Syria

| SYRIA

The killings took place yesterday in Anaz, a village in western Homs. Gunmen on motorbikes fired at least 30 bullets before fleeing. The motive behind the attack remains unknown. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, one of the victims had been involved in a legal case, but had been acquitted after the court found the charges against him to be baseless. The case had been brought by people from Al-Hosn, a neighbouring village where the perpetrators of the crime fled to.

by Fady Noun

According to UNHCR, in just under nine months, over 200,000 have chosen to return. Some for the first time since 2011. For the authorities in Beirut, the departures “lighten” the Land of the Cedars from a “substantial demographic burden”. But there is also a counter-exodus: from Alawites fleeing the coast to Christians who dream of leaving after the attack on the church in Damascus.

| 04/09/2025
| LEBANON - SYRIA
by Dario Salvi

According to the Jordanian scholar, the Netanyahu government's ultimate goal ‘goes beyond’ defeating Hamas and redrawing borders. The West Bank becomes an ‘opportunity to be exploited’ with a view to annexation. The weakness of the Palestinian Authority and the international community, the new paradigm of the Abraham Accords. Among the nations of the region, ‘more tactics than alliances’.

| 12/08/2025
| GATEWAY TO THE EAST

The vote is scheduled for mid-September to signal a return to normalcy, but a third of parliamentarians will still be appointed by al-Sharaa, there are no political parties, and the current constitution does not provide for autonomy for certain provinces. The issues in Rojava, the Kurdish-majority region, and the southern governorate of Suwayda, home to the Druze. Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has denounced abuses against Alawite women.

| 29/07/2025
| GATEWAY TO THE EAST

In a week of clashes between Druze, Bedouins and government forces, over a thousand civilians and combatants were killed, including Christian families and the Druze evangelical pastor Khalid Mezheri. The Latin Church and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate are calling for urgent intervention by the international community and denouncing the role of militias that still escape Damascus' control and external interference. L'Œuvre d'Orient reports hundreds of displaced persons without food or water. Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo Hanna Jallouf: ‘Only dialogue can save Syria.’

| 22/07/2025
| GATEWAY TO THE EAST
by Fady Noun

The fighting is over thanks largely to the intervention of US Secretary of State Rubio. The interim Syrian president has "transferred" responsibility for maintaining security to the Druze. He reiterated his desire to avoid "open war" with Israel. The provisional toll from the fighting stands at 350 dead. For Jumblatt, “Israel has no protégés, only instruments”.

 

| 17/07/2025
| LEBANON – SYRIA – ISRAEL
by Fady Noun

Syrian forces were deployed in Al-Suwayda yesterday while the city was placed under a curfew. Clashes sparked by an isolated incident have left about a hundred people dead, 60 of them Druze. At stake are the province's new phase of "integration" with Ahmed al-Sharaa's Islamist Syria, as well as its relations with Israel. An attack on a church in Tartus was foiled.

| 15/07/2025
| GATEWAY TO THE EAST
Editor's choices
 
A court in Wenzhou has convicted 39 members of the Ming family, originally from Shan State in northern Myanmar, for fraud and drug trafficking, among others, activities that generated estimated proceeds of over 10 billion yuan. Among those sentenced ...
| 30/09/2025
| MYANMAR – CHINA
 
by Mathias Hariyadi
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto made the announcement at the UN General Assembly. In his speech, he reiterated his commitment to the two-state solution as the only way forward in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At the same time, he condemned ...
| 24/09/2025
| INDONESIA
 
An Afghan boy arrived in New Delhi from Kabul hiding in the landing gear of a plane. Indian authorities immediately sent him back. Taliban flatly refuse Trump’s demand for a return of the Bagram Air Base, while ordinary Afghans are still dealing ...
| 23/09/2025
| AFGHANISTAN
 
The 42-year-old blogger and lawyer who was jailed for reporting on the pandemic in Wuhan will spend more time behind bars for “causing a public disturbance”. Her "crime" was attempting to meet and defend a trade unionist in Gansu. Friends ...
| 22/09/2025
| CHINA
 
Friends report that Zhang Yadi, 22, has been missing since 30 July, a few weeks before she was supposed to start an MA in anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies University of London. She had founded “Chinese Youths Stand for ...
| 18/09/2025
| RED LANTERNS
 
Bali Governor Wayan Koster announced a moratorium on farmland conversion to tourist and commercial use. Every year, about 1,000 hectares of rice paddies and green spaces are lost, with extensive damages to the island’s traditional irrigation system. ...
| 17/09/2025
| INDONESIA
 
According to Japan’s National Police Agency, more than 40,000 lonely deaths at home were reported in the first half of this year. More than one case in four is discovered after more than a week. The causes include an aging population, weakening ...
| 15/09/2025
| JAPAN
 
During the ecumenical celebration at St Paul's Outside the Walls in honour of the 1,624 Christians of all denominations who gave their lives for the Gospel in the first 25 years of this century, Pope Leo XIV quoted the words of a child who died at ...
| 15/09/2025
| VATICAN - PAKISTAN
“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”