Syria's new authorities have arrested a military justice official who under ousted president Bashar al-Assad issued death sentences for detainees in the notorious Saydnaya prison, a war monitor said Thursday.

Several social media accounts sympathetic to the ousted president are pumping out disinformation aimed at stoking sectarian fear

The rebels capturing Damascus marked a turning point for Syria, which had been shattered by more than 13 years of war which turned cities to rubble, killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced millions to flee abroad as refugees.

The global political landscape is currently dominated by four key events: The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, The Israel-Hamas conflict, end of the Assad regime in Syria and the implications of Donald Tru

Ukraine has claimed to have struck a Russian industrial facility producing fuel for missiles, as Moscow says it has foiled several assassination plots on senior officers.Kyiv said on Thursday that its air force had had carried out a strike in Russia’s Rostov region on a factory which was used to produce solid fuel for ballistic missiles used in attacks on Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said that Russia will seek 'long-term and strategic' ties with Syria's new administration

Russia declared a federal emergency on Thursday over an oil spill caused by two Russian tankers in the Black Sea, the Emergencies Ministry said.

MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/. The Russian side is ready to assist the organization of undeniable and generally recognized elections in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated in an interview with domestic and foreign media outlets on Thursday.

While the victory against Bashar Assad’s forces is a triumph, the jihadist-turned-statesman who is now in charge has a lengthy to-do list.

The top Russian diplomat emphasized that Turkey's legitimate security interests "must be ensured, but in such a way that Syria preserves its sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity"

Russia’s abandonment of the Assad regime to marshal more resources for the fight against Ukraine vividly illustrates that Putin is ready to sacrifice everything for total victory in the war. Although Putin tries to portray himself as a realist, he has become consumed with Ukraine, to the exclusion of almost all other foreign policy imperatives.

Syria was thus a status symbol for the Kremlin. Putin, who sees Russia as a "great power" on par with the United States and China, attaches much importance to projecting that image in the former Soviet bloc and,