Syrian President Arrives in China on First Visit since the Beginning of War in Syria

FILE - In this photo released on Nov. 9, 2019 by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks in Damascus, Syria. (SANA via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo released on Nov. 9, 2019 by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks in Damascus, Syria. (SANA via AP, File)
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Syrian President Arrives in China on First Visit since the Beginning of War in Syria

FILE - In this photo released on Nov. 9, 2019 by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks in Damascus, Syria. (SANA via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo released on Nov. 9, 2019 by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks in Damascus, Syria. (SANA via AP, File)

Syrian President Bashar Assad arrived in China on Thursday on his first visit to the country since the start of Syria's 12-year conflict during which Beijing has been one of his main backers.
China’s foreign ministry said Assad would attend the opening ceremony of the Asian Games, an international sports event beginning Saturday in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou.
China has been expanding its reach in the Middle East after mediating a deal in March between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and it continues to support Assad in the Syrian conflict, which has killed half a million people and left large parts of the nation in ruins, The Associated Press said.
China could play a major role in the future in Syria’s reconstruction, which is expected to cost tens of billions of dollars. Syria last year joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative in which Beijing expands its influence in developing regions through infrastructure projects.
Assad’s office said earlier that the Syrian leader was invited by Chinese President Xi Jinping and would bring with him a high-ranking Syrian delegation.
Syria’s worsening economic crisis has led to protests in government-held parts of the country. Syria blames the crisis on Western sanctions and US-backed Kurdish-led fighters who control the country’s largest oil fields in the east near the border with Iraq.
Diplomatic contacts between Syria and other Arab countries have intensified following the Feb. 6 earthquake that hit Türkiye and Syria killing more than 50,000 people, including over 6,000 in Syria. Assad flew to Saudi Arabia in May where he attended the Arab League summit days after Syria’s membership was reinstated in the 22-member league.
Since Syria’s conflict began in March 2011 with pro-democracy protests and later turned into a civil war, Iran and Russia have helped Assad regain control of much of the country.
China has used its veto power at the UN eight times to stop resolutions against Assad’s government, the latest in July 2020.
Assad’s last and only visit to China was in 2004, a year after the US-led invasion of neighboring Iraq and at a time when Washington was putting pressure on Syria.



US Military: ISIS Attacks on Track to Double in Iraq, Syria Compared to Last Year

FILE - A motorist passes by a flag of ISIS in central Rawah, 281 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, on July 22, 2014. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - A motorist passes by a flag of ISIS in central Rawah, 281 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, on July 22, 2014. (AP Photo, File)
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US Military: ISIS Attacks on Track to Double in Iraq, Syria Compared to Last Year

FILE - A motorist passes by a flag of ISIS in central Rawah, 281 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, on July 22, 2014. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - A motorist passes by a flag of ISIS in central Rawah, 281 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, on July 22, 2014. (AP Photo, File)

The US Central Command said Wednesday that ISIS is trying "to reconstitute” as the number of attacks in Syria and Iraq is on track to double those of the previous year.

ISIS has claimed 153 attacks in both countries in the first six months of 2024, CENTCOM said in a statement. According to a US defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn't allowed to speak publicly on the matter, the group was behind 121 attacks in Syria and Iraq in 2023.

“The increase in attacks indicates ISIS is attempting to reconstitute following several years of decreased capability,” The Associated Press quoted CENTCOM as saying.

A coalition of more than 80 countries, led by the United States, was formed to fight ISIS, which lost its hold on the territory it controlled in Iraq and 2017 and in Syria in 2019, although sleeper cells remain in both countries and abroad.

Iraqi officials say that they can keep ISIS threat under control with their own forces and have entered into talks with the US aimed at winding down the mission of the US-led military coalition in Iraq.
The talks come at a time of increased domestic tensions over the US military presence.

From October to February, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq launched regular drone attacks on bases housing US troops in Iraq and Syria, which they said was in retaliation for Washington’s support of Israel in the ongoing war in Gaza and were aimed at forcing US forces to withdraw from Iraq.

Those attacks largely halted after three US soldiers were killed in a strike on a base in Jordan, near the Syrian border in late January, prompting US retaliatory strikes in Iraq.

On Tuesday, two Iraqi militia officials said they had launched a new drone attack targeting the Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. It was unclear whether the attack had hit its target. US officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.