BASHAR ASSAD

Final results in Lebanon's weekend parliamentary elections show that the militant Hezbollah group and its allies have lost the majority of parliament seats they had held since 2018.

The Siyam family believed for many years that their adult son was being held at a government prison after he went missing at a checkpoint nearly a decade ago.

The deeply divisive issue of the militant Hezbollah group's weapons has been at the center of the upcoming vote for a new 128-member parliament in Lebanon.

Iranian media says Syrian President Bashar Assad was in Tehran for a rare visit to meet Iranian leaders.

Syrian President Bashar Assad met with Iranian leaders in Tehran on Sunday, Iranian state-linked media reported, marking his second trip to major wartime ally Iran since Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011. Nour News, a website close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reported that Assad met Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi earlier in the day.

President Joe Biden has met with the parents of American journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in Syria 10 years ago.

Russia says that Turkey gave it advance notice before moving to bar Russian planes from flying to Syria over its territory.

Russia’s new offensive in eastern Ukraine reflects Moscow’s hope to reverse its battlefield fortunes after a catastrophic seven weeks of war.

The next chapter of the war in Ukraine could see Russia bringing in greater numbers of battle-hardened fighters from Syria, observers say.

The Russian warship now known as the Moskva began its life as the Slava, or “glory” in 1979 at the height of the Cold War in what was the Soviet republic of Ukraine.

German prosecutors say a man who allegedly launched a grenade into a crowd of civilians waiting for food in Damascus in 2014, killing at least seven people, has been charged with war crimes and murder

Legal and moral taboos were shattered with the use of chemical weapons during Syria’s civil war

Legal and moral taboos were shattered with the use of chemical weapons during Syria's civil war.

Russia is readying a massive, new offensive in eastern Ukraine, hoping to reverse its fortunes on the battlefield after a catastrophic start to seven weeks of war.

The mayor of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol says more than 10,000 civilians have died in the Russian siege of his city and the full death toll could surpass twice that number.

Russia has tapped a new Ukraine war commander to take centralized control of the next phase of battle after its costly failures in the opening campaign and carnage for Ukrainian civilians.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting Morocco to discuss recent shifts in the diplomatic dynamic in the Middle East and North Africa that could upend some of the region's long-standing disputes.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will try to use his three-nation tour of the Middle East and North Africa to reassure wary Israelis and Arabs that the Biden administration is committed to the region’s security at a time when Washington is confronting multiple foreign policy challenges.

Iran’s foreign minister says his country is ready to reach a lasting agreement with world powers and is blaming the latest failure to revive Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal on an allegedly “unrealistic vision” by the United States

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to the Mideast and North Africa next week as the Biden administration strives to keep allies and partners united in opposition to Russia's war in Ukraine.

Iran’s Foreign Minister has landed in Damascus where he is to discuss with top officials mutual relations between the two strong allies and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

A Ukrainian police officer in Mariupol has warned the besieged port city has been “wiped off the face of the earth” and has pleaded with the American and French presidents to provide his country with a modern air defense system.

The Syrian presidency says President Bashar Assad has travelled to the United Arab Emirates, marking his first visit to an Arab country since Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011.

Just a year ago, Naftali Bennett was struggling for political survival.

Senior U.S. commanders tell Congress that the complete U.S. military withdrawals from Afghanistan and Somalia last year have made it more difficult for the U.S. to counter terror groups that aspire to attack America and its allies.

Far from the icy battlefields of Ukraine, Russia President Vladimir Putin is busily advancing Russia's footholds and influence in Africa and the Middle East.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved bringing in volunteer fighters from the Middle East, particularly Syria, to fight in Ukraine.

Russia's airstrike on a children's and maternity hospital in Ukraine is stirring memories of the Kremlin's past aerial campaigns waged in Chechnya and Syria.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has brought up deep divisions in the Middle East, where Moscow has made itself a key player in recent years.

Russia has announced the establishment of safe corridors to allow civilians to leave Ukrainian towns and cities under siege

The endless stream of people walking in line, heading to the border to escape Russia's war on Ukraine, has marked a jarring déjà vu for some in the exodus.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first military campaign outside former Soviet Union areas was in Syria, where in 2015 he threw his country’s firepower behind President Bashar Assad

Russian President Vladimir Putin's first military campaign outside former Soviet Union areas was in Syria, where in 2015 he threw his country's firepower behind President Bashar Assad.

Economically-battered Syria has decided to cut spending in an effort to reduce the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, concerned that oil and wheat prices could sharply increase

Economically-battered Syria has decided to cut spending in an effort to reduce the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, concerned that oil and wheat prices could sharply increase.

The government of economically-battered Syria decided Thursday to cut spending in an effort to reduce the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, concerned that oil and wheat prices could sharply increase, the state-owned news agency said. Syria’s economic minister, Mohammed Samer Khalil, said Crimea offered to export wheat to Syria. Syria, struggling after more than a decade of war, relies mostly on wheat imports from Russia and oil shipments from its other ally, Iran.

The Jordanian military says a crackdown on drug smugglers along the Syrian border is delivering results

The Russian military has deployed long-range nuclear-capable bombers and fighter jets carrying state-of-the-art hypersonic missiles to Syria for massive naval drills in the Mediterranean Sea amid the soaring tensions with the West over Ukraine.

Belarus’ authoritarian president says he has no intention of sending troops to Syria to serve alongside Russian forces in the country but is holding the door open for a potential deployment of military medics there.

Belarus is planning to deploy up to 200 troops to Syria to serve alongside Russian forces in the country.

When helicopters carrying some 50 U.S. commandos landed in Syria an hour after midnight, the raiders confronted a houseful of extremists and children.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has hosted his Iranian counterpart, hailing their the two countries’ cooperation on international issues, including the Syrian crisis.

Landmark ruling in Germany makes former secret police officer Anwar Raslan the highest-ranking official from the Assad regime convicted of the charge to date.

The conviction in a German court was seen as a watershed moment in the fight for accountability in Syria’s war.

The world's first criminal trial on torture in Syria's prisons ended Thursday in Koblenz, Germany — the first time a high-ranking ex-Syrian official faced Syrians in open court in a war crimes case.

A former Syrian secret police officer has been convicted by a German court of crimes against humanity for overseeing the abuse of detainees at a jail near Damascus a decade ago.

Victims of torture in Syria and human rights activists say they hope the upcoming verdict in a landmark trial will be a first step toward justice for countless Syrians who suffered abuse in the country’s long-running conflict.

Hackers have targeted the website of an Israeli newspaper

Yemen’s Houthi rebels seized a ship in the Red Sea, armed drones targeted Baghdad’s international airport, and hackers hit a major Israeli newspaper.

Afghanistan's former president says he had just minutes to decide to flee in the hours before the Taliban took control of the capital in August.

The count, by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, comes after more than a decade of a war that's killed at least 350,000 people and displaced millions.

After luring asylum-seekers to the EU as a political stunt, Belarus has now sent people back to the dangerous place they were escaping, rights groups and migrants tell NPR.

The count, by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, comes after more than a decade of a war that's killed at least 350,000 people and displaced millions.

Thousands of people from Middle Eastern nations devastated by conflict have been trying to slip into the European Union since summer.

The foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates has met with Syria’s once widely shunned president in Damascus, sending the strongest signal yet that the Arab world is willing to re-engage with strongman Bashar Assad.

Iran’s president is saying that a cyberattack that shut down gas stations across the nation aimed to get “people angry by creating disorder and disruption.”.

A cyberattack has targeted gas stations across Iran.

Exchange rate distortions in war-torn Syria have allowed the government of President Bashar Assad to benefit from at least $100 million of international aid to its coffers.

Syria's Justice Ministry says authorities have executed 24 people for igniting deadly wildfires last year.

It was the deadliest attack in Damascus in several years, and especially rare since government troops in 2018 captured suburbs once held by insurgents in Syria's decade-long conflict.

A Syrian military official says two bombs attached to a bus carrying troops in the capital Damascus have exploded, killing 14 people.

A boast by the leader of Hezbollah that he commands 100,000 fighters has come as a surprise to many Lebanese.

The death of a former Syrian Druse lawmaker, allegedly by Israeli sniper fire, could mark a new phase in what Israel calls its war against Iranian entrenchment in neighboring Syria.

Dubai has gambled billions to make the gleaming, built-from-scratch Expo village a triumphant tourist attraction and symbol of the United Arab Emirates itself.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II has received a call from Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Turkey's president says his country will seek compensation for its removal from a U.S.-led stealth fighter jet program.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Wednesday.

A convoy of tanker trucks carrying Iranian diesel has arrived from Syria to Lebanon.

Representative Adam Kinzinger says Biden administration officials should take responsibility for errors in the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Iran and Syria vowed on Sunday to take “mighty steps” to confront U.S. sanctions imposed on the two regional allies, saying their relations will strengthen under Iran’s new leadership. The announcement was made by Iran’s new Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who was received at the airport a visit to Damascus by his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad. Iran has been one of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s strongest backers, sending thousands of fighters from around the region to help his troops in Syria’s 10-year conflict that has killed half a million and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.

Syrian President Bashar Assad was sworn in Saturday for a fourth seven-year term in the war-torn country. The May elections were described by the West and Assad's opposition as illegitimate and a sham. The Syrian currency is in a free fall and basic services and resources have become scarce or are offered at exorbitant parallel market prices.

Syrian President Bashar Assad issued a decree Sunday giving hundreds of thousands of civil servants and military members a 50% salary increase amid a harsh economic and financial crisis and price increases for vital products. The Syrian economy has been hard hit by a decade of war, Western sanctions, widespread corruption and most recently a severe economic and financial crisis in neighboring Lebanon. The last salary increase was announced in November 2019.

The gunshot victim told Fresno police he saw three people physically assaulting a man. When he tried to intervene, he was shot in the leg.

President Joe Biden will seek to stave off another surge of civilian suffering in the devastating war in Syria when he meets President Vladimir Putin this week, appealing to Putin to drop a threat to close the last aid crossing into that country. Russian forces have helped Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime survive the more than 10-year conflict and Putin hopes to be a broker for Assad in any international reconstruction effort for that country. Russia holds the key veto on July 10 when the U.N. Security Council decides whether to extend authorization for the aid crossing from Turkey.

For the sake of the Syrian people, Assad should go, but that change of regime isn't going to happen at the US's behest.

Syrian President Bashar Assad was re-elected in a landslide, officials said Thursday, ushering in a fourth seven-year term in the war-torn country following an election described as illegitimate and a sham by the West and his opposition. At least 8 million, mostly displaced, live in those areas in northwest and northeast Syria. Syria’s parliament speaker, Hammoud Sabbagh, announced the final results from Wednesday’s vote.

Despite an ongoing war that has killed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions and crippled the economy, many Syrians ask, "Who else?"

Groups of angry Lebanese pelted buses and cars carrying Syrians expatriates and refugees heading to the Syrian Embassy in Beirut with stones and sticks on Thursday, outraged over what they perceive as an organized vote for President Bashar Assad. Meanwhile, some Syrian refugees reported being pressured to cast their ballot with threats of physical violence or confiscation of documentation that could lead to loss of refugee status, the U.N. refugee agency said. Assad is running for a fourth seven-year term — facing symbolic competition from two other candidates — in a vote all but guarantees to bring him back as president.

One of two candidates running against longtime Syrian ruler Bashar Assad is casting himself as the first opposition representative to vie for the country’s top post. Mohamoud Marei said Tuesday that as a critic of the government who remained in Syria, he may have the keys to solving the ruinous 10-year conflict. Assad has held power since 2000, when he took over after the death of his father who ran the country for 30 years.

Syrian President Bashar Assad issued a decree Sunday granting amnesty and reducing sentences for several categories of crime committed before May 2, state news agency SANA said. It also comes ahead of the May 26 presidential elections, which Assad will most likely win for a fourth, seven-year term in office. Since Syria’s conflict began in 2011, Assad has issued similar amnesties, the latest of which came in September 2019.

The U.N. special envoy for Syria said Wednesday that key global players are interested in stepped-up international diplomacy to “unlock progress” toward ending the country’s 10-year war. Geir Pederson called for exploratory discussions to “help test possibilities and bridge the gaps of mistrust.” Pedersen told the U.N. Security Council he spoke about the need for more constructive and comprehensive diplomacy to make progress toward resolving “this highly internationalized conflict” with senior officials from a number of countries.

“We want them to know we are committed to this region.”How committed President Biden will be to keeping troops in Syria is uncertain, however. Russian and Syrian troops are just across the Euphrates River from Conoco, but both sides avoid straying into the other’s territory. When Islamic State emerged in 2014, seizing a third of Syria and Iraq for its so-called caliphate, Obama rushed troops back to Iraq and approved airstrikes in Syria. AdvertisementFormer President Trump pledged repeatedly to pull out after the near-total defeat of Islamic State in early 2019. A massive M777 howitzer artillery gun mostly sits idle, since there aren’t many Islamic State fighters to target, said Army Lt. Melissa Cardona.

Damascus — Syrian President Bashar Assad and his wife Asma both have tested positive for the coronavirus, but a presidential spokesman said Monday that the couple remained in good health. The spokesman said the president and his wife would continue working during their "home quarantine period" of two to three weeks. The government gave approval for the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to be used in the country near the end of February. In December, Syria signed up to receive vaccine doses through the World Health Organization-backed COVAX initiative, which aims to ensure fair distribution of vaccines to poorer countries. Sanctions were imposed on Syria to pressure the Assad regime over its human rights record and alleged use of chemical weapons.

A former member of Syrian President Bashar Assad's secret police was convicted Wednesday by a German court of facilitating the torture of prisoners. Eyad Al-Gharib was convicted of accessory to crimes against humanity and sentenced by the Koblenz state court to 4 1/2 years in prison. German prosecutors invoked the principle of universal jurisdiction for serious crimes to bring the case, which involved victims and defendants who were in Germany. Thomas Lohnes / APThe court also considered photographs of thousands of alleged victims of torture by the Syrian government. But Wassim Mukdad, a Syrian survivor and co-plaintiff in Raslan's trial, said while al-Gharib was "just one small cog in the vast Syrian torture apparatus" the verdict against him was important.

ICYMI: A look back at Sunday's 60 MinutesJudges say it's time for more security in the face of mounting violence; Then, Holding Syrian President Bashar Assad and his regime accountable for war crimes; And, QAnon's corrosive impact on the U.S.

Holding Syrian President Bashar Assad and his regime accountable for war crimes Assad and his regime may never be prosecuted for the acts of terror he perpetrated against his own people during Syria's civil war. Scott Pelley reports on the effort to gather and maintain the evidence against Assad.

2/21/2021: Attack on the Judiciary, Handcuffed to the Truth, QAnon Judges say it's time for more security in the face of mounting violence; Then, Holding Syrian President Bashar Assad and his regime accountable for war crimes; And, QAnon's corrosive impact on the U.S.

Stephen Rapp, who served as U.S. ambassador for war crimes issues, says if he ever goes to trial against Syrian President Bashar Assad, it would be a slam dunk. The former war crimes prosecutor says a trove of evidence has been amassed against the Syrian president is even stronger than what the Allies used to convict Nazis at Nuremberg. The Nazi's were famous for documenting their atrocities, but he says even they didn't take photos of individual victims with identifying information. Among them are the individual victims of torture and the masses who have died in gas attacks on rebel-held territory. We have mutilation," says Rapp, who has prosecuted war crimes in Sierra Leone and Rwanda.

Former prosecutor: More evidence of war crimes against Syrian President Assad than there was against Nazis Sunday, 60 Minutes reports on the efforts to hold Syrian President Bashar Assad accountable for the atrocities committed against his own people in Syria's civil war.

Five years into Syria's civil war, dictator Bashar Assad still remains in power. Now, 51 diplomats at the U.S. State Department have signed a classified memo. They want to see American airstrikes against the Syrian government. As Margaret Brennan reports, it is an extraordinary challenge to the administration's policy on Syria.

CBS News' Margaret Brennan is at the White House, where the Obama administration is being pressured into adopting a stronger military policy toward Syrian President Bashar Assad.

John Kerry's controversial comments on negotiating with Syria's Bashar Assad The State Department is backing away from comments Secretary of State John Kerry made about negotiating with Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan joins CBSN has more on how the department is walking back the comments Kerry made in an interview with her.

Charlie Rose discovers he's a Peabody recipient During the announcement of the Peabody Award winners, the "CBS This Morning" co-host discovered he won an award for his interview with Syrian President Bashar Assad.