Syria

De facto Syrian leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani committed to ensuring terrorist groups in Syria do not pose a threat to the U.S. and its allies.

Senior U.S. officials arrived in Damascus on Friday for the first diplomatic mission to the Syrian capital since the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad this month.

In a surprise announcement, the Defense Department disclosed Thursday that U.S. officials have doubled the number of American troops in Syria to support the fight ISIS, an increase that predates the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime this month. 

The mother of missing journalist Austin Tice told NBC News” “Meet the Press” that seeing an American held captive in Damascus after he was freed was “almost like having a rehearsal.”

A transformation has started to take place in the week since the unexpected overthrow of Syria’s President Bashar Assad — and so far, it has been surprisingly smooth.

“I was on a pilgrimage to Damascus,” Travis Timmerman told NBC News in a building on the outskirts of the Syrian capital on Thursday after his release following the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The indictment accuses Jamil Hassan and Abdul Salam Mahmoud of being responsible for the “infliction of cruel and inhuman treatment on detainees.”

Abu Mohammad al-Jolani has sought to rebrand his and his group’s position, while distancing himself from their Al Qaeda connections. 

Israel’s foreign minister says it has struck suspected chemical weapons sites and long-range rockets in Syria in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of hostile actors.

Rebel fighters claimed they captured the Syrian capital of Damascus early Sunday as government forces loyal to the country’s president, Bashar al-Assad, were routed in a matter of days. NBC6’s Hatzel Vela reports.

President Joe Biden says the U.S. government believes missing American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared 12 years ago near the Syrian capital, is alive and Washington is committed to bringing him home after Bashar Assad’s ouster from power.

The Assad family’s decadeslong reign in Syria came to an abrupt end Sunday when rebel forces captured Damascus after a stunning lightning-strike rout across the country.

Opposition fighters are closing in on Syria’s capital in a swiftly developing crisis that has taken much of the world by surprise.

Rebel fighters claimed they captured the Syrian capital of Damascus early Sunday as government forces loyal to the country’s president, Bashar al-Assad, were routed in a mater of days.

The 13-year civil war in Syria has roared back into prominence with a surprise rebel offensive on one of Syria’s largest cities and ancient business hub.

A drone attack on a base housing U.S. troops in eastern Syria killed six allied Kurdish fighters late Sunday.

The Pentagon and U.S. officials say the U.S. military conducted airstrikes on two locations in eastern Syria involving Iranian-backed groups, hitting a training location and a weapons facility.

This is the second time in less than two weeks that the U.S. has bombed facilities used by the militant groups, many operating under the umbrella of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq

The airstrikes came in response to several drone attacks on US military early last week.

Two U.S. officials tell The Associated Press that a military base in southern Syria where U.S. troops have maintained a presence to train forces as part of a broad campaign against the Islamic State group was attacked by drones on Thursday.