A Syrian family that survived a 2013 chemical weapons attack that killed hundreds of people near the country's capital, Damascus, says the ordeal they experienced haunts them to this day.

As the fighters who ousted Bashar al-Assad set out to assert control over the country, they pursued former government forces loyal to the Assad regime, resulting in deadly clashes in parts of the country.

The Pentagon announced the US currently has “approximately 2,000” troops in Syria, more than double the previously disclosed number of 900, a Defense Department spokesperson said at a press briefing on Thursday.

U.S. diplomats visiting Damascus held Washington's first in-person official meetings with Syria's new de facto rulers led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham on Friday and discussed with the former al Qaeda affiliate the future of Syria's political transition.

Syria's new authorities torched a large stockpile of drugs on Wednesday, two security officials told AFP, including one million pills of captagon, whose industrial-scale production flourished under ousted president Bashar al-Assad.

Syria's new leaders announced Tuesday that they had reached an agreement with the country's rebel groups on their dissolution and integration under the defence ministry.

Israel’s defense minister has confirmed that Israel assassinated Hamas’ top leader last summer and is threatening to take similar action against the leadership of the Houthi rebel group in Yemen

According to the report Al Hadath, the operation was aimed at detaining a high-ranking former officer of the previous government

An act of arson against a Christmas tree in the predominantly Christian town of Suqaylabiyah has ignited protests across Syria and fuelled anxieties about the future of religious minorities.

Since armed rebels entered Damascus, Syria, and overthrew the reign of President Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8, U.S. government officials have been waiting to see if any remnants of the former regime’s stockpiles of chemical weapons would be found.