Scenes from Syria after Bashar al-Assad fled Damascus on Sunday, December 8 2024, ending nearly 50 years of his family's tyranny.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the fatalities in Turkey alone have passed 8,500.
The situation in Syria remains a focal point for all the neighbouring nations after Syrian rebels on Sunday entered the capital Damascus, forcing Assad to flee, ending his over two-decade rule in the country.
The head of Syria's main opposition group abroad Hadi al-Bahra Syrian said that Damascus is now "without Bashar al-Assad" according to Reuters.
Israel's Defence Minister, Israel Katz, has affirmed that Gaza's annexation was part of a military strategy and troops will remain in the security zones created in Lebanon and Syria indefinitely, Al Jazeera reported.
More than 2,80,000 people have been uprooted in northwest Syria following the sudden and massive offensive into government-controlled areas led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is sanctioned by the Security Council as a terrorist group, the United Nations said on Friday.
According to the authorities, tragedy struck near the border town of Metula on Thursday morning when a rocket fired from Lebanon slammed into an apple orchard, claiming the lives of five people.
US strikes on Iran's three main nuclear facilities have once again raised concerns that Tehran might shut down the Strait of Hormuz - one of the world's most critical chokepoints, through which a fifth of global oil and gas supply flows.
FIFA has lifted its suspension on the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) after it approved constitutional amendments.
An inconclusive end to this war will pose high risk for Netanyahu of a cascading demand for a regime change in Israel, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
At least 17,674 people have died and 72,879 people have been injured in Turkey, according to Vice President Fuat Oktay on Thursday.
'Using only the light on their mobile phones, wailing men and women examined disfigured bodies lying in a darkened hospital morgue in Syria's capital for signs of their relatives who had disappeared into Bashar al-Assad's notorious prison system.' Reuters reported.
The reality is that far from being friendless, India is better positioned in the world than at any point post-Cold War, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southern Turkey and northern Syria early Monday, toppling hundreds of buildings and killing at least 1,300 people. The toll is expected to rise further.
In the first acknowledgement of Israel's involvement in the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz on Monday, issued a stern warning to the Houthi rebels from Yemen of destroying their infrastructure and 'decapitating' its leaders.
'It is high time that the 'war on terror' is removed from our diplomatic toolbox.' 'Certainly, our parliamentarians have no role in it,' asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Bill Aitken came to India nearly 60 years ago. He never returned. An Indian citizen since 1972, he tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih how India changed his life forever.
After taking control of the buffer zone along the Israeli-Syrian border, the Israel Defence Forces released photos from the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, a strategic peak in the Golan Heights on Monday morning.
The death toll in Turkey and Syria jolted by multiple earthquakes has reached more than 5,000, even as two fresh tremors hit eastern Turkey on Tuesday, reported the United States Geological Survey.
'Decline of the UN did not start with the Trump administration. It has been happening over the last two decades or more.'
As many as 12,391 people have been killed and 62,914 others have been injured in Turkey after the earthquakes that rocked the country on Monday, Anadolu Agency reported citing Turkey's disaster management agency, AFAD.
The vote was 52-48 mostly along party lines, though Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky joined Democrats in opposing the confirmation, as per CNN.
Here is the complete list of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
Members of the White Helmets, the Syrian civil defence group, search for prisoners who have been jailed for years at the Sednaya prison in Syria after rebels seized Damascus and announced that Bashar al-Assad, the tyrant, had fled the country.
'Friendship between our countries is higher than the highest mountain and deeper than the deepest ocean,' the defence minister told the Russian president.
Hayat al-Turki, 27, along with many others, searches Sednaya prison, known as a slaughterhouse under Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime, in the hope of finding their missing relatives.
Kash Patel, former Trump aide and vocal critic of investigations into the former president, testified at his Senate confirmation hearing for FBI director.
'While I would never wish for anyone to go through what we are, it has brought out the best in us by making each one of us a better version of ourselves.' 'Being courageous, fighting for freedom, taking the burden of responsibility to help each other...' 'I know hundreds and hundreds of examples where Ukrainians are risking their lives for complete strangers and it is only in moments like this that we truly understand what it means to be human.'
Badar Khan Suri, an Indian postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, is facing deportation after US authorities accused him of "spreading Hamas propaganda" and having "close connections to a suspected terrorist." The Department of Homeland Security claims Suri has been actively promoting antisemitism on social media and is connected to a senior Hamas advisor. Suri's lawyer, Hassan Ahmad, argues that his client is being targeted due to his wife's Palestinian heritage and their opposition to US foreign policy towards Israel. The incident follows the self-deportation of another Indian student from Columbia University who was also accused of supporting Hamas.
In his petition, Suri's lawyer said that he is being punished as his wife, who is a US citizen, is of Palestinian heritage and because the government suspects that he and his wife are against the US foreign policy towards Israel.
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025 was passed in the Lok Sabha early Thursday, with 288 members supporting it and 232 against it.
Sunil Chhetri's return from international retirement at 40 highlights the lack of quality strikers in Indian football.
'During Eid Muslims get Eidi, but Opposition parties never gave that to them.' 'When PM Modi is giving Eidi to Muslims Opposition leaders are getting upset.'
'Netanyahu lured Trump into a trap by enticing him with a seductive scenario of massive lucrative business in Gaza's reconstruction.' 'Trump's imagination is running riot, completely disconnected from ground realities,' asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the US from the UN Human Rights Council and prohibiting any future funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Trump also directed the US to review its participation in UNESCO, citing concerns about anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment within the organizations. The executive order argues that the UNHRC, UNESCO, and UNRWA have drifted from their missions and act contrary to US interests. Trump previously halted funds for UNRWA during his first term, and President Joe Biden put a block on US funds for UNRWA in January 2024 over allegations that staff for the agency participated in Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack against Israel.
'Marquez is trying to instil his philosophy, and that's going to take time. In every camp, we're getting closer to what he wants from us as a team. With time, training, and the level of coaching he has, I have no doubt we'll be a strong team in the qualifiers.'
India has expressed concern that foreign fighters involved in the conflict in Syria have moved to other places as mercenaries, as New Delhi underlined that it is ready to play a constructive role in the Security Council to help realise the objective of the West Asian country reclaiming its place in the comity of nations.
The Wall Street Journal described it as a abrupt decision by the Trump Administration.
