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International Criminal Court’s Chief Prosecutor Meets with Syrian Leader in Damascus

This handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency SANA, shows Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) meeting with International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan in Damascus on January 17, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency SANA, shows Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) meeting with International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan in Damascus on January 17, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
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International Criminal Court’s Chief Prosecutor Meets with Syrian Leader in Damascus

This handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency SANA, shows Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) meeting with International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan in Damascus on January 17, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency SANA, shows Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (R) meeting with International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan in Damascus on January 17, 2025. (SANA / AFP)

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan made an unannounced visit Friday to Damascus to confer with the leader of Syria’s de facto government on how to ensure accountability for alleged crimes committed in the country.

Khan's office said he visited at the invitation of Syria’s transitional government. He met with Ahmad al-Sharaa, the leader of Syria’s new administration and the foreign minister to discuss options for justice in The Hague for victims of the country's civil war, which has left more than half a million dead and more than six million people displaced.

Assad, who fled to Russia in December, waged an oppressive campaign against anyone who opposed him during his more than two decades in power.

Rights groups estimate at least 150,000 people went missing after anti-government protests began in 2011, most vanishing into Assad’s prison network. Many of them were killed, either in mass executions or from torture and prison conditions. The exact number remains unknown.

The global chemical weapons watchdog found Syrian forces were responsible for multiple attacks using chlorine gas and other banned substances against civilians.

Other groups have also been accused of human rights violations and war crimes during the country’s civil war.

The new authorities have called for members of the Assad regime to be brought to justice. It is unclear how exactly that would work at this stage.

Syria is not a member of the ICC, which has left the court without the ability to investigate the war. In 2014, Russia and China blocked a referral by the United Nations Security Council which would have given the court jurisdiction. Similar referrals were made for Sudan and Libya.

Khan's visit comes after a trip to Damascus last month by the UN organization assisting in investigating the most serious crimes in Syria. The International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria was created to assist in evidence-gathering and prosecution of individuals responsible for possible war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide since Syria’s civil war began in 2011.

The group's head, Robert Petit, highlighted the urgency of preserving documents and other evidence before they are lost.

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Arab World

Al-Wadiah Border Security Foils Attempt to Smuggle Thousands of Captagon Pills from Yemen 

Members of the Al-Wadiah battalion boast extensive experience allowing them to thwart ongoing smuggling attempts. (Al-Wadiah battalion) 
Members of the Al-Wadiah battalion boast extensive experience allowing them to thwart ongoing smuggling attempts. (Al-Wadiah battalion) 
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Al-Wadiah Border Security Foils Attempt to Smuggle Thousands of Captagon Pills from Yemen 

Members of the Al-Wadiah battalion boast extensive experience allowing them to thwart ongoing smuggling attempts. (Al-Wadiah battalion) 
Members of the Al-Wadiah battalion boast extensive experience allowing them to thwart ongoing smuggling attempts. (Al-Wadiah battalion) 

The “Al-Wadiah Port Security and Protection Battalion” thwarted an attempt to smuggle 4,925 Captagon pills bound for Saudi Arabia from areas under Houthi control in Yemen.

Col. Osama Al-Assad, commander of the battalion, said the seizure was made during routine inspection procedures at the land crossing.

Security personnel grew suspicious of an incoming vehicle and, after a thorough search, discovered the pills professionally concealed in an apparent attempt to evade detection.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Assad said the confiscated drugs were documented in line with legal procedures and the suspects were referred to the competent authorities for further investigation.

He stressed that coordination with the Saudi side remains strong and ongoing at the highest levels, expressing appreciation to the Kingdom for its continued support to Yemen in general and to the battalion in particular, helping bolster border security between the two neighbors.

In a recent interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Assad revealed that most drug smuggling networks operating from Yemen into Saudi territory are directly linked to the Houthi militants.

He noted that the battalion had previously arrested a Houthi leader attempting to enter Saudi Arabia using a forged passport and Umrah visa, suggesting the motives were security-related rather than religious.

Regarding the latest operation, Al-Assad said preliminary investigations indicate that most drug shipments intercepted at the crossing originate from Houthi-controlled areas.

He accused the group of relying on drug trafficking as a source of funding for its activities, posing a threat to Yemen’s national security, neighboring countries, and regional stability.

The battalion’s mission includes securing and protecting the Al-Wadiah crossing, combating various forms of smuggling, including drugs, human trafficking, forged documents, and unidentified individuals, and arresting wanted suspects, including members of al-Qaeda and fugitives evading court rulings.

Arab World

Sudan Government Condemns Ugandan President’s Talks with Hemedti

Hemedti at the presidential palace in Entebbe on Feb. 20, 2026 (President Museveni’s page on X).
Hemedti at the presidential palace in Entebbe on Feb. 20, 2026 (President Museveni’s page on X).
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Sudan Government Condemns Ugandan President’s Talks with Hemedti

Hemedti at the presidential palace in Entebbe on Feb. 20, 2026 (President Museveni’s page on X).
Hemedti at the presidential palace in Entebbe on Feb. 20, 2026 (President Museveni’s page on X).

The Sudanese government has condemned “in the strongest terms” Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s meeting with Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo calling the move “unprecedented” and an affront to humanity and the Sudanese people.

In a statement issued Sunday, Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the ceremonial welcome accorded to Dagalo, known as Hemedti, in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, mocked “the souls of innocent citizens killed in the war, whose dignity was violated and whose property was looted” by the RSF.

The Ministry added that Uganda’s action “contravenes the principles governing member states of regional and international organizations,” particularly the obligation not to offer support to armed groups rebelling against a legitimate government recognized internationally.

Museveni met Hemedti on Friday at the presidential palace in Entebbe, where the two discussed efforts to end the ongoing war in Sudan. The talks also addressed regional and international initiatives aimed at reaching a political settlement to the conflict.

The meeting marked Hemedti’s first prominent regional appearance in several months. According to Dagalo, the discussions included what he described as a “Ugandan vision” for ending the war.

In its statement, Sudan’s Foreign Ministry acknowledged Uganda’s sovereign right to host whomever it chooses in accordance with its national interests. However, it expressed “deep concern” that the meeting could signal a shift in Kampala’s policy toward Sudan.

The Ministry urged the Ugandan government, in the interest of bilateral relations, good neighborliness, and non-interference in internal affairs, to distance itself from the RSF commander and not allow him to use Ugandan territory for political purposes.

Speaking to members of the Sudanese community in Entebbe, Hemedti said his visit came at the invitation of Museveni, who, he claimed, had been asked by Sudan’s government to intervene in efforts to help end the war.

In a post on the social media platform X, Museveni confirmed that he had received the RSF commander at the presidential residence in Entebbe and had listened to a detailed briefing on developments in Sudan.

He stressed that dialogue and a peaceful political settlement remain the only viable path to stability in Sudan and to ensuring security across the region.

Hemedti’s visit to Uganda came just one week after Museveni hosted Malik Agar, Vice Chairman of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council, allegedly as part of regional and international efforts to secure a ceasefire and lay the groundwork for a comprehensive political solution to Sudan’s ongoing conflict.

Arab World

ISIS Lashes Out at Syria's Sharaa, Announces ‘New Phase of Operations’

A Syrian government soldier outside Al-Aqtan prison in Raqqa, which holds ISIS detainees (AFP)
A Syrian government soldier outside Al-Aqtan prison in Raqqa, which holds ISIS detainees (AFP)
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ISIS Lashes Out at Syria's Sharaa, Announces ‘New Phase of Operations’

A Syrian government soldier outside Al-Aqtan prison in Raqqa, which holds ISIS detainees (AFP)
A Syrian government soldier outside Al-Aqtan prison in Raqqa, which holds ISIS detainees (AFP)

Syria’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday that a Syrian army soldier and a ‌civilian were killed a day earlier by “unknown assailants” in the northern city of Raqqa.

ISIS claimed ‌responsibility for two attacks targeting Syrian army personnel in northern and eastern Syria.

The militant group said on its Dabiq news agency that it had targeted “an individual of the apostate Syrian regime” in the city of Mayadin in Deir Ezzor province using a pistol, and attacked two other personnel with machine guns in Raqqa.

The attacks came after ISIS blasted Syria’s interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, calling him a “puppet without a soul” controlled by Western countries, adding that his fate eventually will be similar to that of ousted leader Bashar Assad.

In an audio message released late Saturday by the group’s spokesman, who identifies himself as Abu Huzaifa al-Ansari, he called on ISIS followers around the world to attack Jewish and Western targets as they have in past years.

The ‌group also said it had begun a “new phase of operations” in Syria.

Al-Ansari sent greetings to ISIS militants from the group’s leader Abu Hafs al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi who was named as the head of the group three years ago.

The audio is the first to be released by the group in months and comes after ISIS was blamed for attacks that left dozens dead or wounded in recent months in Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and other parts of the world.

The latest incidents come two days after ISIS claimed responsibility for another attack in Deir Ezzor that killed a member of the Interior Ministry’s internal security forces and wounded another.

In December, the group was blamed for an attack in central Syria that left three Americans dead and triggered intense US airstrikes on the extremists’ suspected hideouts in the country.