Damascus

With migrants only allowed one backpack each on the smugglers' boats that carry them from Turkey to Greece, Ahmed, his wife Hanin and her family packed a few possessions and sent the rest of their belongings to friends.

Then they waited.

Vienna is the most enjoyable city to live in for the second year in the 2019 Economist Intelligence Unit rankings. The Austrian capital is followed by Melbourne, France Press and Reuters reported. Paris has been swept down due to protests by the "yellow vests" movement.

In that attack three civilians died and 12 more were wounded, said Reuters.

The ministry said that the attack is a breach of an agreement and cooperation between Ankara and Russia, and that Moscow was informed about the Turkish convoy in advance.

Turkey warned Damascus on Aug. 20 "not to play with fire" a day after a Turkish military convoy was attacked by an airstrike in northwest Idlib province of Syria.

A group of 15 people - Romanian nationals and their family members, Syrian citizens - was repatriated from Syria via Turkey on Wednesday, the Romanian Foreign Ministry (MAE) reports. According to MAE, the repatriation was made with the support from the Romanian embassies in Damascus, Ankara, the Consulate General of Romania in Istanbul and the honorary consul of Romania in Iskenderun.

On June 29, the Orthodox Church honours the memory of the great apostles Peter and Paul. 

The celebration is of ancient origin, the date selected being the anniversary of either their death or the translation of their relics.

An Orthodox Church delegation including Patriarch Irinej and the Montenegrin bishop Amfilohije met Bashar al-Assad on Monday evening, with the Serbian religious leader and the Syrian president exchanging warm words over Serbia's stance on Kosovo and the ongoing conflict in Syria.

The last shadow puppeteer in Damascus lost most of his equipment to war and endured life as a refugee in Lebanon, but he now believes the old Syrian art form might survive after the United Nations said it needed to be saved.

Flights between Baghdad and Damascus will resume on May 18 after an eight-year hiatus, Iraqi Airways said on May 16.

Israel released two prisoners on April 28, sending them back to Syria in what Damascus described as Russian-mediated reciprocation for the repatriation of the body of a long-missing Israeli soldier.