Al-Assad family

Israel's defense minister said on Tuesday President Bashar al-Assad was winning Syria's civil war and urged the United States to weigh in as Damascus's Iranian and Hezbollah allies gain ground.

Two interesting developments occurred in our neighbor Syria on the day our National Football Team beat Croatia and rose to third place in their group in the World Championship play-offs. 

The U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria has gathered enough evidence for President Bashar al-Assad to be convicted of war crimes, a prominent member of the commission, Carla del Ponte, said in remarks published on Aug. 13. Del Ponte, 70, who prosecuted war crimes in Rwanda and former Yugoslavia, announced last week that she was stepping down from her role in frustration at the U.N.

President Vladimir Putin has signed a law ratifying a deal with the Syrian government allowing Russia to keep its air base in Syria for almost half a century, official documents show. 

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US President Donald Trump has decided to halt the CIA's years-long covert program to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels battling the regime of the nation's president Bashar al-Assad. Russia had long pushed the United States to end the program.

Three of the leading international powers involved in Syria's war—the U.S., Russia and Iran—are looking to expand and fortify their military presence in the country by building and upgrading foreign bases, with some already in the works, according to NewsWeek.

The European Union imposed sanctions on 16 Syrian scientists and military officials on July 17 for their suspected involvement in a chemical attack in northern Syria in April which killed scores of civilians.

Russia, Turkey and Iran failed at peace talks on July 5 to hammer out details including the boundaries and policing of four safe zones in war-torn Syria, Moscow's chief negotiator said.

The banknote features Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's portrait and there are already several theories as to what this might mean for the ongoing civil war between Assad's government and domestic opposition forces.

The White House has declared that it believes Bashar al-Assad's regime is preparing to carry out another chemical weapons attack, and warned that the Syrian leader and his military would "pay a heavy price" if it went ahead, according to the Guardian.