Latest news with #non-Syrian
Shafaq News
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Shafaq News
Iraqi ISIS suspect tied to Damascus church bombing
Shafaq News – Damascus One of the suspects arrested in connection with the suicide bombing at Mar Elias Church in Damascus is an Iraqi national who previously resided in al-Hol camp, the Syrian daily al-Watan reported on Thursday. The newspaper said it had obtained internal documents from the distribution of heating fuel in the camp, located in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province near the Iraqi border. Among the listed recipients of humanitarian aid provided by the NGO Blumont in November 2023 was a man named Kinan Ali bin Ramadan, identified as an Iraqi citizen and resident of al-Hol. His name appeared as number 15 on the aid list and, according to the report, matches one of the individuals recently detained by Syria's Interior Ministry for alleged involvement in the bombing—an attack attributed to an ISIS-affiliated cell. The revelation contradicted a statement issued a day earlier by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who rejected claims that the attackers came from al-Hol. 'The statements made by the ministry's spokesperson regarding suicide bombers coming from al-Hol are inaccurate and lack factual basis,' the SDF said. The group added that its own investigation found no unauthorized exits from the camp during the time in question, aside from Syrian nationals transferred at Damascus' request and Iraqi nationals repatriated through formal coordination with Baghdad. The SDF also stressed that al-Hol camp houses mostly women and children from families affiliated with ISIS and does not contain foreign combatants—casting doubt, they said, on the claim that non-Syrian suicide bombers could have emerged from within its confines. In a press briefing earlier this week, Interior Ministry spokesperson Nour al-Din al-Baba said Syrian security forces had dismantled the ISIS cell responsible for the Mar Elias bombing and prevented a second planned attack targeting the Sayyida Zainab shrine, a key Shiite pilgrimage site south of Damascus. According to al-Baba, the cell was led by Mohammed Abdul Ilah al-Jumaili, known by his nom de guerre Abu Imad al-Jumaili and referred to within ISIS ranks as Wali al-Sahra (Governor of the Desert). He was reportedly based in al-Hajar al-Aswad district, south of the capital. The ministry said al-Jumaili facilitated the infiltration of two non-Syrian suicide bombers into Damascus from al-Hol, exploiting what it described as "security gaps" in the vast desert areas of central Syria.
Roya News
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Roya News
Syria: Daesh leader behind church bombing identified, another attack foiled
The Syrian Interior Ministry has identified the leader of a Daesh-linked cell responsible for the recent deadly church bombing in Damascus. According to the ministry's spokesperson, the cell was headed by a Syrian national named Mohammad Abdel Ilah Al-Jamili, also known as Abu Imad Al-Jamili, a resident of the Al-Hajar Al-Aswad neighborhood in Damascus and a former Daesh commander known as the 'Wali of the Desert.' Authorities say Abu Imad will appear in a recorded confession once the investigation is complete. The spokesperson revealed that two suicide bombers were involved—one carried out the deadly church bombing, while the other was apprehended en route to carry out a suicide attack at the Sayyida Zainab shrine in the Damascus countryside. Both attackers were non-Syrian and had entered Damascus from Al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria, crossing through the Syrian desert with assistance from Abu Imad. They infiltrated the capital shortly after its liberation, taking advantage of the initial security vacuum. The Interior Ministry stressed its commitment to delivering justice and restoring public security, noting that Daesh suffered a severe security blow in Damascus and its surroundings as a result of this operation. The ministry also reiterated that Daesh remains a cross-border threat and confirmed ongoing cooperation with neighboring countries to combat the group's terrorist activities.
Shafaq News
10-06-2025
- Business
- Shafaq News
Syria's Labor Ministry: Committed to stabilizing the job market
Shafaq News/ Syria's Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs reaffirmed on Tuesday its commitment to supporting Syrian workers both at home and abroad, with a focus on achieving balance in the country's labor market. Speaking to Shafaq News Agency, Khalil Awad, Director of Labor Regulation at the Ministry, stated that efforts are ongoing to ensure equality between Syrian and non-Syrian workers under Labor Law No. 17 of 2010. 'Articles 2 and 4 of the law stipulate equal rights and obligations for all workers, while also safeguarding local labor from unfair competition,' Awad explained. He added that despite this principle of equality, the law imposes specific requirements on foreign workers. 'Articles 27 to 30 of the same legislation mandate that non-Syrian workers obtain work permits, and Ministerial Decree No. 888 of 2016 outlines the procedures for granting such permits,' he said. According to Awad, these measures are intended to maintain proper regulation and order in the labor market. Regarding Syrians employed abroad, Awad described them as 'an invaluable national asset,' emphasizing their positive contributions to the economies of their host countries. 'We are currently working to create an attractive work environment inside Syria to encourage their return and involvement in the reconstruction process,' he added, revealing that the Ministry is collaborating with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates to compile accurate statistics on Syrians working overseas. Domestically, the Ministry is expanding initiatives to train and employ youth. Awad highlighted the Ministry's oversight of several NGOs that offer specialized vocational training programs in partnership with the Ministries of Industry, Education, and Housing. 'We are in the process of integrating national digital platforms related to vocational training, under labor regulations, to improve accessibility to resources and training opportunities,' Awad said. He concluded that the overarching goal is to ensure effective coordination among relevant institutions and build a comprehensive training environment aligned with market needs.
The Guardian
25-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Forgotten by the west, Syria's IS prisons are under threat as militant group mobilises
With each gust of wind came a wave of body odour, the stench of two-dozen men wafting through the small hatch of the prison cell's heavy iron door. Inside, gaunt prisoners clad in brown jumpsuits sat on thin gray mattresses. Six years have passed since the end of the so-called caliphate of the Islamic State, but to the 4,500 men held inside Panorama prison in north-east Syria, little has changed since their initial capture. 'There's a war going on, right?' Muhammad Saqib Raza, a 45-year-old British-Pakistani doctor accused of being an IS fighter, asked Guardian reporters during a visit to the desert facility in early February. He confessed he knew 'nothing' of what was going on in the outside world, though he had learned from a visiting human rights worker that Donald Trump was now the US president. Detainees had no idea that Bashar al-Assad no longer ruled Syria – a fact the prison administration asked reporters not to share, for fear it would stir trouble within the prison. Guns, mobile phones and information were considered contraband within the four buildings that housed mostly non-Syrian men accused of fighting for IS. Guards carried clubs and wore balaclavas to conceal their identities from the prisoners, fearful that their families could face retribution in the case of a prison break. Outside the heavily fortified prison walls, the world has seemingly tried to forget that thousands of suspected IS fighters are still languishing in detention. But experts warn IS has not forgotten about them. The presence of US troops in Syria, which joined Kurdish-led forces to defeat IS in 2014, is in question. Governments such as the UK, Australia and France have mostly chosen to ignore the problem, stripping the alleged fighters of citizenship and declining to repatriate their nationals. After the fall of the Assad regime on 8 December, however, the world may no longer be able to ignore the remnants of IS. Kurdish officials have sounded the alarm, warning that the IS threat is greater than ever as the extremist group exploits the security vacuum left from the Syrian regime's collapse. IS activity has surged in northern Syria and sleeper cells, which for years lay low in the Syrian desert, have once again mobilised. 'When Assad fell, IS took lots of new territory and regime weaponry. IS is slowly rebuilding itself and one of its key goals will be the prison,' the director of Panorama prison said, asking for his name not to be shared for fear of being targeted by members of the radical group. Kurdish authorities hold up to 65,000 – 42,000 of which are foreign – suspected IS fighters and their relatives in prisons and camps across the autonomous region they rule in north-east Syria. Rights groups have consistently called on countries to bring their foreign nationals being held in north-east Syria back home. Human Rights Watch has said that the detention of foreign nationals is 'unlawful' and that Kurdish-led authorities are holding them in 'life-threatening conditions'. Kurdish officials fear the group will take advantage of Syria's current security vacuum to attack the detention facilities and try to spring their alleged peers free. The prison director's office overlooks the old prison facility, the site of a 2022 attack on the prison when IS sleeper cells attacked from the outside while prisoners took guards hostage on the inside. During the 10-day-long attack hundreds of IS prisoners escaped and almost 500 people were killed. The broken facade of the old facility now looms over the newly built Panorama prison, the jagged holes carved out from missiles a reminder not to grow complacent. 'Their faith in IS has gotten stronger in prison. The organisation is alive in prison. For now, it's dormant, but if we open the doors, it will come back to life,' the prison director said. Prisoners inside Panorama denied any connection to IS ideology. Many claimed never to have been part of the group at all. Raza, a maxillofacial surgeon who worked with the NHS in Leicester, claimed to have been exploring real estate prospects in Turkey when he was offered work at a hospital in Syria in an opportunity he described as 'good for the resume'. Once in Syria, he said he was kidnapped, thrown into a van and sold to IS, where he worked as a doctor. He further claimed that whatever IS sympathies his fellow prisoners once had, were gone. 'I've never found anything unusual with these guys. What I see here [in prison], I don't see anybody who could be a threat,' he said from behind bars in his cell as his fellow inmates looked on. The British government declined to repatriate Raza, as it did in many cases where its citizens had a second nationality. The UK has provided at least £15.8m in funding to expand the Panorama facility, which houses an unknown number of UK nationals who have either been stripped of citizenship or the Home Office has declined to repatriate. Some prisoners were open about their former involvement with IS. Mustafa Hajj-Obeid, a 41-year-old Australian national who was discovered in Panorama prison alive by the Guardian after publicly thought to have been missing since 2019, broke down in tears when he spoke about being a member of the group. 'I tried to get out a few times, a number of times … My wife in the camp, I love her very much and I ask her to forgive me for what I put her through and what I put my family through,' Hajj-Obeid said. None of the prisoners in north-east Syria's detention centres have been formally charged with any crimes, nor have they undergone any sort of trial. The Kurdish authority, unrecognised by Damascus or other states, has been unable to try the thousands of suspected fighters it holds. Unless they are repatriated by their home countries, foreign men suspected of fighting with IS appear to be detained in perpetuity, with essentially no communication with the outside world. Prisoners who spoke to the Guardian alleged mistreatment at the hands of Kurdish authorities, saying water was cut off deliberately as a punitive measure, speaking briefly in hushed tones in the presence of prison guards. There have been at least two tuberculosis outbreaks in the prison that have left detainees emaciated. In 2024, Amnesty International documented physical torture at the hands of prison guards. The prison director said guards did not hit detainees, but acknowledged that conditions in the prisons were difficult, attributing this to a lack of capacity. Human Rights Watch said foreign governments may be complicit in their nationals' unlawful detention, which if part of a systematic policy could amount to a 'crime against humanity'. 'When people kill people in Britain, they are put on trial, it goes under the system of justice. But here, why not? Why don't you bring us to trial?' Raza said before a prison guard slammed the door shut, declaring the visit over. Baderkhan Ahmad contributed to this report from north-east Syria
Asharq Al-Awsat
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Kurdish Leaderships Reveal Details of Plan to Merge with Syrian Army
Sources close to the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said the group's decision to merge its military and security bodies with those of the Kurdish Autonomous Administration is a serious step toward talks with Damascus. The move, announced late Monday, aims to integrate the SDF into the Syrian army. SDF commander Mazloum Abdi invited Syrian interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa to visit SDF-held areas in northeastern Syria, congratulating him on leading the country's transition. The SDF had published the minutes of a three-way meeting that included Abdi along with leaders from the group's political wing, the Syrian Democratic Council, and the executive administration of the Autonomous Administration. The meeting resulted in an agreement to merge the SDF's military and security institutions with the security bodies of the Autonomous Administration under the Syrian army's structure. It also approved the reactivation of state-run civil and service institutions in northeastern Syria and the withdrawal of non-Syrian foreign fighters from SDF ranks and areas under its control as part of efforts to bolster national sovereignty and stability. Abu Omar Al-Idlibi, a senior commander in the SDF, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the meeting concluded with an understanding that the SDF would be integrated into Syria's Ministry of Defense as a single unit, potentially within a corps or as part of the ministry's eastern command. However, he noted that discussions were still in their early stages and that oil and gas fields in northeastern Syria were not on the agenda at this stage, but could be addressed in future talks. Al-Idlibi described the move as an effort to unify forces and strengthen national unity, while reviving state-run civil and service institutions in the northeast to improve public services and living conditions. The meeting emphasized the need to boost coordination with Damascus, increase dialogue on national issues, and reaffirm Syria's territorial integrity. Al-Idlibi said the latest decisions would support the integration of local forces into the Syrian army, bolster its defense capabilities, and facilitate the return of displaced people to their hometowns, particularly those from areas affected by Turkish military operations.
