Latest news with #Basharal-Assad
Rudaw Net
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Rudaw Net
Damascus exhibition honors missing Syrians
Also in Syria US-backed forces to launch anti-ISIS operation in Syria: Brigade spox. Syria expects to elect new parliament in August: Official SDF says 'disinformation campaign' seeks to undermine the force Syria's torture survivors face health crisis, funding shortfall: Amnesty A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An art exhibition at the National Museum in Damascus is shedding light on thousands of missing Syrians, giving space to grieving families to share their stories and demand answers. 'Many of them feel abandoned and isolated today, and the message we want to deliver through the exhibition is: You are not alone. We hear you and we will remain with you until your demands are met,' Rania al-Najdi, one of the exhibition organizers, told Rudaw on Thursday. She said that a dialogue session was held during the exhibition, offering space for families of the disappeared and victims of Syria's detention system to speak publicly about their suffering. The three-day exhibition is titled 'For Those Who Were Not Remembered... But Will Not Be Forgotten.' Under the rule of ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian people endured years of brutal repression, mass detentions, torture, and widespread displacement. In late 2024, rebels led by the Islamist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) overthrew Assad's regime and established a transitional government. It is estimated that more than 100,000 people were forcibly disappeared under the Assad regime. "I searched everywhere to find out what happened to my son. I visited hospitals, prisons, and security centers… but it was no use. I was told he was a deserter, but no trace of him has been found,' Iman Mahmoud recounted her long and painful search for her missing son. 'Even the lawyer I hired couldn't find a single piece of information.' Nour al-Masry has lost contact with three of her sons. 'I don't know anything about my sons. I was told that two of them died, and the fate of the third remains unknown. All I want now is their remains... I want to visit their graves… I don't ask for anything except to know where they lie,' she said. In a symbolic gesture, a long piece of paper stretched down a wall in the exhibition listing the names of around 2,500 missing persons. Families added more names during the exhibition, a step organizers say was intended to preserve the memory of those forcibly disappeared and keep them present in Syria's collective consciousness. According to United Nations estimates, the fate of tens of thousands of people in Syria remains unknown - one of the largest unresolved humanitarian crises stemming from the country's 13-year civil war. Amnesty International on Thursday highlighted the critical lack of support for survivors of Syria's detention centers and torture facilities, many of whom continue to suffer from severe physical and psychological conditions. The rights group urged donor governments to urgently reinstate funding for survivor-led organizations and rehabilitation programs. Syria's interim government has pledged a series of reforms, including a formal ban on torture and the establishment of a transitional justice commission to address past abuses. Solin Mohammedamin contributed to this report.
Rudaw Net
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Rudaw Net
Syria's torture survivors face health crisis, funding shortfall: Amnesty
Also in Syria US-backed forces to launch anti-ISIS operation in Syria: Brigade spox. Syria expects to elect new parliament in August: Official SDF says 'disinformation campaign' seeks to undermine the force Damascus exhibition honors missing Syrians A+ A- ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Six months after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government, survivors of Syria's detention centers and torture chambers are struggling with severe physical and mental health conditions and a critical lack of support, Amnesty International said on Thursday. 'For years the stories of torture, enforced disappearances and mass hangings in Syria's detention centers made the blood run cold. It is beyond the pale that people who made it out alive are now struggling to access urgent treatment,' said Bissan Fakih, campaigner at Amnesty International. Marking International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, Amnesty called on donor governments to urgently restore funding to survivor-led groups and rehabilitation programs, echoing calls from survivors for reparations, justice, and long-term medical and psychological care. Syria's new government, formed on March 29, has pledged reforms including a ban on torture and the creation of a transitional justice commission. It also promised not to reuse infamous detention facilities such as Saydnaya and the Palestine Branch, according to a May meeting between Interior Ministry officials and Amnesty. When rebels took Damascus last December, images of emaciated people walking out of the prisons that they had been held in for decades were a powerful sign that the Assad era was over. Amnesty said it recently met with survivor groups, civil society organizations, and families of the disappeared in Damascus. Many former detainees continue to suffer from untreated tuberculosis, nerve and joint damage, broken teeth from beatings, and symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder. The crisis has deepened since foreign funding cuts. Ta'afi, a survivor-led organization, reported losing 60% of its funding due to the suspension of United States aid. 'Right when people were being released from detention centers, the funding stopped,' said Muhannad Younes of Ta'afi. 'Survivors need medical, psychosocial and legal support right now.' Other groups say they are similarly unable to meet demand for mental health services. Survivors told Amnesty they often pool money for medical procedures, such as MRIs and surgeries. At least 12 former detainees require urgent neurological or eye operations and most need dental care for injuries sustained under torture. 'There was a quick response to tuberculosis, but other medical needs were neglected,' said Abdulmoneim al-Kayed, a Saydnaya survivor released in December. 'We tried every possible way to get psychological support, but unfortunately, we couldn't find any.' Ahmed Helmi of Ta'afi said few organizations are equipped to provide psychological care. 'The groups we used to work with can't take referrals anymore because of funding cuts,' he said. Survivors also asked that aid providers be sympathetic to the trauma they had experienced. Younes warned that lengthy intake interviews with aid agencies can feel like interrogations to those recently released from detention. Some asked for compensation and justice. 'I call for accountability for the heads of security branches so they don't escape justice,' said al-Kayed, whose family paid €25,000 (around $29,286) in a failed attempt to secure his release. 'Many of our families were extorted.' Others said the only way to bring meaning to their experience is by preventing such abuses from recurring. 'That place and that period will always be a black stain,' Helmi said. 'Its only meaning comes if it becomes a foundation to ensure our children never go through it.' Younes added that reparations must go beyond financial compensation. 'There's no physical link between us and these memories - no plaques, no memorials,' he said. 'It should be about restoring dignity.' More than 100,000 people are estimated to have been forcibly disappeared in Syria, most by the Assad regime. Amnesty concluded that any justice and reparation efforts must include victims of all parties to the conflict, including abuses committed by former opposition groups, and urged reparations from states, companies, and non-state actors complicit in Syria's detention system. Following a swift offensive in early December, a coalition of opposition forces - led by the now-dissolved Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), under its leader Ahmed al-Sharaa - toppled Assad's regime. In January, Sharaa was appointed interim president. The new authorities in Damascus have vowed to pursue former regime loyalists and implement transitional justice and national reconciliation.
Nahar Net
a day ago
- Politics
- Nahar Net
Syria says seized 3 million captagon pills coming from Lebanon
Syria said Friday that authorities had seized some three million pills of the illicit stimulant captagon after clashes with a drug trafficking network near the Lebanese border. Authorities observed the network "coming from Lebanon into Syrian territory" via illegal border crossings in the Jarajir area in the northern Damascus countryside, said a statement released by the interior ministry. Syrian forces set up a roadside ambush that "led to clashes between the security forces and members of the cell", some of whom abandoned their vehicle and fled, the statement said. "Around three million pills of the drug captagon were seized in addition to 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of hashish," the statement said, adding that authorities would not allow Syrian territory "to be a passage or haven for drug smuggling". Lebanon and Syria share a porous, 330-kilometer (205-mile) border that is notorious for smuggling. Captagon, which is also produced in Lebanon, became Syria's largest export during Syria's civil war which erupted in 2011. It was also a key source of illicit funding for the government of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad. Since his overthrow in December, the new Islamist authorities have sought to crack down on the drug trade and have announced the discovery of millions of captagon pills and said they have thwarted smuggling attempts. Earlier this month, Interior Minister Anas Khattab said authorities had seized all captagon production facilities in Syria.
Scotsman
2 days ago
- Politics
- Scotsman
The Iranian theocratic regime is teetering at the edge of the precipice
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Today, the mullahs' theocratic regime teeters on the edge of the precipice. Their so-called 'axis of resistance' that included Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and Bashar al-Assad in Syria, has collapsed. Israel and now America have joined the forensic assault on the regime's nuclear sites. Dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) leaders and key nuclear scientists have been eliminated. The 86-year-old fundamentalist Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei must truly regret his decision to train, finance and direct the horrific 7th October 2023 terrorist Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Middle East conflict that has raged ever since and has now engulfed Iran itself. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, pictured on July 5 2024 in Tehran | Getty Images Khamenei's years of sponsoring international terrorism and warmongering, while trying to persuade the West that he was only enriching uranium for peaceful, civilian energy purposes, has spectacularly imploded. The United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has noted that Iran now has a stockpile of around 900 lbs of uranium enriched to near weapons' grade - 60 per cent purity. With the mullahs chanting 'Death to America' and 'Death to Israel', the theocratic regime's development of nuclear bombs and ballistic missile delivery systems was never going to be tolerated. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad As western leaders call for a de-escalation of tensions and warn Iran that direct retaliation against American military compounds in the Middle East would be a grave mistake, Khamenei and his puppet president Masoud Pezeshkian, continue to issue belligerent threats. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly invited the Iranian people to rise up and overthrow the mullahs' regime. Netanyahu may be pushing at an open door. There are reports that the IRGC has not been paid for weeks and many in its lower ranks are now contemplating the value of risking their lives in conflict with Israel and America, on behalf of a collapsing regime. The mullahs, enmeshed in corruption and incompetence, have squandered the nation's wealth on funding terror and proxy militias. The Iranian economy now lies in ruins, strangled by mismanagement and the burden of sanctions. Billions have been wasted on the clandestine nuclear bomb and ballistic missile programme that is now a smouldering ruin. Ninety million impoverished Iranians have lost their fear of the mullahs and their savagery. The exponential rise of MEK Resistance Units across the nation has demonstrated the courage of the opposition, daily spraying anti-regime graffiti on the walls of public buildings, firebombing IRGC and Basij compounds, displaying banners of National Council of Resistance (NCRI) leaders like Maryam Rajavi, and mounting cyberattacks on regime TV and radio communications. Western appeasers must end their wearisome calls for diplomacy and negotiation with the world's most evil regime. It is time to show the Iranian people that we back their right to overthrow the mullahs and restore peace and prosperity to Iran and the Middle East.
Shafaq News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Shafaq News
Alawite women targeted in post-Assad chaos
Shafaq News - Damascus The aftermath of Bashar al-Assad's ousting has unleashed a new wave of violence in Syria—this time targeting women of his own sect. Reuters reported that at least 33 Alawite women and girls, ages 16 to 39, have gone missing in 2025 alone, amid the unraveling security situation in al-Assad's coastal strongholds. "Don't wait for her," a chilling voice told the family of 29-year-old Abeer Suleiman, who vanished on May 21 in Safita. Days later, her family received WhatsApp calls demanding $15,000 for her release, warning she would be killed or trafficked if the ransom wasn't paid. Suleiman later managed to say, 'I am not in Syria… all the accents around me are strange,' in a recorded call traced to an Iraqi number. This is not an isolated case. These abductions, which exclusively target Alawite women, coincide with escalating reprisals against the community after al-Assad's fall in December. Armed factions aligned with the transitional government have reportedly killed hundreds of Alawites in the coastal regions since March. Despite widespread online pleas from victims' families, no comparable patterns of disappearances have been reported among other sects. The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria is now formally investigating the wave of abductions. The rising trend has spotlighted the vulnerability of minority communities during regime transitions and raised urgent questions about state accountability, regional trafficking networks, and sectarian vengeance.
