The Iranian-backed militias that control large areas of the eastern region of Syria have reportedly launched a new campaign of arrests against a number of young men in the villages of the western countryside of Deir Ezzor, in search of individuals ‘wanted’ over allegations of dealing with the US coalition and the Syrian Democratic Forces (PKK).

Palestinian brothers Waseem and Anas Mahmoud Muhahi have been secretly held in Syrian regime dungeons since October 2012. Both were kidnapped from Yarmouk Camp for Palestinian refugees south of Damascus.

The Action Group for Palestinians of Syria (AGPS) reports that the whereabouts and conditions of both brothers are shrouded in mystery, adding that dozens of members of the extended family had been subjected to imprisonment and fatal torture in the Assad regime’s prisons.

Iraqi security forces raided a headquarters belonging to an Iran-backed militia south of Baghdad late on Thursday, seized rockets and detained three leaders of the group at the site, two Iraqi government officials said.

The officials said the militia group targeted was Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group that U.S. officials have accused of firing rockets at bases hosting U.S. troops and other facilities in Iraq. Kataib Hezbollah is also among the Iranian-backed militias backing Assad in Syria.

The United Arab Emirates has been found to be training Syrian military intelligence officers and providing aid to the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad, reveals a report by the French-language site Orient XXI.

The local Suwayda 24 network has published an investigation, including detailed information and documents, revealing operations to recruit dozens of young Syrians from the Suwayda governorate, who are being conscripted in order to be transferred to Libya where they’re used as mercenaries alongside Haftar’s militias.

Lebanon is currently the home to some 900,000 refugees who have fled Syria’s bloody civil war. But after Lebanon’s economy crashed late last year and the country was hit by the coronavirus crisis, the refugees are struggling even more to put food on the table. FRANCE 24’s Leila Molana Allen reports ahead of World Refugee Day.

Eight years ago, Aisha, a Syrian refugee, arrived in Lebanon with her husband and children to escape the horrors of their homeland. They built a small house in Bekaa Valley, and the family finally felt safe.

Egypt’s dictator, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, on Saturday ordered his army to be ready to carry out any mission inside or outside the country to “protect its national security”, amid tensions over Turkey’s intervention in neighbouring Libya.

Turkey supports the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, which, with Turkish support, has reversed a 14-month assault on the capital by Khalifa Haftar’s eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA).

The LNA is backed by Russia, France, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

Iran’s currency continues to plummet against the U.S. dollar as the regime continues to grapple with the economic implications of U.S. sanctions and the coronavirus.

The rial fell to as low as 188,000 against the dollar in the free market on Saturday, according to foreign exchange shops and websites.

The currency traded at around 150,000 when the country recorded its first case of Covid-19 in February. The rial has nosedived by more than 500% in value from 2015 when the Islamic Republic accepted curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for some sanctions relief.

From: Baghdad Post

'I’ve learned what it means for a human being to be truly free. We’ve continued for five years, and I lived…I’ve lived as a free person. Before the revolution, I never felt this, although I was a teacher at a university, and my situation was excellent in comparison to other young men. However, I never used to feel this idea of freedom of thought. I didn’t even have this perspective. I hadn’t yet had the slightest experience, or slightest life-changing experience, that we are living right now.

So, for me, despite everything, I see better and positive developments, in general.

In terms of the revolution, it is going through its natural “labor pains.” That’s my opinion.'