Syria to Hold Parliamentary Elections on October 5 

This picture shows a Syrian national flag fluttering at the Khan Arnabeh area in the city of Quneitra near the border with Israel in southern Syria on September 21, 2025. (AFP)
This picture shows a Syrian national flag fluttering at the Khan Arnabeh area in the city of Quneitra near the border with Israel in southern Syria on September 21, 2025. (AFP)
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Syria to Hold Parliamentary Elections on October 5 

This picture shows a Syrian national flag fluttering at the Khan Arnabeh area in the city of Quneitra near the border with Israel in southern Syria on September 21, 2025. (AFP)
This picture shows a Syrian national flag fluttering at the Khan Arnabeh area in the city of Quneitra near the border with Israel in southern Syria on September 21, 2025. (AFP)

Syria will hold its first parliamentary election under its new administration on October 5, state news agency SANA said on Sunday.

The new assembly is expected to lay the groundwork for a broader democratic process following the ousting of former President Bashar al-Assad last December after nearly 14 years of civil war. Critics say the current system lacks sufficient participation from minority groups.

It will also be tasked with approving legislation aimed at overhauling decades of state-controlled economic policies and ratifying treaties that could reshape Syria's foreign policy alliances.

Voting for the 210-member People's Assembly will take place "across all electoral districts", SANA said, even though the electoral commission said last month voting would be delayed in three provinces due to security concerns.

A third of the People's Assembly seats will be appointed by President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Syria initially said an election would take place in September and that voting in Sweida, which witnessed clashes in July between Druze fighters and Bedouin tribes, as well as in the provinces of Hasaka and Raqqa, which are partly controlled by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, would be postponed.

In March, Syria issued a constitutional declaration to guide the interim period under al-Sharaa's leadership.



Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinian Teen in West Bank

Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinian Teen in West Bank
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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)
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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.
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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.