• Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says situation in the country is improving as army enjoys people's support in the fight against terrorism. (globalsecurity.org)
  • Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, 2nd left, Russian President Vladimir Putin, 2nd right, and their wives in Moscow in 2005. (cnn.com)
  • Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad gives his first interview since the suspected chemical attack and the U.S. airstrikes on the Shayrat airbase. (msnbc.com)
  • Iran said an abrupt end to the rule of President Bashar Assad would have catastrophic consequences for his country, as Tehran pushed ahead with a diplomatic meeting of allies it says is the best way of resolving the intensifying conflict in Syria . (ynetnews.com)
  • Syrian society is a beautiful mosaic of ethnicities, faiths and cultures, and it will be smashed to pieces should President Bashar Assad abruptly fall," it read. (ynetnews.com)
  • Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to retake the 'whole country' from antigovernment rebels and militant groups, but admitted it could take a long time. (rferl.org)
  • Religious reasons (prevent) us from owning or using chemical weapons," Nasrallah said in response to a Free Syrian Army media official's claim that the Bashar Assad regime transferred chemical weapons to the Shiite group. (ynetnews.com)
  • Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has made a "grave, possibly fatal mistake" and his chances of retaining power are getting "smaller and smaller" every day, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said. (deccanherald.com)
  • President Bashar al-Assad took the oath of office for a fourth term in Syria, after taking 95% of the vote in a controversial election dismissed abroad. (rte.ie)
  • Syria n President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday hailed his troops' victory over the ISIL group in the ancient oasis city of Palmyra as an "important achievement. (worldbulletin.net)
  • Bassam Barabandi, while a Syrian diplomat in the U.S., worked with antiregime activists to provide passports to foes of President Bashar al-Assad. (wsj.com)
  • CAIRO -- During the 18 months of Syria's popular uprising, the embattled regime of President Bashar al-Assad has found one staunch supporter: Russia. (ibtimes.com)
  • President of Syria Bashar al-Assad believes the victorious emergence of Donald Trump could help transform relations between the U.S. and Syria. (abcactionnews.com)
  • FILE -- CNN's Cal Perry interviews Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Syria in Jaunary 2009. (abcactionnews.com)
  • That's the view of President of Syria Bashar al-Assad, who believes the victorious emergence of Trump could help transform relations between the two nations. (abcactionnews.com)
  • Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accuses Israel Air Force of giving protection to the terrorista network Al-Qaeda on the territory of Syria. (pravda.ru)
  • Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (R) receives Syrian President Bashar Assad in Tehran on May 08, 2022. (arabnews.com)
  • Britain and the United States agree that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has used chemical weapons against rebels in the two-year-long civil war, a judgment that will lead to military support for anti-government forces, but Russia isn't so sure. (truthdig.com)
  • President Bashar al-Assad visited displaced Syria ns in the town of Adra on Wednesday, state media said, in a rare public appearance outside the heart of Damascus. (worldbulletin.net)
  • Syria's President Bashar al-Assad meets with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, in Damascus, Syria, in this handout released by SANA on April 18, 2023. (thestar.com.my)
  • DAMASCUS (Reuters) -Syrian President Bashar al-Assad received Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan in Damascus on Tuesday in the most significant step yet towards ending Syria's decade-long regional isolation, and at a time of wider rapprochement in the region. (thestar.com.my)
  • Syrian delegates responded to talks of Assad leaving office bluntly, saying that "there will be no transfer of power and Bashar Assad is staying. (foxnews.com)
  • File photo of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. (thedailystar.net)
  • The central city of Homs was once known as the 'capital of the revolution' against Syria's Bashar al-Assad, notes the BBC . (newser.com)
  • Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, declared Thursday that the Trump administration does not consider it a priority that Syrian President Bashar Assad be removed from power - overtly signaling a U.S. policy shift that observers say quietly began under the Obama administration. (politico.com)
  • Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is open to peace negotiations in his country's five-year civil war, but he would continue to battle enemies he deemed terrorists, he told AFP. (cnn.com)
  • Amman: Followers of the religion of Bashar Al Assad who oppose the Syrian president met in Cairo on Saturday to support a democratic alternative to his rule, seeking to untangle his fate from their own. (gulfnews.com)
  • But Gabbard pushed back admirably at the contention that trying to disentangle the U.S. from Syria was somehow tantamount to supporting Bashar al-Assad. (reason.com)
  • There is no disputing the fact that Bashar al-Assad in Syria is a brutal dictator. (reason.com)
  • There were militants who opposed Bashar Al-Assad. (memri.org)
  • The militants were people who opposed Bashar Al-Assad, and they revolted in order to topple him. (memri.org)
  • One may say that most countries decided to topple Bashar Al-Assad and his government. (memri.org)
  • Because the government of Syria had been our ally during the eight years of the [Iran-Iraq] War of Holy Defense, and because it was one of the countries in the axis of resistance, the Honorable Leader [Khamenei] said to General Soleimani: 'Go and protect Bashar Al-Assad. (memri.org)
  • General Soleimani's mission in Syria was to prevent the Bashar Al-Assad government from falling. (memri.org)
  • But then we saw that the whole world came to confront Bashar Al-Assad, and Bashar Al-Assad was our ally. (memri.org)
  • President Bashar al-Assad yesterday accepted the resignation of the Syrian cabinet in an attempt to defuse protests against his rule as hundreds of thousands of people attended pro-government rallies in most of the country's cities. (counterpunch.org)
  • But the turnout for yesterday's demonstrations, dubbed "loyalty to the nation marches" where marchers chanted "the people want Bashar Assad" was enhanced by schools and other state institutions being closed for the day. (counterpunch.org)
  • Saturday, July 23, when US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice stole away from the Israelis and Palestinians to spend a few hours in Beirut, she was visited by a special envoy from Syrian president Bashar Assad with a personal message. (debka.com)
  • The general's brother Assef al-Saleesh heads the Al Bashair Trading Co. which in fact is the property of Assad's own family and which has controlled the oil smuggling route from Iraq and the arms traffic into Iraq since 2001, a few months after Bashar Assad came to power. (debka.com)
  • However, as the protests reached Syria the image of Hezbollah as a champion of the oppressed shifted when it decided to side with the regime of Bashar al-Assad and thus raising the question of what it is that actually drives and determines the actions and policy decisions of Hezbollah. (lu.se)
  • Clearly, the Assad regime did not get the message last year," Mattis said. (time.com)
  • Pieter Wezeman, a senior researcher at SIPRI focusing on Syria, added that the Assad regime is also buying top of the line fighter-bombers: "A major ongoing deal is for 24 MiG-29SMT combat aircraft, although those are more likely to be delivered from 2013," he said. (ibtimes.com)
  • The Assad regime, he said, "wants to show it's not like Egypt, it's not like Tunisia. (jpost.com)
  • People are talking about the Assad regime's current use of chemical weapons, meaning chemical attacks that have happened since the regime agreed to divest itself of all of its chemical weapons. (newsblaze.com)
  • The Assad regime will state they have not violated their chemical weapons agreement. (newsblaze.com)
  • The Assad regime has not earned the right to normalize relations with the international community," said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the UN. (arabnews.com)
  • After all, it was Moscow that lobbied hard to encourage Arab states to reinstate bilateral relations with the Assad regime, which has led a public relations campaign to announce the end of the civil war and the start of the reconstruction process. (arabnews.com)
  • It is this need that the Assad regime will need to exploit if it is not to be caught on the wrong side of events regionally. (arabnews.com)
  • Following a deliberative review our intelligence community assesses that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year," the White House said in a statement Thursday. (truthdig.com)
  • But it would take another three and a half months of ruthless killings and destruction until the Assad regime agreed to receive the delegation, and this only after the Human Rights Council convened for a second time, on August 22, to discuss the continuing, deteriorating situation. (foxnews.com)
  • Syrians, bravely seeking fundamental changes in their country, see the window of opportunity for a united international response to the callous Assad regime closing. (foxnews.com)
  • ISTANBUL-Just hours after the U.S. damaged a Syrian airbase linked to a chemical weapons attack , the Assad regime and its Russian ally launched three airstrikes against the very same rebel-held town where Assad was accused of using poison gas to kill more than 100 men, women, and children on Tuesday. (thedailybeast.com)
  • Those who remained in Khan Sheikhoun, a town in the south of Idlib province, welcomed the U.S. intervention, but said they were worried that the Assad regime still has a powerful air force and 20 other air bases. (thedailybeast.com)
  • A key decision will be how the United States now responds to more conventional violence employed by the Assad regime. (thedailybeast.com)
  • The statement by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the US had "identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children. (thedailystar.net)
  • Assad dismissed genocide accusations made against his regime by a United Nations committee, saying it didn't have any evidence. (cnn.com)
  • The last card the regime can now play is civil war and the partition of Syria," said veteran opposition campaigner Bassam Al Youssef, an Alawite who spent more than a decade in jail under the iron rule of Al Assad's father, the late President Hafez Al Assad. (gulfnews.com)
  • Assad announced he had decided to take action against the officials of his regime who were providing the Iraqi guerrillas with logistic and intelligence aid. (debka.com)
  • Calling Syrians climate refugees is misleading as it distracts and covers up the political failures, in this case those of the Assad regime", says Angela. (lu.se)
  • The Islamic Republic has resisted an agreement on Syria that requires Assad to quit as part of any political transition. (ynetnews.com)
  • The two tracks are inevitable in Syria,' Assad said. (rferl.org)
  • In a wide-ranging interview, Assad also said there is a risk that Saudi Arabia or Turkey could launch a military intervention in Syria, but added that his armed forces 'will certainly confront it. (rferl.org)
  • Syria has been locked in a civil war since demonstrations broke out against Assad in March 2011. (deccanherald.com)
  • The U.S.-led coalition has been carrying out strikes against ISIL in Syria since September 2014, and Russia began its own air campaign in support of Assad one year later. (worldbulletin.net)
  • Though he cannot safely return to Syria as long as Bashir Assad is in power, the blogger said he would be thrilled to visit Israel. (jpost.com)
  • But Barbara Leaf, US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, has said Washington will not support the Syrian president's rehabilitation "in any form," adding: "Assad and the coterie around him remain the single largest impediment to a political solution in Syria. (arabnews.com)
  • When Russia intervened in Syria in 2015, it was very much a junior power in America's unipolar world, but as it created instability elsewhere, it has become a more robust ally than Assad had first hoped for. (arabnews.com)
  • The Syria crisis, which began with protests against more than 40 years of Assad family rule, became militarised after authorities cracked down on demonstrators and has descended into a civil war in which 140,000 people have been killed. (worldbulletin.net)
  • Assad, with the help of his main allies Iran and Russia, later regained control over much of Syria. (thestar.com.my)
  • Graham called the apparent Trump administration stance "the biggest mistake" since President Barack Obama chose not to intervene in Syria even after Assad was determined to be using chemical weapons. (politico.com)
  • I hope these reports are not accurate, but if they are, the war in Syria will never really end as the Syrian people want Assad removed from power," the South Carolina Republican said. (politico.com)
  • Robert Ford, a former U.S. ambassador to Syria also with the Middle East Institute, agreed, adding that Haley's remarks "will be extremely unsatisfactory to the many people in Syria and around the world who had hoped that the Assad government would be held accountable for its war crimes. (politico.com)
  • In the first meeting of its kind by Alawites who support the revolt, delegates aimed to draft a declaration supporting a united Syria and to invite other opposition groups to cooperate on preventing sectarian bloodletting if Al Assad falls. (gulfnews.com)
  • Al Assad has said he is fighting a foreign-backed conspiracy to divide Syria and that the rebel forces are Islamist "terrorists. (gulfnews.com)
  • When I hear the name Tulsi Gabbard, I think of Assad apologist, I think of someone who comes back to the United States and is spouting propaganda from Syria," said McCain. (reason.com)
  • The memo is sharply critical of US policy in Syria, calling for military strikes against the Assad government. (presstv.ir)
  • Russia Syria ASSAD stays USA Obama ASSAD must go Brink World war three? (pakalertpress.com)
  • Will Assad permit aid into rebel and Kurdish areas of Syria? (jcpa.org)
  • Hafez Al-Assad (1930-2000), syrisk politiker, f dt i Qardaha n r Lataqia i det nordvestlige Syrien som s n af Alawi klanen. (leksikon.org)
  • President Assad, a 45-year-old British-educated doctor, was seen as a possible reformer when he succeeded his father, President Hafez al-Assad on his death in 2000. (counterpunch.org)
  • Assad made the remarks on Sunday in Damascus while receiving a Lebanese delegation representing national parties and forces. (globalsecurity.org)
  • On Tuesday, while Foreign Minister Salehi was in Ankara trying to maintain relations, the head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili was in Damascus to reassure Assad of Tehran's support. (ynetnews.com)
  • In an interview with AFP in Damascus on February 12, Assad said he would continue to fight terrorism while peace talks took place with the Syrian opposition groups. (rferl.org)
  • This is an important achievement and fresh proof of the efficiency of the Syrian army and its allies in fighting terrorism," Assad said of the recapture of Palmyra, during a meeting with French parliamentarians in Damascus. (worldbulletin.net)
  • The bombardments in Damascus and Deir al-Zor were some of the fiercest yet and showed Assad's determination to avenge the bomb attack, the most spectacular blow in a 16-month-old uprising against four decades of rule by the Assad family. (com.pk)
  • State television said Assad inspected a shelter for people displaced by fighting in Adra, which lies about 12 miles (20 km) northeast of central Damascus and was partly captured by rebels three months ago. (worldbulletin.net)
  • The two sides agreed to resume diplomatic ties, and sources had earlier told Reuters that bin Farhan would travel to Damascus to invite Assad to the Arab League summit. (thestar.com.my)
  • With Syrians better informed than they have been in decades, he is convinced the Assad regime's days are numbered. (jpost.com)
  • Even U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was miffed by the Assad regime's assertions that all shooting had stopped two weeks ago, hours after President Obama and several European governments called on Assad "to step aside. (foxnews.com)
  • Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country hosts 3 million Syrian refugees, called the U.S. intervention a "concrete step against the Assad regime's war crimes," but said, "I don't see this as enough. (thedailybeast.com)
  • In the early stages of Syria's uprising in 2011, Erdogan called on Assad to learn the lessons of the Arab Spring and step down. (voanews.com)
  • Trump's statements were clear during his campaign in relation to fighting terrorism, nonintervention against states in order to depose governments, as the United States has been doing for decades," Assad said, according to the official translation of the interview released by Syria's state news agency, SANA. (abcactionnews.com)
  • Assad now controls two-thirds of Syria's territory, importantly including its main cities. (arabnews.com)
  • The issue of arming the rebels has taken on extra urgency in recent days as pro-Assad forces are believed to be moving towards Aleppo, Syria's second city, for a possible showdown with rebel forces that could change the course of the two-year conflict. (truthdig.com)
  • Assad has made few public appearances since Syria's conflict began three years ago. (worldbulletin.net)
  • Assad said the kingdom's "open and realistic policies" benefited the region, Syria's state news agency reported. (thestar.com.my)
  • Following the security forces' crackdown on demonstrators in 2011, Syria's membership in the Arab League was suspended and several Gulf states - including Saudi Arabia - began backing rebel groups fighting to oust Assad from power. (thestar.com.my)
  • His sentiment was echoed by Republican hawks in the United States Senate, who called on Trump to take further steps to weaken Assad, including the grounding of Syria's air force, the creation of humanitarian safe zones, and the training of an opposition force that could depose Assad. (thedailybeast.com)
  • As the war takes on an increasingly sectarian bent, distancing the Alawites from Al Assad could be crucial for the survival of the community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that makes up about 10 per cent of Syria's population. (gulfnews.com)
  • At least 70,000 people have been killed since a protest movement led by Syria's Sunni Muslim majority broke out against four decades of family rule by Al Assad and his father. (gulfnews.com)
  • The action in the air and on the ground in the 24 hours after the U.S. cruise missile strike shows Syrian President Assad intends to hang tough. (thedailybeast.com)
  • You have said that the Syrian president Assad is not the enemy of the United States….It's hard for me to understand where you come from a humanitarian standpoint if you were to become president. (reason.com)
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin, a supporter of Assad, disputes the claim. (truthdig.com)
  • In November, after Trump's election victory, Assad told Portugal's TV network RTP that Trump would be a "natural ally" if he fights terrorists. (abcactionnews.com)
  • Officials say they do not support Assad and are merely against foreign intervention on principle, but Moscow has continued to supply arms and other aid to Assad as his last major ally alongside Iran. (truthdig.com)
  • On January 31 Russia joined with China to block a plan presented to the U.N. Security Council by Morocco and supported by the Arab League that called on Assad to hand power to his deputy, who would then call a general election. (cnn.com)
  • Russia - which along with Iran has strongly supported Assad since the crisis erupted 17 months ago - has said it will attend the meeting at ambassadorial level but it was unclear which other key players would be present. (ynetnews.com)
  • Along with Russia and China, Iran has strongly supported Assad , whose forces have launched crushing operations against anti-government protesters and armed opposition groups since the crisis erupted 17 months ago. (ynetnews.com)
  • They also suggest President Donald Trump is still seeking ways to accommodate Russia, which has backed Assad militarily in a conflict estimated to have cost a half-million lives. (politico.com)
  • The neighbourhood of Barzeh, one of three northern areas hit by helicopter fire, was overrun by troops commanded by P resident Assad's brother, Maher al-Assad, 41, who is widely seen as the muscle maintaining the Assad family's Alawite minority rule. (com.pk)
  • Hit Assad's compound, killing hundreds of innocents, without killing Assad. (newsmax.com)
  • Government forces have launched a determined counter-offensive since rebels brought their battle to overthrow Assad to the capital and killed four of the president's closest associates in a bomb attack last Wednesday. (com.pk)
  • The Obama administration also pushed for peace talks between Assad and Syrian rebels, but it declined to dispatch U.S. troops to fight Assad. (politico.com)
  • Assad also said Europe is a 'direct cause' of Syrians fleeing their homeland and must stop 'giving cover to terrorists' before people return, a reference to Western powers' support of Syrian opposition groups. (rferl.org)
  • There are solid grounds for indicting Assad as well, whose forces have killled at least 2,200, detained tens of thousands more, and, as Ziadeh pointed out, have generally "spread fear among Syrians. (foxnews.com)
  • Syrians were awaiting a speech by President Assad, who has remained silent during the 11-day crisis, laying out reforms including the lifting of the 50-year-old state of emergency. (counterpunch.org)
  • Al-Assad has emphasized that Syrian troops have succeeded in all operations that they have chosen to pursue in the Arab country. (pravda.ru)
  • civil war saw Syrian troops occupy lebanon from daddy Assad. (abovetopsecret.com)
  • Assad is winning so you know try and demoralize the troops. (abovetopsecret.com)
  • Nations with "a correct and realistic position" would attend a meeting on Thursday in Tehran to discuss the conflict, a senior Iranian diplomat said this week, indicating that no nation that backs the opposition and calls for Assad to leave power would be present. (ynetnews.com)
  • With Assad facing no serious challenger in a June 3 election which his Western and Arab foes, as well as the Syrian opposition, have dismissed as a parody of democracy, such tensions are unlikely to dissipate any time soon. (voanews.com)
  • Authorities have rejected opposition calls for Assad to step down and are preparing for a presidential election later this year. (worldbulletin.net)
  • Haley's comments, coupled with a vague statement from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, drew sharp criticism from Republican senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain and are sure to further deflate the hopes of Syrian opposition fighters trying to oust Assad. (politico.com)
  • Our priority is no longer to sit there and focus on getting Assad out," Haley told a small group of journalists, Reuters reported . (politico.com)
  • I think the status and the longer-term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people," the secretary of state replied, avoiding tougher language against the Arab strongman. (politico.com)
  • Obama repeatedly called for Assad to step aside after the Arab leader's crackdown on protesters in the spring of 2011 evolved into a full-blown war. (politico.com)
  • In September 2021 it was announced that Assad and Affandi had traveled to Portugal for a three-month trial with C.D. Trofense of the Liga Portugal 2. (wikipedia.org)
  • Together, we have sent a clear message to Assad, and his murderous lieutenants, that they should not perpetrate another chemical weapons attack for which they will be held accountable. (time.com)
  • In fact it is very limited with whether or not al-Assad is going to be held accountable," he said. (presstv.ir)
  • But it will help disassociate the sect from Al Assad. (gulfnews.com)
  • There has also been violence in the port city of Latakia on the Mediterranean coast, where the population is divided between the Sunni and the Alawites, the minority Shia sect to which the Assad family and other members of the ruling elite belong. (counterpunch.org)
  • This is not the first time Assad has voiced cautious optimism for President-elect Trump. (abcactionnews.com)
  • Assad expressed optimism that he could regain control of his country, but acknowledged it would take "a long time and will incur a heavy price. (cnn.com)
  • When evaluating how he operates as a dictator, Assad has definitely gravitated to "black" solutions … destruction, devastation, and death. (newsblaze.com)
  • Assad has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons. (truthdig.com)
  • We have fully believed in negotiations and in political action since the beginning of the crisis," Assad said in a transcript of the exclusive interview released Friday by the news agency. (cnn.com)
  • Assad has launched chlorine attacks against civilians dozens of times without U.S. reprisal, even though chemical weapons have been internationally banned after widespread use in World War I. (time.com)
  • There is no sign that Tehran is ready to adopt a new approach, despite setbacks for Assad including the defection this week of his prime minister. (ynetnews.com)
  • Should Assad hold onto Tehran, he could jeopardize his international rehabilitation and worse, provide a convenient target for Israeli efforts to pummel Iran and its regional proxies in any future conflict. (arabnews.com)
  • If they murder Christians while still fighting Assad, what will they do once in power? (newsmax.com)
  • Although U.S. officials insisted there was no way that Assad could stay in power after the carnage he'd committed, the dearth of U.S. military involvement in the fight, and what struck some as a softening in their language at times, led to a growing sense that Obama's team had accepted that Assad was going nowhere. (politico.com)
  • While Salehi said Iran sought a solution that was in "everyone's interest", Western diplomats have dismissed the conference as an attempt to divert attention away from bloody events on the ground and to preserve the rule of Assad. (ynetnews.com)
  • Therefore, being caught up in a regional swoop on Iran is by no means a priority for Assad. (arabnews.com)
  • The demonstrations were met by bullets, sparking a Sunni backlash and a mostly Islamist armed insurgency that is leading some Alawites to fear they have no future without Al Assad. (gulfnews.com)
  • Every effort is needed now to prevent a wide-scale sectarian bloodbath when Al Assad eventually goes, in which the Alawites would be the main losers. (gulfnews.com)
  • Mattis described a limited, one-time strike designed to deter Assad from using chemical weapons again. (time.com)
  • Does Assad Believe He Has Found A Loophole In Chemical Weapons Extermination? (newsblaze.com)
  • In his message to the US secretary, Assad also promised to fire very soon his powerful interior minister Ghazi Kenaan, whose assets in America the Bush administration recently impounded. (debka.com)
  • Assad has made a mistake while carrying out political reforms. (deccanherald.com)
  • Since then, he said, the Assad government has tolerated and even encouraged Islamist movements, so long as they keep out of politics. (jpost.com)
  • The developments come ahead of elections on June 3 in which Assad is running for re-election as president. (newser.com)
  • Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan initially believed his stature in the Middle East and relationship with Assad might enable him to steer the Syrian leader away from conflict. (voanews.com)
  • Just as it was pressing al-Assad to resign, the U.S. State Department quietly lifted a ban on military aid to the Karimov dictatorship in Uzbekistan, which had butchered its own protesters a few years earlier. (cnn.com)