CILVEGOZU BORDER CROSSING, Turkiye: Hundreds of Syrian refugees gathered at two border crossings in southern Turkiye on Monday, eagerly anticipating their return home following the fall of Bashar Assad’s government.
Many arrived at the Cilvegozu and Oncupinar gates at daybreak, draped in blankets and coats. Some camped by the barriers, warming at makeshift fires. The crossings correspond to the Bab Al-Hawa and Bab Al-Salameh gates on the Syrian side.
Among those waiting at Cilvegozu was 28-year-old Muhammed Zin, who fled Damascus in 2016 and has been living and working in Istanbul.
“Assad was shooting us, killing us,” he told The Associated Press. “I will return to Syria now. Thank God, the war is over.”
Assad’s fall has sparked widespread joy among Turkiye’s 3 million Syrian refugees, with many taking to the streets of Istanbul and other cities to celebrate. On Sunday, Syrians removed the government’s flag from the Syrian Consulate in Istanbul, replacing it with the opposition’s flag.
At the Oncupinar border gate, Mustafa Sultan, 29, said he was crossing into Syria to find his older brother who was imprisoned in Damascus under Assad’s rule.
“I haven’t seen him for 13 years. The prisons have been emptied so I am going to go see whether he’s alive,” he said.
Turkish officials have not said how many Syrians have returned since Assad’s downfall on Sunday. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the numbers would increase as Syria stabilizes, and announced plans to reopen a third border crossing to prevent congestion.
“As Syria gains more stability, God willing, voluntary, safe and honorable returns will increase,” Erdogan said in a televised address following a Cabinet meeting.
Turkiye welcomed Syrian refugees with open arms in the early years of Syria’s civil war that broke out in 2011 — becoming host to the world’s largest number of refugees. Ankara believed the conflict would end quickly and the influx would be temporary.
But as Turkiye faced economic challenges, public opinion toward the refugees soured, forcing Erdogan’s government to seek ways to ensure their safe and voluntary repatriation.
Turkish officials now hope that a significant number of Syrians will return voluntarily.
“We will continue our efforts to ensure the safe and voluntary return of Syrians and to rebuild the country,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Monday.
At Cilvegozu, some refugees wheeled their suitcases while others carried belongings in sacks. Authorities set up a checkpoint some 5 kilometers (3 miles) away, only allowing Syrians with proper documents to the border gate, HaberTurk television reported.
Zakariya Mori Al-Shami, 31, who arrived in Turkiye in 2019, was waiting to cross with his wife and two children to return to Aleppo. He hopes to rebuild his home, which was destroyed during the conflict.
Anxious to rejoin his family in Damascus, Mohammed al Muhbuhar, 27, said he headed to the border “immediately” after Assad left.
“There is no more torture. God willing, Syria will be better,” he said.
Hundreds of displaced Syrians were also returning Monday from Lebanon.
Sami Abdel-Latif, a construction worker from Hama who hoped to join his wife and four children, said while the future in Syria is uncertain, “anything is better than Bashar.” He said he expected some chaos initially but that eventually the situation would settle down.
“Look at Aleppo now,” Abdel-Latif said, referring to the first major city taken by opposition forces more than a week ago, where life has continued more or less as normal.
Malak Matar, who was preparing to return to Damascus, said: “You feel yourself psychologically free — you can express yourself,” saying people had waited 14 years for that.
Now, he said, “Syrians have to create a state that is well-organized and takes care of their country. It’s a new phase.”
Hundreds of Syrians line up at Turkish border crossings as Erdogan expects more to go home
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Hundreds of Syrians line up at Turkish border crossings as Erdogan expects more to go home
Syria’s foreign minister met State Dept officials in New York, sources say
- Damascus is keen to hear a realistic path forward from the United States for permanent sanctions relief while conveying a realistic timeline to deliver on Washington’s demands for the lifting of the sanctions, one of the sources said
WASHINGTON: Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shibani met with senior US State Department officials on Tuesday in New York, two sources familiar with the matter said, as Damascus seeks a clear road map from Washington on how to secure permanent sanctions relief.
Shibani has been in the United States for meetings at the United Nations, where he raised the three-star flag of Syria’s uprising as the official Syrian flag 14 years after the country’s civil war erupted. Syria’s long-time oppressive ruler, Bashar Assad, was ousted by a lightning rebel offensive in December.
Tuesday’s meeting was the first between US officials and Shibani to take place on US territory and comes after Syria responded earlier this month to a list of conditions set by Washington for possible partial sanctions relief.
It was not immediately clear who Shibani met with from the State Department, although one of the sources earlier said he was expected to meet with a group of US officials including Dorothy Shea, acting US ambassador to the United Nations.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce confirmed that “some representatives of the Syrian interim authorities” were in New York for the UN meetings, but declined to say whether any meetings with American officials were planned.
“We continue to assess our Syria policy cautiously and will judge the interim authorities by their actions. We are not normalizing diplomatic relations with Syria at this time, and I can preview nothing for you regarding any meetings,” she said.
Damascus is keen to hear a realistic path forward from the United States for permanent sanctions relief while conveying a realistic timeline to deliver on Washington’s demands for the lifting of the sanctions, one of the sources said.
The United States last month handed Syria a list of eight conditions it wants Damascus to fulfill, including destroying any remaining chemical weapons stockpiles and ensuring foreigners are not given senior governing roles.
Reuters was first to report that Natasha Francheschi, deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, handed the list of conditions to Shibani at an in-person meeting on the sidelines of a Syria donor conference in Brussels on March 18.
Syria is in desperate need of sanctions relief to kickstart an economy collapsed by years of war, during which the United States, Britain and Europe imposed tough sanctions in a bid to put pressure on Assad.
In January, the US issued a six-month exemption for some sanctions to encourage humanitarian aid, but this has had limited effect.
In exchange for fulfilling all the US demands, Washington would extend that suspension for two years and possibly issue another exemption, sources told Reuters in March.
In its response to US demands, Syria pledges to set up a liaison office at the foreign ministry to find missing US journalist Austin Tice and detail its work to tackle chemical weapons stockpiles, including closer ties with a global arms watchdog.
But it had less to say on other key demands, including removing foreign fighters and granting the US permission for counterterrorism strikes, according to the letter.
Iraq drone attacks wound 5 Kurdish security personnel
IRBIL: Five Iraqi Kurdish security personnel were wounded in two drone attacks in northern Iraq in less than 48 hours, authorities in the autonomous Kurdistan region said on Tuesday.
Authorities blamed a “terrorist group” for the separate attacks in a region that has seen repeated clashes between Turkish forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party.
“A terrorist group launched two separate drone attacks yesterday (Monday) and this morning targeting peshmerga bases” in Dohuk province, the region’s security council said. The attacks wounded five peshmerga, it added.
Kamran Othman of the US-based Community Peacemakers Teams, who monitor Turkish operations in Iraqi Kurdistan, confirmed the attacks but was unable to identify the perpetrators.
He added that the peshmerga were establishing a new post in a “sensitive area” that has long been the site of tension between the PKK and Turkish forces. There was no immediate claim for the attacks, which came weeks after the PKK announced a ceasefire with Turkiye in response to their jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan’s historic call to the group to dissolve and disarm.
Blacklisted as a “terrorist group” by the EU and the US, the PKK has fought the Turkish state for most of the past four decades.
US hit more than 1,000 targets in Yemen since mid-March
- Since March 15, “USCENTCOM strikes have hit over 1,000 targets, killing Houthi fighters and leaders...,” Parnell said
- CENTCOM on Sunday had put the figure at more than 800 targets
WASHINGTON: US forces have struck more than 1,000 targets in Yemen since Washington launched the latest round of its air campaign against the Houthi militants in mid-March, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
The Houthis began targeting shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in late 2023 and the United States responded with strikes against them starting early the following year.
Since March 15, “USCENTCOM strikes have hit over 1,000 targets, killing Houthi fighters and leaders... and degrading their capabilities,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement, referring to the military command responsible for the Middle East.
CENTCOM on Sunday had put the figure at more than 800 targets hit since mid-March, saying hundreds of Houthi fighters had been killed as a result.
Hours after that announcement, Houthi-controlled media said US strikes had hit a migrant detention center in the city of Saada, killing at least 68 people, while a United Nations spokesperson later said preliminary information indicated that those killed were migrants.
A US defense official said the military is looking into reports of civilian casualties resulting from its strikes in Yemen.
Attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis have prevented ships from passing through the Suez Canal — a vital route that normally carries about 12 percent of the world’s shipping traffic.
The militants say they are targeting shipping in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, which has been devastated by Israel’s military after a shock Hamas attack in October 2023.
Iran fire contained after blast at key port; 70 killed
TEHRAN: Firefighters have brought under control a blaze at Iran’s main port, following a deadly explosion blamed on negligence, authorities said.
The explosion, heard dozens of kilometers away, hit a dock at the southern port of Shahid Rajaee on Saturday.
At least 70 people were killed and more than 1,000 others suffered injuries in the blast and ensuing fire, which also caused extensive damage, state media reported.
Red Crescent official Mokhtar Salahshour told the channel that the fire had been “contained” and a clean-up was underway.
State television aired live footage on Tuesday showing thick smoke rising from stacked containers.
Iran’s ILNA news agency quoted Hossein Zafari, spokesman for the country’s crisis management organization, as saying the situation had improved significantly since Monday.
However, “the operation and complete extinguishing process may take around 15 to 20 days,” the agency reported.
Iran’s customs authority said port operations had returned to normal, according to the IRNA news agency.
The port of Shahid Rajaee lies near the major coastal city of Bandar Abbas on the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which one-fifth of global oil output passes.
Hormozgan provincial governor Mohammad Ashouri ruled out sabotage.
“The set of hypotheses and investigations carried out during the process indicated that the sabotage theory lacks basis or relevance,” he told state television.
The port’s customs office said the blast may have started in a depot storing hazardous and chemical materials.
Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said there were “shortcomings, including noncompliance with safety precautions and negligence.”
Gaza’s vital community kitchens may soon shut, halt free meals
- Malnutrition cases rising, hitting children, pregnant women as critical lifeline faces threat
CAIRO/GAZA/GENEVA: It took five hours of queuing at a community kitchen in Gaza’s Nuseirat district for displaced grandmother Um Mohammad Al-Talalqa to get one meal to feed her hungry children and grandchildren.
But finding food may be about to get even tougher: Gaza’s community kitchens — lifelines for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians after 18 months of war — may soon have no more meals to provide.
Multiple aid groups said that dozens of local community kitchens risk closing down, potentially within days, unless aid is allowed into Gaza, removing the last consistent source of meals for most of the 2.3 million population.
“We are suffering from famine, real famine,” said Talalqa, whose house in the Gaza town of Mughraqa was destroyed by Israel. “I have not eaten anything since this morning.”
At the Al-Salam Oriental Food community kitchen in Gaza City, Salah Abu Haseera offers what he fears could be one of the last meals for the 20,000 people he and his colleagues serve daily.
“We face huge challenges in keeping going. We may go out of operation within a week, or maybe less,” Abu Haseera told Reuters by phone from Gaza.
Since March 2, Israel has completely cut off all supplies to the 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip, and food stockpiled during a ceasefire at the start of the year has all but run out. It is the longest such closure the Gaza Strip has ever faced.
“The community kitchens, which the population in Gaza are relying more on, because there are no other ways to get food, are at a very big risk to shut down,” Juliette Touma, spokesperson for the UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, said.
About 10,000 cases of acute malnutrition among children have been identified across Gaza, including 1,600 cases of severe acute malnutrition, since the start of 2025, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a report.
The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 60,000 children were now showing symptoms of malnutrition.
“We are seeing pediatric cases with moderate or severe acute malnutrition, and we are seeing also pregnant, lactating women that have difficulties breastfeeding; they themselves are malnourished or have a very insufficient calorie intake,” Julie Faucon, Medical Coordinator at Doctors Without Borders, said.
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said famine is no longer a looming threat and is becoming a reality.
Fifty-two people have died due to hunger and malnutrition, including 50 children, it added.
Abu Haseera said food is being sold at “fictional prices.” Prices have risen 1,400 percent compared to during the ceasefire, the World Food Programme said, adding that its stocks were now depleted.
Israel has previously denied that Gaza is facing a hunger crisis and says there is still enough aid to sustain the enclave’s population, but it has not made clear when and how aid will be resumed.
