Skip next section Iran rejects Trump’s ‘bullying tactics’03/08/2025March 8, 2025
Iran rejects Trump’s ‘bullying tactics’
Jenipher Camino Gonzalez
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected any negotiations with the US, a day after
“Some bully governments — I really don’t know of any more appropriate term for some foreign figures and leaders than the word bullying — insist on negotiations,” Khamenei told officials.
“Their negotiations are not aimed at solving problems, they aim at domination,” Khamenei said.
Trump said on Friday that he had written a letter to Iran’s supreme leader, urging new talks on the country’s nuclear program or face possible military action if it refuses.
The Iranian government said it had not yet recieved the letter.
During Trump’s first term as president from 2017 to 2021 he withdrew the US from , which had placed strict limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
After Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018, the US re-imposed sanctions on Iran, as part of the so-called maximum pressure campaign. Trump’s return to power has seen a return to this policy on Iran.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told AFP in an interview on Friday that
https://p.dw.com/p/4rYcX
Skip next section France condemns violence in Syria targeting civilians03/08/2025March 8, 2025
France condemns violence in Syria targeting civilians
Jenipher Camino Gonzalez
A French foreign ministry statement condemned all violence in Syria targeting “civilians because of their faith, and prisoners.”
The statement called on Syria’s new authorities “to ensure that independent investigations can shed light on these crimes, and that the perpetrators are sentenced.”
The French government said it stilll supported aa peaceful and inclusive , “free from foreign interference, that guarantees the preservation of Syria’s ethnic and sectarian pluralism,” adding that this is the only way to prevent the country from descending into fragmentation and violence.
https://p.dw.com/p/4rYc9
Skip next section Syria’s government beefs up security in coastal Alawite-dominated areas 03/08/2025March 8, 2025
Syria’s government beefs up security in coastal Alawite-dominated areas
Jenipher Camino Gonzalez
Syrian security forces were deployed in the Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast.
The move was an attempt to restore order, after the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that government and allied forces killed more than in recent days.
The killings came after deadly clashes broke out on Thursday between Syria’s new authorities and gunmen loyal to toppled president Bashar Assad, himself an .
Syria’s official SANA news agency reported that security forces had deployed to Latakia, as well as Jableh and Baniyas farther south.
Defence ministry spokesman Hassan Abdul Ghani said security forces had “reimposed control” over areas that had seen attacks by Assad loyalists.
“It is strictly forbidden to approach any home or attack anyone inside their homes,” Ghani said.
Latakia province security director Mustafa Kneifati said that “sedition or the targeting of any component of the Syrian people” would not be allowed.
“We will not tolerate any acts of revenge under any circumstances,” he told SANA.
The Observatory reported that the deployment of reinforcements had brought a “relative return to calm” in the region.
https://p.dw.com/p/4rYbu
Skip next section Syria: Hundreds of civilians killed in reported reprisals03/08/2025March 8, 2025
Syria: Hundreds of civilians killed in reported reprisals
Jenipher Camino Gonzalez | Wesley Dockery
Hundreds of civilians from in reprisals carried out by troops loyal to the country’s transitional government.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that at least 532 Alawite civilians in Syria have been killed “by security forces and allied groups.”
It came after fighters loyal to ousted President Bashar Assad on Thursday fought in clashes against Syrian government forces in coastal regions of the country. Assad, who is now believed to be in Russia, is a member of the Alawite sect.
The clashes represent one of the deadliest acts of violence since Syria’s conflict began 14 years ago.
Germany has called for an end to the “spiral of violence.” France has also condemned the violence and urged independent investigations into the crimes.
https://p.dw.com/p/4rYbj
The post Syria deploys troops after reports of Alawite massacres appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
