Syria news/Archive/2019-04

28 Apr. salon.com publishes the second, concluding part of their detailed interview with Sharmine Narwani.

26 Apr. In recent days militants in the south-western part of the Idlib pocket have fired Grad missiles at targets in Latakia province including the Russian Hmeimin base but also civilian suburbs. Today the Russian Airforce replies with massive bombardments of where the missiles were coming from.

25 Apr. The 12th round of the so-called Astana Meetings takes place in the Kazakh capital - now renamed Nursultan after the currently resigned long-time president's first name - with delegations from Turkey, Russia, Iran, Syria and the UN.

On Chinese invitation, Syria attents the global summit of the Belt and Road Initiative in Beijing.

22 Apr. SANA reports that in the last month, Russian and Syrian forces have evacuated around 4,000 civilians from Al Rukhban camp, which is around 10% of those entrapped there due to lacking US cooperation.

21 Apr. The old bridge in Raqqa city is opened after the sustained damage to it has been repaired.

salon.com publishes part one of a wide-ranging, essential interview with Syria expert and war reporter Sharmine Narwani.

20 Apr. Firat News Agency publishes an interview with a Rojava official about the future of the 11,000 male ISIS fighters and 72,000 family members that are in prison resp. camps after the defeat of the terror cult.

Elijah Magnier reports that Hezbollah leader Nasrallah has told his top commanders that he expects an Israeli surprise war on Lebanon this summer, in which the whole leadership including himself would be targeted for assassination.

19 Apr. A high-level Russian delegation visits Saudi Arabia to discuss Syria with Crown Prince Bin Salman. After that, the delegation heads to Damascus to meet Assad.

17 Apr. After Iranian foreign minster Zarif had a "long" meeting with Assad the day before, he is now in Ankara to brief Erdogan on the results.

16 Apr. Brazil and India reopen their Syrian embassies.

15 Apr. Jenan Moussa publishes an investigative report based on the leaked contents of the smart phone of Tunisian-born German citizen Omaima Abdi, who went to Syria in 2015 to join ISIS, married the most famous German ISIS fighter Denis Cuspert AKA Deso Dogg and is now back in Germany living as if nothing had happened. (in the evening the story is making top news in Germany)

12 Apr. It is reported that differences between "Assad and armed opposition" over composition and nature of the constitutional committee have been narrowed down. The 150-member body would be split equally between representatives chosen by the Syrian government, the Syrian opposition and Syrian civil society, with 50-members each. The Syrian government was not allowed to object to the names of the representatives of the opposition; with the rest of the body, it is said that "Assad's regime has given its consent to all names but four".

7 Apr. The German capital Berlin's district of Kreuzberg - known for its multi-cultural and leftist milieu - starts the first city partnership between a German and a North-Syrian city partnering with the city of Derik, where the Rojava parliament is located. Several other city partnerships are in the planning stages.

4 Apr. The Venezuelan foreign minister visits Assad and Moallem in Damascus.