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Hundreds of Civilians Killed by Government Forces in Syria, War Monitors Say

Published

10 months ago

March 9, 2025

Hundreds of Civilians Killed by Government Forces in Syria, War Monitors Say

Three days of clashes between fighters affiliated with Syria’s new leaders and those loyal to the ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad have left scores of civilians dead, according to two war monitoring groups, who reported on Saturday that many of them had been killed by the government’s forces.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has monitored the Syrian conflict since 2011, said early Sunday that more than 1,000 people had been killed in the coastal provinces of Tartus and Latakia. That figure included about 700 civilians, most killed by government forces. The information could not be independently verified.

Another monitoring group, the Syrian Network for Human Rights, reported earlier that government security forces had killed some 125 civilians. It said that men of all ages were among the casualties and that the forces did not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Information Ministry officials, responding to the charges of killing civilians, said they rejected “undocumented allegations accusing government forces of committing violations.” But they also said the government was committed to conducting comprehensive investigations and would hold to account those found to have harmed civilians.

“The Syrian government confirms that its forces operate according to strict standards that respect international humanitarian law and are keen to protect civilians during their operations,” a ministry statement said.

The Observatory said most of the civilians killed were from the country’s Alawite religious minority, to which Mr. al-Assad belongs, but this could not be independently verified either. The monitoring group said scores of combatants on both sides of the conflict had also been killed.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights said the Assad loyalists had killed more than 100 security forces for the new government.

The Defense Ministry told Syrian state media on Saturday afternoon that forces had regained control over most areas that had been taken by the former regime remnants ,and that roads leading to the coastal area had been closed “to regulate violations, prevent transgressions and gradually restore stability to the area.”

The unrest has been the bloodiest outbreak of violence since the Assad regime was ousted in early December by rebels who became the country’s new leaders. It presents a major test of the new government’s authority and has raised the specter of a larger sectarian conflict in Syria, where tensions were already high as a result of the civil war.

By Saturday afternoon, the Syrian Red Crescent had been given permission to enter one of the towns to evacuate the injured, said Haidera Younes, a spokesman for the Red Crescent’s branch in Tartus.

The clashes began on Thursday after Assad loyalists killed 16 government security personnel in Latakia province, in the deadliest attack yet on Syria’s new security forces, according to government officials and the Observatory.

Violence quickly spread across Latakia and Tartus provinces, longtime strongholds of Mr. al-Assad along the Mediterranean coast and home to most of the country’s Alawites. Armed remnants of the ousted regime are believed to be scattered across the two provinces and have presented a challenge to the country’s new leaders as they try to exert their authority and unite a fractured country after more than 13 years of civil war.

The government responded to the initial attack on Thursday by deploying thousands of security forces and soldiers from other parts of the country to the restive coast. The government has sought to present the clashes as a legitimate authority fighting the remnants of a brutal regime.

For the first time, the new government forces deployed helicopters outfitted with machine guns on Thursday around the mountainside of the coastal region, according to a government official on the coast, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. The helicopters were deployed to areas where armed Assad loyalists were stationed, the official added.

A video verified by The New York Times and filmed along the coast west of Latakia airport appears to show government fighters repurposing Russian-made anti-submarine depth charges by dropping them as bombs from the rear of a helicopter. A spokesman for the government in Latakia did not respond to a request for comment about the video. A journalist with Syrian state media, Muhammad al-Othman, said that the munitions were dropped over mountainous areas where old regime remnants remain.

The Assad regime drew international condemnation for its frequent use of helicopters for indiscriminate bombings, dropping improvised “barrel bombs” onto civilian populations for years. The use of anti-submarine munitions for that purpose fits the old regime’s pattern of using whatever it could either fabricate or repurpose for launching aerial attacks via helicopter.

The munitions used in the helicopter attacks appeared to be Russian RBG-25 depth charges, which are normally launched from ships for use against submarines, said Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army explosive ordnance disposal technician. They most likely originated from old Assad regime stocks, he said.

“This is quite a bit different from how they are designed to be deployed,” said Mr. Ball. “These aren’t going to cause as much damage as the barrel bombs the Assad regime commonly used.”

Christina Goldbaum, Muhammad Haj Kadour and Reham Mourshed contributed reporting.

Related Topics:Assad Bashar al-Featured Latakia (Syria)politics and government Syria Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Tartus (Syria)

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World

Some flu measures decline, but it’s not clear this severe season has peaked

Published

1 hour ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

Some flu measures decline, but it’s not clear this severe season has peaked

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. flu infections showed signs of a slight decline last week, but health officials say it is not clear that this severe flu season has peaked.

New government data posted Friday — for flu activity through last week — showed declines in medical office visits due to flu-like illness and in the number of states reporting high flu activity.

However, some measures show this season is already surpassing the flu epidemic of last winter, one of the harshest in recent history. And experts believe there is more suffering ahead.

“This is going to be a long, hard flu season,” New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said, in a statement Friday.

One type of flu virus, called A H3N2, historically has caused the most hospitalizations and deaths in older people. So far this season, that is the type most frequently reported. Even more concerning, more than 91% of the H3N2 infections analyzed were a new version — known as the subclade K variant — that differs from the strain in this year’s flu shots.

The last flu season saw the highest overall flu hospitalization rate since the H1N1 flu pandemic 15 years ago. And child flu deaths reached 289, the worst recorded for any U.S. flu season this century — including that H1N1 “swine flu” pandemic of 2009-2010.

So far this season, there have been at least 15 million flu illnesses and 180,000 hospitalizations, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. It also estimates there have been 7,400 deaths, including the deaths of at least 17 children.

Last week, 44 states reported high flu activity, down slightly from the week before. However, flu deaths and hospitalizations rose.

Determining exactly how flu season is going can be particularly tricky around the holidays. Schools are closed, and many people are traveling. Some people may be less likely to see a doctor, deciding to just suffer at home. Others may be more likely to go.

Also, some seasons see a surge in cases, then a decline, and then a second surge.

For years, federal health officials joined doctors’ groups in recommending that everyone 6 months and older get an annual influenza vaccine. The shots may not prevent all symptoms but can prevent many infections from becoming severe, experts say.

But federal health officials on Monday announced they will no longer recommend flu vaccinations for U.S. children, saying it is a decision parents and patients should make in consultation with their doctors.

“I can’t begin to express how concerned we are about the future health of the children in this country, who already have been unnecessarily dying from the flu — a vaccine preventable disease,” said Michele Slafkosky, executive director of an advocacy organization called Families Fighting Flu.

“Now, with added confusion for parents and health care providers about childhood vaccines, I fear that flu seasons to come could be even more deadly for our youngest and most vulnerable,” she said in a statement.

Flu is just one of a group of viruses that tend to strike more often in the winter. Hospitalizations from COVID-19 and RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, also have been rising in recent weeks — though were not diagnosed nearly as often as flu infections, according to other federal data.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

World

Russia fires new hypersonic missile in massive Ukraine attack, Kremlin says

Published

2 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

Russia fires new hypersonic missile in massive Ukraine attack, Kremlin says

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Russia said on Friday it used its new hypersonic Oreshnik missile in an attack against Ukraine, according to reports.

The Kremlin said that the strike was carried out in response to what it said was an attempted Ukrainian drone strike on one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residences, something Kyiv has denied, according to Reuters.

The outlet noted that Ukraine and the U.S. have cast doubt on Russia’s claims about the alleged attempted attack on Putin’s residence on Dec. 29, the report said. Ukraine called it “an absurd lie,” while President Donald Trump also doubted the veracity of the claim, saying he did not believe the strike occurred and that “something” unrelated happened nearby.

This is the second time Russia has used the intermediate-range Oreshnik, which Putin has said is impossible to intercept because of its velocity, Reuters reported.

RUSSIA ALLEGES ATTACK ON PUTIN RESIDENCE AS UKRAINE DENIES CLAIM AHEAD OF TRUMP TALKS

A part of the Russian nuclear-capable hypersonic Oreshnik missile system at the site of the Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Lviv region, Ukraine, Jan. 9, 2026. (Security Service of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters)

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the strike targeted critical infrastructure in Ukraine, according to Reuters, which added that Russia said the attack also used attack drones and high-precision long-range land and sea-based weapons.

While Moscow did not say where the missile hit, Russian media and military bloggers said it targeted an underground natural gas storage facility in Ukraine’s western Leviv region, CBS News reported. Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadoviy said the attack hit critical infrastructure but did not give details, the outlet added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the attack on social media, saying that the aftermath was “still being dealt with.”

“Twenty residential buildings alone were damaged. Recovery operations after the strikes also continue in the Lviv region and other regions of our country. Unfortunately, as of now, it is known that four people have been killed in the capital alone. Among them is an ambulance crew member. My condolences to their families and loved ones,” Zelenskyy wrote.

A resident stands on the balcony of his apartment, damaged during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Jan. 9, 2026. (Anatolii Stepanov/Reuters)

PUTIN RESIDENCE ATTACK VIDEO SLAMMED AS US OFFICIALS SAY UKRAINE DID NOT TARGET LEADER

The Ukrainian leader said the attack involved 242 drones, 13 ballistic missiles, one Oreshnik missile and 22 cruise missiles. Zelenskyy added that the ballistic missiles were aimed at energy facilities and civilian infrastructure as the people of Ukraine faced “a significant cold spell.” He said the attack was “aimed precisely against the normal life of ordinary people.” However, he assured that Ukraine was working to restore heating and electricity.

Zelenskyy claimed that in addition to the civilian infrastructure, a building of the Embassy of Qatar was damaged in the attack.

Apartment buildings hit by a Russian missile strike late yesterday, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the city of in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, on Jan. 9, 2026. (Stringer/Reuters)

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“A clear reaction from the world is needed. Above all from the United States, whose signals Russia truly pays attention to. Russia must receive signals that it is its obligation to focus on diplomacy, and must feel consequences every time it again focuses on killings and the destruction of infrastructure,” Zelenskyy added.

A spokesperson for the State Department told Fox News Digital that the U.S. remains committed to ending the war through diplomatic means, emphasizing that it is the only path toward a durable peace. The spokesperson underscored Trump’s desire to end the war that is approaching its fourth year.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.

World

Mercosur: How Macron’s domestic weakness undercut his Brussels clout

Published

3 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

The French president’s failure to assemble a blocking minority against the Mercosur deal underscores how his domestic weakness is undermining his clout in Brussels. By contrast, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Germany have secured an important victory.