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Raqqa

Ex-Syrian general defendant Khaled al-Halabi (R) covers his face as he is escorted in handcuffs for the trial to the courtroom by justice officers at the Regional Vienna's Court of Austria in Vienna, Austria, on June 1, 2026. (Joe Klamar/AFP)
June 1, 2026, 6:30 pm
Two Syrian former officials deny civil war torture charges as trial opens in Austria
Former Syrian intel officer Khaled al-Halabi and ex-police chief Musab Abu Rukbah are charged with committing slew of crimes against Assad’s opponents in Raqqa between 2011 and 2013
By Julia ZAPPEI and Blaise GAUQUELIN
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) soldiers deploy with armored military vehicles to secure roads leading to Gweiran Prison which houses men accused of being an Islamic State (ISIS) fighters in Hassakeh, northeastern Syria, January 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad)
January 20, 2026, 1:11 pm
Syria’s ceasefire with Kurds appears to crumble as clashes resume, ISIS prisoners escape
Talks in Damascus between Sharaa and Kurdish-led SDF collapse, while at least 120 inmates manage to flee Kurdish-controlled prison amid chaos
By Agencies
Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa signs an agreement with the chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces at the Presidential Palace in Damascus on January 18, 2026. (Rami al SAYED / AFP)
January 18, 2026, 10:45 pm
Syria declares ceasefire with Kurdish-led SDF after intense military push
Truce leaves much of Kurdish-majority northwest under Damascus control for first time in decade; Sharaa proclaims victory for ‘Syrians of all backgrounds’
By GHAITH ALSAYED and OMAR ALBAM
Syrian government soldiers wave a Syrian flag after climbing atop a statue of a female Kurdish fighter, following the takeover of the town from US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) during an ongoing push against Kurdish-led forces, in Tabqa, eastern Syria, January 18, 2026. (AP Photo/ Omar Albam)
January 18, 2026, 5:53 pm
Kurdish commander urges US to intervene in Syria, says he’d welcome Israeli help
Syrian government forces take country’s largest oil field despite US call to stop advance, as Kurdish-led SDF withdraws from areas it controlled since pushing out ISIS in 2017
By Agencies
A view of Vienna, Austria, on August 15, 2019. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)
November 13, 2025, 5:15 pm
Mossad arranged Austrian asylum for Syrian double agent accused of torture – report
Khaled al-Halabi, charged over suppressing protests in Raqqa, lived in Vienna in apartment paid for by Israeli spy agency that got him into country, NY Times says
By ToI Staff
This court sketch made on November 4, 2021, shows Osama Krayem on trial for the November 13, 2015, Paris attacks, during the trial taking place in a temporary courtroom set up at the Palais de Justice of Paris. (Benoit PEYRUCQ / AFP)
June 4, 2025, 2:01 pm
Sweden tries sole surviving ISIS jihadist over Jordan pilot burned to death in Syria
Osama Krayem, 32 — already in prison over the 2015 Paris and 2016 Brussels attacks — acknowledges being present at the killing of Moaz al-Kasasbeh, but denies prosecution’s account
By Nioucha ZAKAVATI
Illustrative: US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters stand guard at Al Naeem Square, in Raqqa, Syria, February 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad)
December 26, 2022, 9:25 pm
Six killed in Islamic State attack on SDF security HQ in Raqqa
Jihadists assault area containing a military intelligence prison housing some 200 IS inmates; two attackers were wearing explosive belts, says spokesperson for Kurdish force
By HOGIR AL ABDO
Illustrative: In this July 17, 2017, file photo, a fighter of the Christian Syriac militia that battles the Islamic State group under the banner of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, burns an IS flag on the front line on the western side of Raqqa, northeast Syria. (Hussein Malla/AP)
June 16, 2022, 5:35 pm
US-led military raid in Syria captures senior Islamic State leader
Coalition against terror group doesn’t identify target, but unofficial sources say it was Ahmad Hani al-Kurdi, a bomb-maker and former IS governor of Raqqa
By Qassim Abdul-Zahra
A Watergen water-from-air generator in Gaza, 2021. Illustrative. (Courtesy)
May 10, 2022, 7:09 pm
Israel’s Watergen provides ‘water-from-air’ units to medical facility in Syria
Partnering with US organization that delivers aid to Syrians, Petah Tikva firm installs first of 10 planned water units in former IS HQ Raqqa
By Ricky Ben-David
An explosion is seen following an alleged Israeli attack on a Hezbollah arms cache near Homs in central Syria on May 1, 2020. (Screen capture: Twitter)
May 31, 2020, 2:00 pm
Report: Iranian militia sites targeted in northern Syria
Sky News Arabia says Tehran-backed forces were bombed overnight near Raqqa, without specifying who was behind strikes
By Judah Ari Gross
A picture taken on October 27, 2019 shows a burnt vehicle near the site where helicopter gunfire reportedly killed nine people near the northwestern Syrian village of Barisha in the province of Idlib near the border with Turkey, where 'groups linked to the Islamic State group' were present, according to a Britain-based war monitor with sources inside Syria (Omar HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
October 27, 2019, 12:18 pm
Kurdish commander: ‘Historic’ Baghdadi op was result of joint intel work with US
Turkey also says it coordinated with American military ahead of Syria operation, which is said to have killed leader of Islamic State terror group
By Agencies and ToI Staff
A picture taken on April 14, 2019 shows a body bag containing human remains at the site of a mass grave in the northern Syrian city of Raqa al-Fukheikha agricultural suburb where in February 2019 an exhumation team uncovered an estimated 3,500 bodies (Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
July 3, 2019, 5:41 pm
200 corpses found in mass grave in Syria’s Raqqa
As many as 800 people, many of them victims of Islamic State, could be buried in total, local official says
By AFP
A photo, provided by the community service group, Together for Jarniyah, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Syrians working to extinguish a fire in a field of crops, in Jaabar, Raqqa province, Syria. (Together for Jarniyah via AP)
May 30, 2019, 3:25 pm
Crop fires, a weapon of war, ruin Iraqi and Syrian harvests
Having lost its territory, the Islamic State group continues to harass local populations, setting fire to crops, though some say Damascus is using blazes to harass populations
By SALAR SALIM and Sarah El Deeb
This frame grab from a video provided on Thursday, November 22, 2018, shows Syrian workers in Raqqa walk on a mass grave believed to contain the bodies of many hundreds of civilians and Islamic State fighters in Raqqa. (AP Photo)
November 27, 2018, 6:55 pm
Hundreds of bodies exhumed from mass grave in Syria’s Raqqa
Panorama grave, named after the neighborhood where it was found, believed to contain some 1,500 bodies, is among the largest of nine such graves discovered so far
By Zeina Karam
Banners advertising shops and clinics are pictured hanging in a street in the Syrian city of Raqqa on October 18, 2018. (Delil Souleiman/AFP)
October 19, 2018, 10:36 am
One year after IS ‘defeat,’ Syria’s Raqqa still lives in fear
Jihadists no longer control the war-ravaged city, but sleeper cells continue to terrorize the population; a new local security force looks to bring quiet
By Delil Souleiman
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