Russia says it is discussing a possible "reformatting" of its military facilities in Syria with the government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, as both countries seek to redefine their relationship following the collapse of the Assad regime. While Damascus has signaled a willingness to maintain pragmatic ties with Moscow, it has also called for the extradition of former dictator Bashar al-Assad, who was granted asylum in Russia.
Analysts say Moscow's priority is preserving access to its strategic bases at Tartus and Hmeimim, while Syria seeks to balance relations with multiple international partners as it focuses on reconstruction and recovery.
https://t.co/8MGHBcSRGO
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that Israeli actions in Syria and Lebanon threaten not only Turkey, but regional and global stability.
• As preparations intensify for next month's NATO summit in Ankara, President Erdogan warned that Israeli attacks on Syria and Lebanon had reached a point where they also endangered Turkey, stressing that Ankara's security begins "in Aleppo, Damascus and Beirut."
• He warned that if Israel's actions are not restrained, "the entire world, together with the region, will bear the consequences."
• Erdogan called on the international community to take a clearer stand and said bringing Israel back "within the bounds of the rule of law" was a duty shared by all countries.
• The Turkish leader said preparations had intensified to make the July 7-8 NATO summit in Ankara "a reference point" in the alliance's history.
• U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to attend the summit, which comes amid mounting tensions across the Middle East.
• The Turkish leader warned that if Israel's actions are not restrained, "the entire world, together with the region, will bear the consequences."
• Erdogan called on the international community to take a clearer stand and said bringing Israel back "within the bounds of the rule of law" was a duty shared by all countries.
• The Turkish leader said preparations had intensified to make the July 7-8 NATO summit in Ankara "a reference point" in the alliance's history.
Full article in comments
https://t.co/iCqLcUYiLi
A new investigation by Zaman al-Wasl has alleged that sanctioned Syrian businessman Khaled Qaddour, a key financial associate of Maher al-Assad and a leading figure in the deposed regime’s “shadow economy”, is linked to a network using ostensibly revolutionary social media platforms to shape public opinion and undermine confidence in Syria's transition. The report claims the network employs coordinated online campaigns and exploits popular trends to amplify public frustrations and spread narratives designed to sow pessimism.
The allegations come amid longstanding scrutiny of Qaddour's role in the former regime's economic networks. The Commission for Combating Illicit Enrichment recently denied online rumors of a financial settlement with him, warning against misinformation spread through "suspicious" social media pages.
https://t.co/mxVYlwMGT7
Fifteen years ago today, on June 9, 2011, Lieutenant-Colonel Hussein Harmoush publicly announced his defection from the Assad regime's army, becoming one of the first senior officers to break ranks after refusing to remain silent in the face of the regime's "mass killings of unarmed civilians."
At a time when many still believed the uprising could be crushed quickly, Harmoush made a heroic choice that would cost him everything.
Along with around 30 fellow defectors, he established the Free Officers Movement, seeking to protect civilians and assist protesters facing escalating violence.
During the regime's assault on Jisr al-Shughur, Harmoush and his comrades helped civilians and opposition fighters escape and eventually fled to Turkey, where he lived not in luxury or safety, but in a refugee camp near the Syrian border. From there, he regularly covertly crossed the border to help lead operations against regime forces.
He had abandoned a comfortable career, rank and privileges, fully aware that the Assad regime would never forgive what it regarded as betrayal.
In the weeks that followed, the Free Officers Movement became one of the foundations upon which the Free Syrian Army would later be built. But Harmoush himself would not live to see the revolution's later chapters.
On August 29, 2011, he disappeared from the refugee camp where he had sought refuge. Weeks later, he appeared on Syrian state television in one of the regime's grotesque forced confession videos. Then he disappeared for the last time, with his family spending 14 years in limbo, not knowing whether they could hope he'd still be alive.
In February 2025, eyewitness testimony finally confirmed what many had long feared: Hussein Harmoush had been executed inside Sednaya Military Prison on January 19, 2012, shortly after his televised 'confession'.
Fifteen years after Harmoush's defection, Syrians remember one of the revolution's earliest military leaders, a man who chose principle over comfort and freedom over obedience.
As time passes, it's easy to forget how much so many sacrificed.
Hussein Harmoush could have remained a privileged lieutenant-colonel in a powerful army. Instead, he chose to stand with ordinary Syrians, and gave his life for dignity and freedom.
Pakistani officials have stated that a US-Iran agreement is unlikely within days, despite President Trump's optimism, with continued Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon remaining a major obstacle to renewed negotiations.
https://t.co/pDpbfxxkB6
A new study by the New Lines Institute asserts that Syria could become a major energy hub linking the Gulf and Europe through a network of pipelines and infrastructure projects.
The proposal echoes ideas promoted earlier by US envoy Tom Barrack, who has highlighted Syria's strategic location as an alternative to vulnerable maritime routes. Researchers say the country could eventually generate billions of dollars annually from energy transit and production, helping fund reconstruction and restoring Syria's historic role as a bridge between East and West.https://t.co/zu9HB7rBlT
Debris from an Iranian missile reportedly fell in rural Quneitra earlier after being intercepted by Israeli defenses. Local sources reported that the missile debris fell in the vicinity of the village of Zubayda.
During the previous Iranian-Israeli exchange of fire earlier this year, Israel routinely shot down incoming Iranian missiles over inhabited areas of Syria rather than empty desert areas.
The people of Quneitra and Daraa are already enduring daily Israeli incursions and attacks after previously enduring Iranian occupation in support of the Assad regime. See less
Israel reportedly launched strikes on around 20 targets inside Iran overnight in response to an Iranian missile attack on Israel the previous evening. The Iranian attack was launched in retaliation for Israeli strikes in Lebanon. The latest escalation comes amid ongoing Israeli attacks and expansionism in both Lebanon and Syria, raising fears of a broader regional conflict.
The strikes went ahead despite US President Donald Trump's telling Axios he planned to ask Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to retaliate. While US officials insisted that American forces were not involved, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted the operation could not have taken place without US approval. Both Israel and Iran have depicted their actions as defensive responses, highlighting an increasingly dangerous cycle of escalation across the region.
https://t.co/pnXoYnBUCf
Freedom is beautiful, but some pay the price.
Medical student Abdulwahab Daadoush was arrested by the Assad regime for participating in a demonstration, and imprisoned in Saydnaya prison for 13 years.
When he was released, his mother had gone blind from grief while waiting for him. He didn't recognize her, however, because he had lost his mind in the darkness of prison under torture.
الحرية جميلة لكن هنالك من دفع ثمنها ..
الطالب الطبيب عبدالوهاب دعدوش الذي اعتقله النظام -لأنه خرج بمظاهرة-
غيب في سجن صيدنايا مدة 13عام وعندما خرج بالتحرير، كانت أمه قد فقدت بصرها من حزنها عليه وهي تنتظره.. لكنه لم يتعرف عليها لأنه فقد عقله في ظلمات السجن تحت التعذيب.
Syria's Internal Security Forces today arrested Sari Mu'ayyad Makhlouf for his involvement in numerous crimes, most notably his participation in the Al-Bayda massacre in Banias, in addition to robbery, armed assault, kidnapping for ransom, and the theft of cars and public property.
The Ministry of Interior announced that investigations have proved his involvement in managing an international smuggling network in partnership with fellow criminals Bashar Talal al-Assad and Hafez Munther al-Assad. It was further revealed that he exploited his security position during the former regime to cover up his criminal activities.
The competent authorities are continuing to complete the legal procedures against him to refer him to the judiciary to receive his just punishment.
At least 20 people were killed and eight wounded in a series of Israeli air strikes across southern and eastern Lebanon on Saturday, according to Lebanese officials and state media. The dead included male and female civilians, in addition to two Lebanese army officers and a soldier in Nabatieh, Tyre, Sidon and the Western Bekaa, while three paramedics were wounded in a 'double tap' strike as they tried to reach casualties.
The attacks came despite a fragile nominal ceasefire that has been in force since 17 April and extended until early July. Lebanon's Health Ministry said the death toll from Israeli attacks since 2 March has risen to 3,593, with a further 10,990 wounded.
https://t.co/M8YXfJyag5
More than 380,000 people have now signed a petition calling for the “removal” of Rohingya from Malaysia. This is mass racism dressed up as civic action. The petition shows a staggering ignorance of what Rohingya have endured / genocide, statelessness, village burnings, apartheid conditions in Myanmar, trafficking routes, sea pushbacks, detention, and the mass graves of Wang Kelian.
To demand “removal” without asking where people can safely go is a failure of basic humanity. It is cruelty with a signature count. It turns survivors of persecution into a public nuisance and pretends that expulsion is a solution.
Israeli occupation forces carried out two separate incursions into rural southern Quneitra on Saturday, raiding civilian homes and arresting one resident before taking him into the occupied Syrian Golan.
The operations in the Abu Madhra'a farm area and the village of al-Asha are the latest in a series of Israeli military incursions and arrests in southern Syria.
The raids come amid Israel continuously violating the 1974 Disengagement Agreement through repeated ground incursions, home searches, arrests, and attacks on civilian areas in Quneitra and Daraa governorates. https://t.co/3lSZPeF9ce
The Ministry of Interior has renamed the infamous 'Palestine Branch' in Damascus as the 'Special Tasks Department.'
▪️ The ministry said the deposed regime misused the name "Palestine" for decades to conceal arbitrary detention, torture, and other abuses unrelated to the Palestinian cause.
▪️ The branch was one of the Assad regime's most feared security centres and became synonymous with torture, enforced disappearance, and political repression.
▪️ Although the regime portrayed itself as a defender of Palestine, Palestinians were among the victims routinely detained, tortured, killed and 'disappeared' by the branch.
▪️ Critics argue the branch's very name exposed the gap between the regime's "resistance" rhetoric and its treatment of both Syrians and Palestinians.
▪️ The move comes amid wider efforts to reform Syria's security sector, pursue accountability for past abuses, and uncover the fate of thousands of missing and disappeared persons.
#Palestine, #Damascus, #Assad, #Torture, #Disappeared
https://t.co/msB4o0oeDL
So far 195,000 people in #Malaysia have signed a petition to “remove” Rohingya.
https://t.co/ZADcWlqIsQ
Razia Sultana’s response is devastating. For Rohingya, “removal” is not policy language. It means burned villages, pushbacks, trafficking camps & Wang Kelian graves. Stop dressing racism up as governance.