World

European Ministers Visit Syria to Strengthen Ties With New Government

Published

1 year ago

January 3, 2025

European Ministers Visit Syria to Strengthen Ties With New Government

Syria’s new leaders met the French and German foreign ministers in the capital, Damascus, on Friday in one of the highest-level Western diplomatic visits since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad last month.

Annalena Baerbock of Germany and her French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot, arrived in Damascus for the first such trip in years on behalf on the European Union, as world powers have begun building ties with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist group that leads the new Syrian government.

Ms. Baerbock and Mr. Barrot met with Ahmad al-Shara, the group’s leader, after visiting the notorious Sednaya prison, where Mr. al-Assad’s regime had tortured and killed thousands of detainees.

“We are traveling to Damascus today to offer our support, but also with clear expectations of the new rulers,” Ms. Baerbock said in a statement before the meeting. “A new beginning can only happen if all Syrians, no matter their ethnicity and religion, are given a place in the political process.”

The visits are among a flurry of contacts between rebel leaders and Western officials looking to gradually open channels to the new Syrian authorities. Mr. al-Shara has worked to project a moderate image since taking power.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is still blacklisted as a terrorist group by the United States and the United Nations because of its past ties to Al Qaeda. Mr. al-Shara has called on the international community to remove that designation and sought to reassure minority groups, saying he wants to focus on rebuilding Syria after years of civil war.

“The current events demand the lifting of all sanctions on Syria,” he said in a televised interview last month.

Mr. Barrot said that France was urging the new rulers in Damascus to pursue a political transition that would allow “all the communities in Syria, in all their diversity, to be represented.” Part of that included reaching a “political solution” with the Kurdish minority, he said, which has carved out an autonomous region in northeastern Syria.

The diplomacy comes during a realignment across the Middle East, where Mr. al-Assad’s regime was a core part of Iran’s regional coalition. His family’s decades of iron-fisted rule were opposed by many Syrians, spurring the 2011 uprising and civil war. At least six foreign militaries were involved in the fighting, including those from Iran, Russia and Turkey.

Many countries — including the United States — have begun forging ties with the new government. In late December, Barbara Leaf, the senior State Department official for the Middle East, met with Mr. al-Shara in Damascus and told him that Washington would no longer pursue an outstanding bounty for his arrest.

Some Syrians — particularly Christians and other minority groups — are uncertain about Mr. al-Shara, pointing to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s conservative Islamist roots. In Idlib, a province controlled by the group since 2017, its leaders banned buying and selling alcohol and opened a chain of free religious schools. But Mr. al-Shara’s faction has eschewed the draconian decrees and brutal punishments of extremists like the Taliban and the Islamic State.

In a sign of the jitters among some Syrians, a posting on a Facebook page run by the Education Ministry this week described a new curriculum that was interpreted by some as taking a more Islamist slant.

It was not clear whether any of the changes had been implemented, but the minister of education, Nadhir Al-Qadri, said in a statement that the curriculum was unchanged except for the removal of “content glorifying the Assad regime” and the addition of images of the Syrian revolutionary flag.

Officials in Hayat Tahrir al-Sham have laid out an ambitious plan for establishing a new government, and rebel leaders have assumed key positions to oversee a transition. They say they are establishing a caretaker government in consultation with Syrians of all backgrounds, as well as a committee to draft a new Syrian constitution.

Many in the region are also wary of the new Syrian government, including Gulf States like the United Arab Emirates, which has long tried to prevent the rise of groups that embrace political Islam, as well as Israel.

Overnight on Friday, Israeli warplanes bombed Syrian defense research sites near Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Israel declined to comment on the report.

Israel has conducted hundreds of airstrikes against Syrian military sites since the fall of Mr. al-Assad in an effort to eliminate sophisticated arms like chemical weapons and long-range missiles. Mr. al-Shara has said he will uphold a longstanding cease-fire agreement with Israel, saying that Syria poses no threat to its neighbors.

Here are other developments in the region:

Houthi missile attacks: The Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen launched a ballistic missile at Israel before dawn on Friday, setting off air-raid sirens across central Israel, including in Jerusalem. The Israeli military said it had intercepted the missile and there were no reports of serious casualties. Israeli fighter jets have flown over 1,000 miles to strike Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen but Israel has struggled to stop the attacks, which have escalated over the past month.
Northern Gaza hospital: The Israeli military is operating near the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, from which many doctors and patients have already fled, health officials there said, noting that the sound of gunfire could be heard outside. The Israeli military said it did not intend to evacuate the hospital. The Israeli military raided Kamal Adwan, another northern Gaza hospital, last week, charging that Hamas was operating in the compound. Israeli troops apprehended at least 240 people they said were militants, including Hussam Abu Safiya, the hospital director; Amnesty International has called for his release.
Israeli strikes in Lebanon: The Israeli military said on Thursday night that it had bombed Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon, while a 60-day truce largely continues to hold. Since the agreement went into effect in late November, Israel has repeatedly bombarded what it says are Hezbollah fighters violating the agreement. Hezbollah has generally refrained from responding militarily. The current cease-fire is set to expire in late January, although the United States and its allies hope it becomes permanent.

Abu Bakr Bashir and Aurelien Breeden contributed reporting.

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World

Israel sees no certainty Iran’s government will fall despite war

Published

6 hours ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

Israel sees no certainty Iran’s government will fall despite war

Israeli officials in closed discussions have acknowledged there is no certainty the war against Iran will lead to a collapse of its clerical government, a senior Israeli official told Reuters, with no sign of an Iranian uprising amid the bombardment.

World

Canada’s Carney under pressure to act after synagogues shot at in latest antisemitic incidents

Published

7 hours ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

Canada’s Carney under pressure to act after synagogues shot at in latest antisemitic incidents

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Over the weekend, two Toronto synagogues were attacked by gunfire. Several days earlier, another synagogue was hit by around twenty gunshots on the Jewish holiday of Purim.

Though the three attacks caused no injuries, many in the Jewish community are demanding concrete action from Prime Minister Mark Carney — not just words of comfort that have typically followed such antisemitic incidents.

Carney took to X saying that the “antisemitic and criminal attacks violate the right of Canadian Jewish men and women to live and pray in complete safety” and “represent a serious assault on the way of life of all Canadians.”

ISRAELI MINISTER WARNS CANADA IS ‘MARCHING TOWARD THE ABYSS’ AFTER JEWISH MAN ATTACKED IN FRONT OF CHILDREN

Temple Emanu-El in Toronto, Canada was shot at on March 3, 2026. No injuries were reported. (Nick Lachance/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

In the aftermath of the first synagogue attack, Israel’s National Security Council warned Israelis overseas to “maintain vigilance and adhere to safety precautions.” Among their suggestions were for Israelis to “conceal Jewish and Israeli identifiers while in public spaces,” to be aware of surroundings “in areas associated with Israel or Judaism,” and to “avoid visiting sites identified as Jewish or Israeli.”

On X, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that “all eyes are on Canada: it’s time to halt the unprecedented wave of Jew-hatred that has erupted since October 7th.”

Anti-Israel demonstrators gather outside Union Station during a rally in Toronto, Ontario on Jan. 4, 2024. (Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Like many Western countries, Canada has seen a marked rise in annual antisemitic incidents since the Hamas terror attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The League for Human Rights B’nai Brith Canada found that there were 6,219 incidents of antisemitism in Canada in 2024. This constituted an average of 17 incidents per day, more than double the eight incidents per day calculated in 2022.

CANADA’S ANTISEMITISM ENVOY RESIGNS, CITING EXHAUSTION AMID HATE SURGE

While figures for 2025 have yet to be released, Public Safety Canada noted that from April to June 2025, “Among hate crimes targeting religion… the majority were directed at the Jewish community (69%).”

Conservative MP Roman Baber, said the behavior of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and other liberal Canadian politicians have been “adding fuel to the fire of Jew hatred in Canada.”

Baber aimed further criticism at Carney, saying, “When the Prime Minister on the campaign trail says he knows there is genocide in Gaza, he engages in Jew hatred.”

General view of Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto synagogue in Thornhill, north of Toronto, Ontario. The place of worship was one of three synagogues attacked in early March 2026.

Baber was referring to an event in April 2025 during which a heckler yelled over a bustling crowd that “there is a genocide happening in Gaza.” Carney responded, “I’m aware, that’s why we have an arms embargo.”

SKYROCKETING ANTISEMITISM IN CANADA SPARKS CONCERN FOR COUNTRY’S JEWS AHEAD OF ELECTION

Carney later said that he did not hear the heckler use the term “genocide.”

Baber noted that “when the Prime Minister recognized the Palestinian state, he rewarded the brutality of Hamas, and he did so on the eve of Rosh Hashanah.”

In his announcement, released the day prior to the Jewish holiday, Carney claimed that recognizing “the State of Palestine, led by the Palestinian Authority, empowers those who seek peaceful coexistence and the end of Hamas,” and “in no way legitimizes terrorism, nor is it any reward for it.” He also claimed recognition “in no way compromises Canada’s steadfast support for the State of Israel, its people, and their security.”

Anti-Israel protesters gather outside the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto synagogue on March 7, 2024. The place of worship was one of three synagogues shot at in the first week of March 2026. (Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Watchdog organization StopAntisemitism told Fox News Digital that “every day we are seeing painful reminders that antisemitism remains a real and dangerous threat. Acts of violence meant to intimidate or silence our community will not succeed. Loud and proud Jews will not allow hatred or fear to deter our Jewish way of life or our presence in the world. Not in Canada, in the United States, in Europe, and certainly not in Israel.”

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StopAntisemitism called for the perpetrators to “be punished to the fullest extent of the law so that justice is served and deterrence is clear.”

Beth Bailey is a reporter covering Afghanistan, the Middle East, Asia, the United Nations, Central America and antisemitism. She was formerly a civilian intelligence analyst with the Department of the Army. You can follow Beth on X @BWBailey85

World

Not ‘a litre of oil’ to pass Strait of Hormuz, expect $200 price tag: Iran

Published

8 hours ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

Not ‘a litre of oil’ to pass Strait of Hormuz, expect 0 price tag: Iran

Warning comes as 400 million barrels of oil are being released from global reserves during waterway’s closure.

Published On 11 Mar 2026

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it will not allow “a litre of oil” through the Strait of Hormuz as the closure of the key Gulf waterway continues to roil global energy markets during the US-Israeli war on Iran.

A spokesperson for the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters said on Wednesday that any vessel linked to the United States and Israel or their allies “will be considered a legitimate target”.

Release of oil reserves

World leaders, including members of the Group of Seven (G7) and the European Union, have been mulling what action to take in response to the war’s impact on global economies.

Christian Bueger, a professor of international relations at the University of Copenhagen and an expert in maritime security, said Europe will be facing “a major energy supply crisis” if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened.

“For the shipping industry right now, it’s impossible to go through the Strait of Hormuz,” Bueger told Al Jazeera. “And if there are not stronger signals in the near future that they can at least try to go through the strait, then we are looking at a major shipping crisis, which can last weeks if not months.”

On Wednesday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced that its 32 member countries had unanimously agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil from their emergency reserves to try to lower prices.

“This is a major action aiming to alleviate the immediate impacts of the disruption in markets,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said during an address from the agency’s headquarters in Paris.

“But to be clear, the most important thing for a return to stable flows of oil and gas is the resumption of transit through the Strait of Hormuz,” he added.

The reserve supplies will be made available “over a timeframe that is appropriate” for each member state, the IEA said in a statement without providing details.

German Economy and Energy Minister Katherina Reiche said earlier in the day that the country would comply with the release while Austria also said it would make part of its emergency oil reserve available and extend its national strategic gas reserve.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said it would release about 80 million barrels from its private and national oil reserves.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the country, which gets about 70 percent of its oil imports through the Strait of Hormuz, would begin releasing the reserves on Monday.