Syrian Transport Ministry Says Damascus-Aleppo Highway Open to Traffic

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian engineering troops check for mines in the M5 highway, recaptured by Assad's forces this week, in Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020.
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian engineering troops check for mines in the M5 highway, recaptured by Assad's forces this week, in Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020.
TT

Syrian Transport Ministry Says Damascus-Aleppo Highway Open to Traffic

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian engineering troops check for mines in the M5 highway, recaptured by Assad's forces this week, in Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020.
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian engineering troops check for mines in the M5 highway, recaptured by Assad's forces this week, in Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020.

Syria's transport ministry announced on Saturday that the main highway between Damascus and Aleppo is open to the public after regime troops retook control in a Russian-backed offensive.

"Transport Minister Ali Hammoud announces the opening of the Damascus-Aleppo highway to traffic, placing it at the service of citizens," the ministry said in its statement.

Clearing insurgents from the highway was part of a 2018 Russian-Turkish deal that called for creating a buffer zone between combatants in the Idlib region of the northwest, though fighting has raged on, Reuters reported.

With Russian backing, the Syrian regime regained ground in northwest Syria, the last major opposition stronghold, since December.

According to the United Nations, the offensive has uprooted nearly a million people, the largest exodus of the nine-year war.

Turkey has "determined our road map" for Syria after calls with the leaders of Russia, Germany and France, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday.

"We will announce to all parties that we are at the table," he told a crowd in Izmir.

Under its agreements with Russia, Turkey has forces stationed at observation posts in the northwest.

Ankara and Moscow, which back opposing sides in Syria's conflict, have collaborated in trying to reach a political settlement.

According to Reuters, tensions between the two sides have spiralled during the latest offensive, with both accusing the other of flouting agreements.

Meanwhile, Turkey has warned that it will use military power to repel Syrian advances in the Idlib offensive, during which 15 Turkish soldiers have been killed this month.



Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinian Teen in West Bank

Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinian Teen in West Bank
TT

Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinian Teen in West Bank

Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinian Teen in West Bank

Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian hurling a rock at them in the occupied West Bank, the military said on Friday, and the Palestinian health ministry said the person killed was a 14-year-old boy.

There was no further comment from Palestinian officials about the fatal incident in the village of ⁠Al-Mughayyir. Official Palestinian news agency WAFA said the teen was killed during an Israeli military raid that led to confrontations, Reuters reported.

The Israeli military said its forces were called to the area after ⁠receiving reports that Palestinians were throwing stones at Israelis and blocking a road with burning tires.

The soldiers fired warning shots in an attempt to repel a person who was running at them with a rock, the military said, and then shot and killed him to eliminate the ⁠danger.

Violence has surged over the past year in the West Bank. Attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians have risen sharply, while the military has tightened movement restrictions and carried out sweeping raids in several cities.

Palestinians have also carried out attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians, some of them deadly.


Israeli Strikes in South Lebanon Kill Two

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village of Sohmor, in southern Lebanon on January 15, 2026. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village of Sohmor, in southern Lebanon on January 15, 2026. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
TT

Israeli Strikes in South Lebanon Kill Two

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village of Sohmor, in southern Lebanon on January 15, 2026. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village of Sohmor, in southern Lebanon on January 15, 2026. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)

An Israeli strike on south Lebanon killed one person on Friday, the health ministry in Beirut said a day after raids that Israel said had targeted Hezbollah.

Israel has kept up regular strikes in Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, usually saying it is targeting members of the group or its infrastructure.

In a statement, the health ministry said an "Israeli enemy strike" on a vehicle in Mansuri in south Lebanon killed one person.

According to AFP, it also said that a strike on Mayfadun in south Lebanon the previous night killed one person.

Israel said Thursday's attack killed a Hezbollah member it alleged "took part in attempts to reestablish Hezbollah's infrastructure in the Zawtar al-Sharqiyah area.”

The attacks come a week after Lebanon's military said it had completed disarming Hezbollah south of the Litani River, the first phase of a nationwide plan, although Israel has called those efforts insufficient.

On Thursday, Israel carried out several strikes against eastern Lebanon's Bekaa region, north of the Litani, after issuing warnings to evacuate.

United Nations peacekeepers, deployed in the south to separate Lebanon from Israel, said on Friday that an Israeli drone "dropped a grenade" on its troops.

On Monday, the peacekeeping force said an Israeli tank fired near its troops, and warned that such incidents were becoming "disturbingly common".


Syria's Leader Sharaa in Berlin on Tuesday, Says German Presidency

Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
TT

Syria's Leader Sharaa in Berlin on Tuesday, Says German Presidency

Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa will be visiting Berlin next Tuesday and meet his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German presidency said.

The office of Chancellor Friedrich Merz has yet to announce whether they would also hold talks during the visit, which comes at a time when the German government is seeking to step up repatriations of Syrians to their homeland.