Bashar al-Assad - The African Mirror

May

2023

Syria’s Assad wins warm welcome at Arab summit after years of isolation

SYRIAN President Bashar al-Assad was given a warm welcome at an Arab summit, winning a hug from Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince at a meeting of leaders who had shunned him for years, in a policy shift opposed by the U.S. and other Western powers. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shook hands with a beaming Assad as the summit got underway in Jeddah, turning the page on enmity towards a leader who drew on support from Shi'ite Iran and Russia to beat back his foes in Syria's civil war. The summit showcased redoubled Saudi Arabia's efforts to exercise sway on the global stage, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

Putin meets Assad, takes swipe at US and Turkish forces in Syria

WORLD

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has met his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, for the first time since 2018 and criticised foreign forces that are in Syria without permission or a U.N. mandate - a rebuke of the United States and Turkey. Putin is Assad's most powerful ally in the decade-long Syrian conflict; his deployment of Russia's air force in 2015 helped to turn the tide in Assad's favour, allowing him to recover most of the territory lost to insurgents. However, Turkish forces are now present in much of the north and northwest, helping to shore up the last major bastion of…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Syria to hold presidential election, slammed by opposition

WORLD

SULEIMAN AL-KHALIDI SYRIA will hold a presidential election on May 26 that is virtually certain to return President Bashar al-Assad for a third term - an event that Washington and the opposition say is a farce designed to cement his autocratic rule. Assad's family and his Baath party have ruled Syria for five decades with the help of the security forces and the army, where his Alawite minority dominate. This year is the 10th anniversary of a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters which triggered a civil war that has left much of Syria in ruins. The multi-sided conflict has sucked…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

U.N. seeks $10 billion for Syrians as humanitarian needs soar

WORLD

ROBIN EMMOTT THE United Nations has urged international donors to pledge up to $10 billion to help Syrians fleeing a decade of civil war in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that the need for humanitarian support has never been so great. In the fifth annual conference to keep Syrians from starvation, the event hosted by the European Union is seeking $4.2 billion for people inside Syria and $5.8 billion for refugees and their hosts in the Middle East. Some 24 million people need basic aid, a rise of 4 million over the past year and the highest number…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Syria’s President and his wife test positive for COVID-19

COVID-19

SYRIA’S President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma have tested positive for COVID-19 after showing minor symptoms, according to his office. FILE PHOTO: Asma al-Assad, wife of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, reacts during the graduation ceremony of professors from Damascus University, who will work at the Syrian Organisation for Persons with Disabilities, in Damascus, Syria December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki/File Photo The Syrian leader and his spouse, who announced her recovery from breast cancer in 2019, were in good health and would keep working in isolation at home, the statement said. Syria has seen a sharp rise in infections since…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

German court issues guilty verdict in first Syria torture trial

WORLD

ANDREAS BUERGER A German court sentenced a former member of President Bashar al-Assad's security services to 4-1/2 years in prison yesterday for abetting the torture of civilians, the first such verdict for crimes against humanity in the 10-year-old Syrian civil war. The higher regional court in the western city of Koblenz said Eyad A. had arrested at least 30 anti-government protesters at the start of the conflict in 2011 and sent them to an intelligence facility where he knew detainees were tortured. The verdict gives hope to the 800,000 Syrians in Germany who say they were tortured in government facilities…