Syria

New government accused of ‘performative justice’ and making deals with suspects in 2013 Tadamon massacresAhmad al-Homsi is a deep sleeper, but when he was woken last month and told that Amjad Youssef, a Syrian intelligence officer who killed civilians in the 2013 Tadamon massacres, had been arrested, he bolted out of bed. He ran into the street to find other people already celebrating the news.“We stayed out for almost three or four days celebrating. People from neighbouring areas sent camels, sheep, livestock for us to slaughter and distribute them to people. The tears of joy didn’t stop,” said al-Homsi, a 33-year-old activist with the Tadamon Coordination Committee, which documented the atrocities in the Damascus neighbourhood. Continue reading...

Kurdish Syrian man, 26, said he fled forced conscription by YPG militia because he ‘didn’t want to kill people’An asylum seeker sent back to France under the controversial “one in, one out” scheme faces being returned to Syria after authorities in Paris ruled it was safe to do so, in what is believed to be the first case of its kind.When the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, announced the “groundbreaking” deal in July 2025 to stop small boats crowded with asylum seekers from crossing the Channel – by forcibly returning one small-boat asylum seeker to France in exchange for bringing one in northern France legally to the UK – they emphasised that France was a safe country for returnees. Continue reading...

• Hundreds gathered at the U.S. Supreme Court on April 29, 2026, for arguments on Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians and Syrians, with justices scrutinizing President Trump's authority to end the program. • The bench appeared skeptical of broad executive power to revoke deportation amnesties, per reports from the hearing. • A ruling could impact thousands facing deportation and test limits on immigration executive actions ahead of midterms.

Syrian officials say a group of Australians are ‘awaiting a solution’ as Albanese government refuses to repatriate themThe Trump administration says it is in “active communication” with countries, urging them to repatriate citizens stranded in Syria, while the Australian government maintains its hardline stance towards Australian women and children detained since the fall of Islamic State.A group of four women, their nine children and grandchildren left al-Roj camp, in Syria’s north-east, last Friday in a bid to return to Australia, with reports on Thursday morning that the Albanese government’s refusal to help them has left them stuck in Damascus. Continue reading...

Fadi Saqr is accused of mass killings of civilians in Tadamon, Damascus, where people say he must face justiceA Syrian rights commission is preparing a case accusing Fadi Saqr, a militia leader within the Assad regime, of involvement in crimes against humanity and war crimes, a senior Syrian official has told the Guardian.Saqr is a former commander of the National Defence Forces (NDF) militia and is widely accused of involvement in the mass killing and forcible disappearance of civilians in the Tadamon neighbourhood of Damascus, as well as other parts of the Syrian capital. Continue reading...

Case looks at whether Trump administration has authority to strip hundreds of thousands of immigrants of TPSThe supreme court will hear oral arguments on Wednesday over whether the Trump administration can strip the temporary protected status (TPS) of hundreds of thousands of Syrians and Haitians, under a program that has protected them from deportation due to safety concerns in their home countries.People with TPS are given the permission to live and work in the US because the government has deemed their home countries to be unsafe due to war, political instability or natural disasters. In the past year, the Trump administration has attempted to cut the program for various countries, opening the door to the removal of hundreds of thousands of protected immigrants in the US. Continue reading...

• The UN Security Council failed to reach consensus on a resolution extending cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria, with Russia vetoing the measure on Friday amid escalating tensions between Moscow and Western nations over the Syrian conflict's humanitarian toll. • Russia's veto marks the third such blocking in two years, preventing critical medical supplies and food assistance from reaching 5.5 million internally displaced Syrians, according to UN humanitarian coordinator statements. • Western diplomats warned the blockade could exacerbate an already severe humanitarian crisis, with aid agencies reporting shortages of vaccines, antibiotics, and nutrition programs across northern Syria.