US lawmakers make unannounced trip to northwest Syria - Al-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Aug 27, 2023

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/saudi-arabia-eyes-chinese-bid-nuclear-plant-wsj-2023-08-25/ — A convoy transporting a delegation of US representatives arrives through Syria's Bab al-Salama crossing with Turkey as part of their visit to the rebel-held areas of Aleppo province on Aug. 27, 2023. — BAKR ALKASEM/AFP via Getty Images

A man walks past a poster of President Bashar al-Assad, a candidate for the Presidential election, in the Syrian capital Damascus on May 17, 2021. - A Syrian former minister and a member of the Damascus-tolerated opposition will face Bashar al-Assad in this month's presidential election, the constitutional court said. The Assad-appointed body approved only three out of 51 applications to stand in the May 26 ballot, among them the 55-year-old president himself, widely expected to win a fourth mandate. (Photo

US lawmakers unveil bill targeting normalization of Syria’s Assad

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

Seized drugs, including Captagon, are displayed for the media in the town of Marea, in the northern Aleppo countryside, on May 24, 2022, following clashes among different Turkey-backed factions in Syria. - A decade of appalling civil war has left Syria fragmented and in ruins but one thing crosses every frontline: the drug fenethylline, commercially known as captagon. The stimulant -- once notorious for its association with Islamic State fighters -- has spawned an illegal $10-billion industry that not only

US readies strategy to target Syria’s Captagon trade

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

captagon

US outlines strategy to counter Syria's lucrative Captagon trade

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) walks after Special Counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence of collusion between U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia in the 2016 election on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts - RC12779FD760

House Democrats skeptical of Trump’s Golan Heights shake up

In Washington, reporting on Congress