish-held area in northern Syria killed 11 civilians including six children, a war monitor said Monday. The attack comes a day after Islamist-led rebels ousted president Bashar al-Assad in a lightning offensive that saw them sweep swathes of territory from government control. «Eleven civilians, including six children, all members of the same family, were killed in a Turkish drone strike targeting a house» near Ain Issa, north of the city of Raqa, in a Kurdish-held area, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. TEL AVIV—Israel said it had struck chemical-weapons caches and other missile and air-defense systems in Syria on Monday, taking advantage of the chaos there to destroy what it sees as dangerous assets that could fall into rebel hands. Since the stunning assault by Syrian rebels that brought down the regime of President Bashar al-Assad over the weekend, Israel said it has taken immediate steps to ensure the protection of its border amid the uncertainty engulfing the country.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria marks the eclipse of Iran’s self-styled axis of resistance in the Middle East. While the successful advance of the Syrian Sunni insurgents into Damascus seemed sudden, it didn’t happen overnight.

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Iran's theocratic government, it keeps getting worse. Its decades-long strategy of building an «Axis of Resistance» supporting militant groups and proxies around the region is falling apart. First came the crushing Israeli campaign in Gaza triggered by the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Iranian-backed Hamas. That war spawned another in Lebanon, where Israel has mauled Iran's most powerful ally, Hezbollah, even as Israel has launched successful airstrikes openly inside of Iran for the first time. And now Iran's longtime stalwart ally and client in Syria, President Bashar Assad, is gone. As dawn broke Sunday, rebel forces completed a lightning offensive by seizing the ancient capital of Damascus and tearing down symbols of more than 50 years of Assad's rule over the Mideast crossroads.

Bashar al-Assad to flee the country and impose a new revision of the strategic map in the Middle East. The Syrian strongman had for nearly 14 years held off an uprising that many believed had been exhausted. But his downfall followed a series of battlefield convulsions for other allies of Iran. Israel has all but decapitated the Hezbollah leadership in Lebanon since September, while the killing of Hamas figureheads has dealt major blows to Assad's key backer Tehran.

Oil prices were mixed in early Asia trade on Monday as concerns over weak Chinese demand were offset by rising tensions in the Middle East following the rebel overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Brent crude futures fell by 1 cent to $71.11 per barrel by 1117 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose by 1 cent to $67.21 per barrel.

Assad regime that brutalised, tortured and killed thousands of innocent Syrians over the past half a century is a historic opportunity for the people of the country, outgoing US President Joe Biden said on Sunday. Biden spoke at the White House hours after rebel groups took over the country following more than a dozen years of violent civil war and decades of leadership by Bashar Assad and his family. «After 13 years of civil war in Syria and more than half a century of brutal authoritarian rule by Bashar Assad and his father before him, rebel forces have forced Assad to resign his office and flee the country. We're not sure where he is, but there's word that he's in Moscow. At long last, the Assad regime has fallen,» Biden said. «This regime brutalised, tortured and killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians. The fall of the regime is a fundamental act of justice. It's a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country,» he said.

Political tumult in France and South Korea was joined by the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, which complicated an already fraught situation in the Middle East.