ANKARA - Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Wednesday on his first official visit to Turkiye.

The meeting between Erdogan and Al-Shaibani addressed the most recent situation in Syria and steps to be taken to preserve the country's territorial integrity, Turkiye's Communications Directorate said in a statement on the social media platform X.

ANKARA — Turkiye's business community, in collaboration with government institutions, has launched initiatives to aid Syria's recovery, focusing on rebuilding the war-torn country's devastated economic structure.

Earlier last week, government officials and business leaders convened in the Turkish capital Ankara to discuss actionable plans for Syria's reconstruction and economic development.

KUWAIT CITY - Kuwait dispatched another aid plane to Syria on Monday, carrying 33 tonnes of relief and medical supplies to assist Syria's "most vulnerable populations," state news agency KUNA reported.

The plane departed from Abdullah al-Mubarak Air Base in Kuwait City and landed at Damascus International Airport, where it was received by Syrian officials, according to the report. The shipment was coordinated by Kuwait's Health Ministry and the Kuwait Red Crescent Society.

This marks Kuwait's second aid delivery to Syria since the swift fall of former President Bashar al-Assad's government in December 2024. The first shipment, sent on Dec 30, included 20 tonnes of food, tents, and blankets to address urgent humanitarian needs in the war-torn country.

The Arab world and several Western countries jointly called for the lifting of sanctions on Syria at a meeting in Riyadh on Sunday, marking a coordinated effort to support the war-torn country.

The meeting, led by Saudi Arabia, was the first to include Syrian interim government officials and top Western diplomats. It followed the fall of Syria's previous government and centered on steps to support the Syrian people in rebuilding a unified, independent and secure state, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

37 killed in Syria clashes between pro-Turkiye, Kurdish forces -- media 

China's top ambassador to the United Nations on Wednesday stressed that China is "greatly concerned" over the Syrian Army "granting senior ranks to foreign terrorist fighters", including the leader of the Turkistan Islamic Party, also known as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM).

China calls on Syria to "fulfill its counter-terrorism obligations and to prevent any terrorist forces from using the Syrian territory to threaten the security of other countries," said Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the UN. The ETIM was designated by China and listed by the UN Security Council as a terrorist organization.

UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations is ready to work with the Syrian interim government on advancing towards a credible and inclusive political transition, a UN special envoy said on Wednesday.

"Today, Syria seeks to chart a new course following the fall of the former regime just one month ago. Decisions taken now will determine the future for a long time to come. There are great opportunities and real dangers," Geir Pedersen, UN special envoy for Syria, told the UN Security Council via video from Geneva.

DAMASCUS - A series of moves took place across Syria on Tuesday, as the new authorities seek to restore normalcy and tackle longstanding infrastructure challenges after the previous government's downfall in December 2024.

Damascus International Airport resumed international flights to and from Gulf nations, launching a morning departure to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and welcoming the first civilian flight from Qatar's Doha in 13 years.

DOHA/DAMASCUS — Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani reaffirmed his country's commitment to fostering positive foreign relations across the region during talks in Doha on Sunday.

In a series of posts on X, Shaibani said Syria's new administration will adopt foreign policies that differ markedly from those implemented by the previous government.

DAMASCUS -- Syria's Damascus International Airport will begin receiving international flights starting Tuesday, Ashhad al-Salibi, chairman of the Syrian General Authority of Civil Aviation and Air Transport, announced Saturday.

Al-Salibi told Syria's SANA state news agency that the authorities are in the process of fully rehabilitating the airports in Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo to accommodate international flights.

Operations at the airports were suspended following the overthrow of Syria's Bashar al-Assad administration last month.

DAMASCUS - French and German foreign ministers urged Syria's new interim government on Friday to embrace diversity and inclusivity during a visit to Damascus, marking the first such European diplomatic mission since President Bashar al-Assad's fall from power in December.

The Gulf Cooperation Council supports Syria's interim administration in maintaining unity and stability with the aim of bringing development and prosperity to the Syrian people, Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, secretary-general of the GCC, said during high-level talks with the country's interim rulers.

Albudaiwi, along with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Abdullah Al-Yahya, led a delegation of GCC officials for a meeting on Monday with Syria's interim administration officials, including the de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, in the Syrian capital Damascus, media reports said.

DAMASCUS - Ahmed al-Sharaa, head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and Syria's de facto leader, gave his most comprehensive remarks yet on Sunday about how he plans to steer the country through its current transition.

Speaking to Saudi state-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya, al-Sharaa discussed various issues, from maintaining ties with Russia to negotiating with Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria.

DAMASCUS - Fourteen officers from Syria's interim Ministry of Interior were killed and ten others injured in a "treacherous ambush" in the northwestern province of Tartus on Wednesday, the interim government's Interior Minister Mohammed Abdul Rahman announced.

Cited by local Al-Watan newspaper, the minister described the attackers as "remnants" of the former government.

The ministry said the slain officers were carrying out duties aimed at maintaining security and protecting civilians.

DAMASCUS — Syria's new leaders announced on Tuesday that they had reached an agreement with the country's other military factions on their dissolution and integration under the Defense Ministry.

Absent from the meeting were representatives of the US-backed, Kurdish-led forces that control swathes of Syria's northeast.

ANKARA - Turkiye announced Tuesday plans to assist Syria in rebuilding key energy and transportation infrastructure.

DAMASCUS -- Ahmed al-Sharaa, head of Syria's de facto governing group and commander of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), met here with other Syrian military faction chiefs on Tuesday, during which they agreed to dissolve all factions and merge them under a unified defense ministry, Syria's state news agency SANA said in a statement.

The statement did not provide further details on the meeting, nor the agreement.

The announcement came as Syria navigates a sensitive political transition following the downfall of the previous government on Dec 8.

UNITED NATIONS/LATAKIA, Syria — China hopes Syria will achieve peace and restore stability as soon as possible, and stands ready to play a constructive role to that end, a Chinese envoy says.

"Recently, the situation in Syria has undergone drastic changes, to which China pays great attention," Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said at a UN Security Council briefing on Syria on Tuesday.

UNITED NATIONS -- China hopes Syria will achieve peace and restore stability as soon as possible, and is ready to play a constructive role to that end, a Chinese envoy said on Tuesday.

"Recently, the situation in Syria has undergone drastic changes, to which China pays great attention," Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said in his remarks at the UN Security Council briefing on Syria.

"It is imperative to stabilize the security situation," Geng stressed, calling on all parties concerned in Syria to exercise calm and restraint, refrain from actions that may escalate the situation, and prevent new conflicts.

DAMASCUS -- US-led mediation efforts have failed to establish a lasting ceasefire in northern Syria's Manbij and Kobani regions, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Monday.

In a statement from its media center, the SDF accused Türkiye and allied militias of rejecting key provisions in a proposed agreement, including the transfer of remaining Manbij Military Council fighters and civilians seeking relocation to safer areas in northern and eastern Syria.