Totalitarianism

Türkiye's Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya on Jan. 9 paid a visit to the Cilvegözü Border Gate in the southern province of Hatay, a crucial crossing into Syria, one month after the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Some 52,662 Syrian refugees residing in Türkiye have returned to their homeland since the regime's downfall, Yerlikaya told reporters during the visit.

A view of Damascus is seen from the Mount Qassioun, which was opened to the public after the fall of the Assad regime, in Syria, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025.

Türkiye signaled strong economic cooperation for Syria's reconstruction after the 61-year Baath regime fell in early December last year, leaving behind a country with significant economic and infrastructural problems.

Türkiye and Qatar are set to dispatch two electricity-generating ships to Syria in a bid to alleviate the country's severe energy crisis, exacerbated by widespread infrastructure damage during toppled President Bashar al-Assad's rule, Syrian state news agency SANA reported on Jan. 7.

People pose for photos with balloons near Al-Hamidiyeh Souq on New Years Eve, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024

Syria's minister of information in the country's transitional government told AFP he is working towards a free press and committed to "freedom of expression", after decades of control under the former rulers.

Türkiye is anticipating a surge in the return of Syrians starting from June when schools are about to enter their three-month summer break, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya has said.

The Taliban have said that they will close all national and foreign nongovernmental groups in Afghanistan employing women.

It comes two years after they told NGOs to suspend the employment of Afghan women, allegedly because they didn't wear the Islamic headscarf correctly.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Dec. 27 that Türkiye has emerged "with a clean face" on its handling of Syrian refugees, amid the backdrop of the recent ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Ukraine, a global producer and exporter of grain, has sent its first batch of food aid to Syria, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced today.

The foremost priorities for Syria's reconstruction in the post-Assad era are the restoration of national unity and the attraction of investments to rejuvenate the economy, the newly-appointed Damascus governor has said.

Turkey aims to provide electricity to Syria and strengthen its power infrastructure, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar was quoted on Friday as saying, adding that Ankara may also work with Syria's new leadership on oil and natural gas.